The Australians had come there from various countries around the world
wanted to get rid of the rabbits because they were destroying pasture that could be used for sheep and cattle
were making their living merely by raising sheep and cattle on their farms
hadn't expected to meet with such a big rabbit population on their new land
weren't wise enough to get rid of the rabbits by their own efforts
We can conclude from the passage that the rabbits were reduced in number through a fatal virus deliberately spread by a kind of mosquito
it had become a matter of life and death for the people in Australia to get rid of the rabbits
though it was hazardous for themselves as well, the settlers nonetheless encouraged the spread of the epidemic
being a pioneer requires a man or woman to be prepared to face certain risky conditions
Australians today owe their prosperous life to the efforts of their enterprising ancestors
15 WEANING Weaning is a very delicate process, important for the whole of a child's life. It is not a problem of nourishment, but of the spirit. This side of the problem is all but neglected. We must be careful to substitute some other kind of pleasure to take the place of the original pleasure of the mother's breast. The process of weaning can be carried out so that the child himself, with a little encouragement, will choose a new and wider form of pleasure, and so pass lightly through this, the most intense, emotional experience of life. If the change, when its time comes, is violently made, desire will not go forwards to new fields and to wider experience of mind, but backwards to some substitute pleasure of the same type as the one to be surrendered. Thumb-sucking, an obvious substitute, is the commonest.
(From Talks to Parents and Teachers by Homer Lane)
