 It had the remarkable positive, however, of allowing the first curbs to the rabbit plague in Australia via myxomatosis, which had not spread in the dry era since 1922 because of the absence of standing water for mosquitoes to breed.December was very wet in the north, with many rainfall records in the Georgina River basin, but was hot and dry in New South Wales except around Tibooburra in the far northwest.Between Sydney and Dubbo it was the first drier-than-normal month since 1949.