JULY 2024
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME
Southern brush-tailed rock wallaby at Barbaloot Conservation Reserve (c) Ben olliff
The making of a second safe haven for the southern brush-tailed rock wallaby.
Odonata recently celebrated the completion of a fence expansion project, thanks to DEECA’s NatureFund Grant and Barbaloot Conservation Group (formerly Widgewah Sanctuary), located 90 minutes north of Melbourne. Together, the project team has dedicated enormous time, resources, funding and passion to get the project off the ground.
And whilst a fence may not make for the most compelling headline, successful fence design and construction is the unsung hero of restoring threatened species. Without them, we wouldn't have anywhere to recover precious native species that have been decimated by pest pressure, urban sprawl, deforestation and climatic events.
Thanks to the new construction, Barbaloot Conservation Reserve has grown from 90ha to 450ha, allowing for uninterrupted habitat for the Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby to repopulate and thrive. Camera monitoring that supports the pest eradication strategy, is well underway inside the new 360 hectare fenced area.
Whilst the larger area is prepared, the initial 80ha reserve has welcomed the arrival of southern brush-tailed rock wallabies translocated from Mt Rothwell Sanctuary. To date, 21 genetically diverse SBTRWs have been translocated from Mt Rothwell to Barbaloot Conservation Reserve. The population is already growing, with wallabies with pouch young already spotted across the granite outcrops. Odonata is currently fundraising to support further genetic work and translocations to grow the population even further, with 40 founding wallabies earmarked to call Barbaloot home.
Establishing fenced sanctuaries and reintroducing threatened species helps to restore the natural balance of landscapes, which also sees the return and improvement of beneficiary species of flora and fauna, including native grasses, birds, lizards, frogs and insects. This helps to address the threat of plagues, drought, intensive fires and other climate change related challenges that are being faced more regularly in Australia, and globally.
Whilst the vision is large and long-term, we celebrate the official completion of the second sanctuary in Odonata’s network that supports the recovery of the southern brush-tailed rock wallaby and marks a further 450ha of habitat under species-led natural restoration.
Now that’s something to celebrate!
BACKGROUND ON THE SOUTHERN BRUSH-TAILED ROCK WALLABY
Odonata Foundation is working to revive the southern brush-tailed rock wallaby (SBTRW) from the brink of extinction, after almost losing the population during the Black Summer fires of 2019-20.
As hundreds of fires raged across Australia, the home of a critical breeding program for the SBTRW was under threat, the location was Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in the ACT. With little time to spare, Odonata’s Biodiversity Director, Annette Rypalski, coordinated a successful rescue mission with Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and the Australian Defence Force to airlift 17 wallabies out of harm’s way.
This significant moment cemented Odonata Foundation’s mission to recover the species from less than 50 individuals in the wild, to a healthy, genetically robust and thriving population.
To date, the recovery program has been the most successful of its kind for the SBTRW, with the population at Odonata’s Mt Rothwell Sanctuary growing from just 25 individuals to over 400 today.
With the SBTRW breeding program at Mt Rothwell a proven success, the recovery model is entering its next phase, which involves translocating SBTRWs across 5 strategically chosen locations.
Barbaloot Conservation Reserve represents the next phase of this program and provides the second site in Victoria for the SBTRW.
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