Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby

Petrogale penicillata 

Elusive and shy, the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby has been nicknamed the ‘Shadow’ by those who work with it. Unfortunately this nickname could equally refer to the tiny numbers of this species surviving in the wild. Hunting bounties at the turn of the century decimated this species, and its future survival in the wild lies in the balance.

Predator control and habitat management are crucial for the survival of the remaining few animals, and to provide safe environments for future reintroduction. With a focus on captive breeding, Zoos Victoria has joined the effort to recover the Shadow.

The Program Focus

The Brush-tail is one of 16 species of rock-wallabies in Australia and was once found in great abundance across eastern Australia. Long periods of isolation and physical barriers between populations have resulted in three genetically different sub-groups of this species across Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland.

The focus of this program is on the southern management unit, which Zoos Victoria refers to as the Victorian group. This population represents the most genetically distinctive population, a result of a long period of separation from other populations.

The goal of the Recovery Program is to secure and expand the existing Brush-tail colonies and re-establish the species at suitable sites in Victoria over the next five years.


The Conservation Issue

In the late 1880s, Brush-tails were abundant and widespread across the rocky country of south-eastern Australia, from southern Queensland through to New South Wales and Victoria. They were so abundant that a bounty was introduced in the early 1900s and between 1894 and 1914 over half a million Brush-tails were shot, resulting in rapid population declines and local extinctions.

Predation by foxes, wild dogs and feral cats, combined with competition for food with grazing stock and rabbits and the clearing of habitat, placed further pressure on the remaining populations. Now only small, isolated populations of Brush-tails remain, scattered across the three states.

A captive breeding and management program has been developed for the Victorian population. There are as few as 12 Victorian animals remaining in East Gippsland. Healesville Sanctuary obtained its first animal as part of the Brush-tail Recovery Team captive breeding program in April 1996.

Zoos Victoria’s Conservation Field Partners

Several organisations and community groups are members of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Recovery Team. Each Recovery Team member brings particular expertise to the recovery effort, ranging from captive breeding, habitat management and predator control to education and research.

The members of this team are:

Parks Victoria
Department of Sustainability & Environment
Monash University
University of Melbourne
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Zoos South Australia
Wildlife Unlimited
Waite Animal Facility SA
Waterfall Springs


The Program Plan

The key Recovery Team objectives for the Victorian population of Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies are to:

  1. Prevent the extinction of the Victorian Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby.
  2. Increase the total number of Victorian Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies (both wild and captive) as quickly as possible to at least 50 adult individuals.
  3. Maintain a representative captive population able to contribute effectively to in situ conservation.
  4. Develop a population management plan that assesses the relative merits and costs, in the short-term, of re-introduction to a former site in the Grampians National Park versus supplementation of existing colonies in Gippsland.

Zoos Victoria's Role

Zoos Victoria's key roles in the recovery of this species are to:

  1. Supplement in situ populations through captive breeding for reintroduction. Zoos South Australia, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and Waterfall Springs are also involved in this breeding program.
  2. In the event that the wild population continues to decline, Zoos Victoria maintains an insurance population in captivity.


Reports and Publications

Department of Sustainability and Environment. 1991. Action Statement No 19 Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Petrogale penicillata http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/

Maxwell, S Burbidge, A. A. and Morris, K. 1996 Action Plan for Monotremes & Marsupials. Department of Environment & Heritage http://www.deh.gov.au/

The National Recovery Program for this species will be available shortly.


Other Links

Visit the homepage of the Victorian Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby recovery efforts at http://www.vicrockwallaby.com/