Here's your chance to help an endangered Australian. Funds are being sought to assist with the reintroduction of bilbies to a national park in south west Queensland. As a bilby supporter, you'll be a valuable contributor in the establishment of a wild breeding population of bilbies of national significance. Bilbies are desert dwelling bandicoots about the size of a rabbit. They have large ears, a coat of soft, light grey and tan hair, and a very distinctive black and white tail. Of the six bandicoot species that once lived in the arid/semi-arid areas of Australia, bilbies are the only species remaining. The bilby formerly occurred over much of eastern Australia west of the Great Dividing Range. It has disappeared from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Populations now occur only sporadically in the isolated and semi-arid areas of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.

The reintroduction of bilbies to Currawinya National Park forms part of a national strategy to recover endangered species to either their former status or, at a minimum, to secure the status of existing wild populations.

This is where you can help! To secure the bilby population of the park, researchers are constructing a 25 square kilometre bilby enclosure. The two metre high fence will be predator and feral animal proof, providing the bilbies with a safe haven to live and breed.

We invite you, your school, family and friends and local businesses to contribute $20 towards a panel of the fence. Each donor will be officially recognised on site at Currawinya National Park in a leather bound book permanently housed at the site. The fencing project is expensive due to the size of the enclosure. The appeal has so far raised $400,000, but needs more to complete the work, and to provide for the ongoing upkeep of the facilities.

The Queensland bilby population is the most threatened and genetically distinct population in Australia. It has declined in range over the past 10 years and is continuing to do so. At present the bilby population is estimated at between 600 and 700 animals, and is spread very thinly across nearly 100 000 km2 between Birdsville and Boulia in Queensland's far southwest. The proposed reintroduction site at Currawinya National Park falls close to the centre of the bilby's former range in eastern Australia.

Being marsupials, female bilbies have a pouch. Although the pouch has 8 nipples, they usually only produce 1 or 2 young at a time. Like other species adapted to the climatic vagaries of the arid zone, bilbies are capable of breeding throughout the year whenever conditions are suitable.

Bilbies shelter during the day in burrows underground that may extend to 2m in depth. At night they leave the protection of the burrow to eat a variety of plant material (seeds, fruits and bulbs), insects and spiders.

The National Recovery Plan for bilbies has three main aims:

Scientists generally agree the combination of predation by exotic species (foxes and cats), a long history of habitat alteration as a result of pastoral activities, changes in fire regimes (both Aboriginal and European) and competition with rabbits has impacted negatively on bilby populations.

Armed with this knowledge, researchers with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) have established a captive breeding colony of about 30 bilbies in Charleville, south west Queensland. Due to the success of this captive breeding program researchers hope to release bilbies into the enclosure early next year.

Currawinya National Park was selected as the re-introduction site because:

Cheques will be gratefully accepted to:

'Save the Bilby Fund'
PO Box 149
Charleville QLD 4470
Ph (07) 4654 1255

E-mail: bilby@wildlife.org.au