Rare parma wallabies moved to predator-free zones after 50 years in Blue Mountains sanctuary

For decades a tiny, elusive wallaby species was thought to be extinct — until a surprise discovery on a small island in, of all places, New Zealand.

It turns out a governor of South Australia who was redeployed across the ditch in the 1860s took with him a collection of parma wallabies that he deposited on Kawau Island, north of Auckland.

About 100 years later, conservationist Peter Pigott caught wind of the colony through a friend and flew over to see the tiny mammals for himself.

"It was quite emotional," he said.

At that moment he committed to dedicating his life to see the parma wallaby thrive.

"I said 'I will buy more land at Mount Wilson [in the Blue Mountains], I will fence it, I will build dams and we'll see if we can breed it back so that it survives'," Mr Pigott said.

His daughter Heidi Pigott Irwin joined him on the "adventure" to Kawau Island.

"This property became available and dad said 'that's it, we're buying it,' and he got all his friends to come and put this 12-foot fence right around the whole place."

Thirty-six parma wallabies were trapped on the island and flown back to the home-made four-and-a-half-hectare predator-free zone at Mr Pigott's property in the Blue Mountains.

For more than half a century the population has thrived and grew to about 300 individuals at its peak.

Meanwhile, small groups of wallabies that survived predation were also found along the east coast of Australia. 

'Rescue Mission'

The Invasive Species Council is now conducting a rescue mission of its own to save the wallabies on Mr Pigott's property that have come under threat from foxes and cats.

Rewilding manager Rob Brewster said the species was rare because of its size, which fell within a critical weight range for mammals of 35 grams to 5.5 kilograms.

"That's basically the snack size for a fox and a cat," he said.

The effort comes at a time as Mr Pigott nears 90 years of age and looks to hand over the stewardship of his population to organisations that run dedicated feral-free sanctuaries.

"Peter has been looking after [the wallabies] for 50 years and he just can't continue that any longer," Mr Brewster said.

The team has moved more than 50 wallabies to predator-free areas including the Bannockburn Rewilding Sanctuary in Jervis Bay and the Ngambaa Nature Reserve on the Mid North Coast.

'Scattered' populations

Mr Brewster said the rescue efforts were vital to secure the future of the vulnerable species.

"We know very little about the parma wallaby," he said.

"Estimates of between 10,000 and 50,000 in the wild have been thrown around but really [that is] based on very little."

He said none of the wildlife organisations were under the illusion that moving species to predator-free areas was the real solution.

The NSW Invasive Species Council has set a target that no Australian animal was threatened by extinction from foxes and cats by 2050.

"We've got to get beyond the fence," he said.

"We need the government to look at this program with a 30-year lens and say how do we come up with innovative strategies that are going to push around cats and foxes in the landscape like never before."

Letting go

Ms Pigott Irwin said translocating the wallabies to larger environments where they could thrive without predation was always her father's goal.

"This is very exciting for us. It marks a big time in the parma wallaby story with dad," she said.

Mr Pigott said he hoped the story of the tiny mammal inspired others to step up for threatened species.

"Other animals will be on the brink of extinction and people will be able to come in and say, 'well, Pete Piggott said it can be done, so we'll do it'."