Take me wallabies back, Jack, but only rarities

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

There you go, cobbers. One delivery of valuable, disease-free wallabies ...

In a historic first, Australia will welcome home about 20 Kawau Island tammar wallabies today, members of a "lost generation" brought to New Zealand more than 100 years ago but now extinct in their native land.

"It's a bit like that old Muldoonism - the project raises the biodiversity of both countries," said Department of Conservation spokesman Don Stewart.

Two years ago, Australian scientists discovered that the Kawau tammars belonged to an extinct sub-species, and with an island community group planning to eradicate all the wallabies by 2005, decided to fly some home before it was too late.

This first consignment of tammars arrive in Adelaide today and will be quarantined at Monarto Zoological Park, 70km east of the city, for six months before being released into the wild.

Kawau's brush-tailed rock wallabies are also being deported in a separate project. They are endangered in their native New South Wales.

The Kawau Island Pohutukawa Trust has DoC-sanctioned plans to rid Kawau of wallabies in just over two years - although many people believe that is unrealistic because of the scale of the work.

The wallaby head-count is unknown but they number in the thousands.

And not all the islanders are happy with the extermination plan.

"It would be sad to see them all go - they're a big tourist attraction," said trapper John Stephen, who has been capturing the animals for repatriation.

Wallabies, along with other exotic wildlife and plants, were introduced to Kawau 140 years ago by Governor George Grey. But the marsupials feed on native plants and many people argue that they have no place on the island.

Trapping and poisoning are being used to eradicate Kawau's two other wallaby species, which are common in Australia.

Further shipments of tammars are planned over the next few months - about 100 animals in all, with the Australians picking up the bill.

Now if only we could persuade them to take back some possums ...

* Historic footnote: Former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon once said: "New Zealanders who leave for Australia raise the IQ of both countries."