#FloraAndFaunaFriday: Lilly the Rock-Wallaby Mum with a Mission
- Gregory Andrews
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
Back in 2015, when I was Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner, I met someone who stole my heart. Her name was Lilly. She was a Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallaby with the softest fur, cutest tail and the gentlest eyes - and the biggest job!
Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallabies are an endangered species. Native to the rugged Flinders Ranges in South Australia, they cling to survival hiding from foxes and feral cats on rocky outcrops and steep escarpments. But in Lilly's case, she'd moved to Canberra for an even bigger survivial task.
Lilly was a surrogate mum at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in the ACT. But not for her own kind. She was raising the young of another species in her pouch: the Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby, which is extinct in the wild in the ACT and barely holding on in Victoria. Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies are being driven to extinction by habitat loss, foxes and feral cats, competition with feral goats and deer, and the impacts of climate change.
Why was Lilly a surrogate mum? Because the rangers told me Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallabies make better mums than Brush-Tails in captivity. Lilly’s calm temperament and strong maternal success rate made her the perfect carer to raise the Brush-tailed joeys, giving them the best possible start before they were released into the wild.
It’s a beautiful story of interspecies and interstate support. The ACT, through its breeding program, is lending a hand (and a pouch) for a species hanging by a thread further south.
Lilly reminds me that conservation is rarely neat. It’s creative, it’s collaborative, and it’s driven by people - and in this case marsupials - who go above and beyond the call of duty.
Lilly also reminds me that caring for Country solutions don’t always come from where you expect them. Sometimes, the best mum for a struggling species is someone entirely different. And sometimes, love and care cross the boundaries we humans draw between species, jurisdictions, and expectations.
Awh, Lilly. 🥰❤️😍
Seeing the Yellow Footed Rock wallabies at Arkaroola after they removed thousands of goats was a huge treat. We can do it but it takes focus, science and commitment.