UTAS research finds Maria Island could be perfect place for ‘insurance population’ of rock wallabies

A researcher at the University of Tasmania has suggested Maria Island off Tasmania’s east coast could be an ideal location to form an insurance population of the threatened brush-tailed rock wallaby.

The wallabies are found throughout Australia’s eastern seaboard, but like the koala, are not found in Tasmania.

Last year’s bushfires destroyed significant parts of natural habitat including places where the wallaby is found.

But researcher Shane Morris…