Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) Eastern Grey Kangaroo (M.giganteus) Common Wallaroo (M.robustus) Red Kangaroo (M.rufus)
AS THREATENED SPECIES under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995
Kangaroo tracks, Ledknapper Nature Reserve
20th December 2011
Raymond Mjadwesch Consulting Ecologist
For Willem Franciscus Hendricus Bergen Bill Bergen: who wants us to look after the animals
Observations of kangaroos by an early European
The EndeavourJournal of Sir Joseph Banks 1768-1771:
22 June 1770 ...The People who were sent to the other side of the water in order to shoot Pigeons saw an animal as large as a grey hound, of a mouse colour & very swift; they also saw many Indian houses & a brook of fresh water.
23 June 1770 The people who went over the River saw the animal again & described him much in the same manner as yesterday.
24 June 1770 Gathering plants and hearing descriptions of the animal which is now seen by every body...
25 June 1770 In gathering plants today I myself had the good fortune to see the beast so much talkd of, tho but imperfectly; he was not only like a grey hound in size and running but had a long tail, as long as any grey hounds; what to liken him to I could not tell, nothing certainly that I have seen at all resembles him.
7 July 1770 ...We walked many miles over the flats and saw 4 of the animals, 2 of which my greyhound fairly chas'd, but they beat him owing to the length & thickness of the grass which prevented him from running while they at every bound leapt over the tops of it. We observed much to our surprise that instead of Going upon all fours this animal went only upon two legs, making vast bounds just as the Jerbua (Mus Jaculus) does...
14 July 1770 Our second lieutenant who was a shooting today had the good fortune to kill the animal that had so long been the subject of our speculations. To compare it to any European animal would be impossible as it has not the least resemblance of any one I have seen. Its fore legs are extremely short & of no use to it in walking, its hind again as disproportionately long; with these it hops 7 or 8 feet at each hop in the same manner as the Gerbua, to which animal indeed it bears much resemblance except in Size, this being in weight 38 lb & the Gerbua no larger than a common rat.