Three species of macropods (kangaroos and wallabies) live at Pooh Corner - the Eastern Grey kangaroo, swamp wallaby and red-necked wallaby. The Wacol kangaroo precinct is approximately 1,500+ ha. A aerial survey by the State Government in 2007 estimated there to be about 1,300 kangaroos within this area, about one kangaroo per hectare.
[see map of precinct]
After a threat to cull/kill kangaroos in 2007 and Government attempts at anti-kangaroo urban and industrial development within the Wacol roo precinct area, both environment and community groups have put pressure on the State Government to formally recognise the kangaroos and protect them.
Governments need to recognise the unique existence of a wild kangaroo precinct at Wacol, an area that includes openspace and high quality urban bushland. Brisbane is the only major Australian city that has a large sustainable populate of wild kangaroos, of various species, surrounded by urban development.
The existance of these wild kangaroos today is due to the legacy of past land use. This included former military land, (former WWII USA military Camp Colombia base) high security prisons, golf course and a extensive Brisbane river flood plain that has restricted urban development in the past.
However the existence of the kangaroos is not officially recognised by the State Government. This means there is the ongoing risk that land needed to sustain the current kangaroo populations will be eroded by development that is not friendly to kangaroos. To date the State Government has avoided formal recognition of the Wacol kangaroos as the State Government does not want to forsake options to develop this land.
Kangaroos need space to survive along side humans in an urban environment. This is a challenge for the all whole community, a unique opportunity to demonstrate humans and wild kangaroos can co-exist in an urban environment.
The Qld government has released the DRAFT Wacol Government Precinct Kangaroo Management Strategy. Friends of Pooh Corner has received it in the mail and will put comments on the strategy on this page soon. So it is easily available to the community, it can be downloaded from here:
| Background Document | Quality images (4700kB) | Low res images (1100kB) | |
| Conservation Management Report | Quality images (2200kB) | Low res images (900kB) |