The bridled nailtail wallaby, once thought to be extinct, is on the rebound in central Queensland.
The population in Taunton National Park, near Dingo, has grown over the past five years from less than a hundred to more than 200.
Non-profit natural resource management group Fitzroy Basin Association has been working to protect the endangered macropod, mainly targeting introduced predators and providing suitable habit.
Rebecca French from FBA says controlling predators is key to ensuring the species' survival.
"Its biggest threats are foxes, wild dogs and cats, as well as a habitat that's no longer suitable for it," Ms French said.
"They're still not big numbers, but we have increased that population by 100 per cent in a small period of time."
Back from oblivion
The bridled nailtail wallaby was thought extinct in the 1930s and living populations were not rediscovered until the 1970s.
Rebecca French says it was a sharp-eyed fencing contractor working on a central Queensland property who spotted the wallaby with a distinctive stripe down its spine and a spur-like tip on its tail.
"He'd read his wife's Womens Weekly and it had an article in there about endangered species and extinct species, and he saw a picture and said 'hang on a minute, I've seen one of them here'," Ms French said.
"He got in contact with the Government and they checked it out and found that yes, there were bridled nailtail wallabies on that property near Dingo, near the Taunton National Park."
Ms French says partnerships with state and federal governments, as well as landholders around the 130,000-hectare national park, are essential to the program's success.
"When we're doing baiting programs we need the landholders in the surrounding areas to help out because otherwise the predators will come straight back into the national park area," Ms French said.
"That's one of the biggest strengths of this program."
As well as removing introduced predators, the FBA is tracking numbers of bridled nailtail wallaby through microchipping and population censuses, and encouraging the animals into areas with suitable habitat.
Another population is being established at Avocet Nature Refuge near Emerald where there are now 100 wallabies.
