Late September through to early October

The second step of soft release, in which we open the enclosure, is just as important as the first, where, with a band of volunteers, the possums are introduced to local browse and have the chance to become acclimatised to their new environment. We recently opened the hatch, by unscrewing the plastic grill on the inside, and the screw-top lid on the outside of the modified down pipe that serves as their exit tunnel. Once open, we threaded the rope that heads to their original nesting box in the red box gum through the pipe. Norbert, Norris, Kitri, and Dante are now free to follow the rope from the enclosure to the tree and from there, the world beyond. This time, though, we set up our trail camera on a nearby trunk, to record their departure and their first days of freedom. As we did so, we sighted a Painted button-quail in the grass (Janine, Koala Clancy Foundation, had pointed out their platelets on the ground earlier to us, and according to Birdlife Australia, “Painted button-quails forage for seeds and insects on the ground by spinning about on alternate legs to expose items of food among the leaves and on the soil surface, and it is this action that forms the platelets.” Such a good sign!) Sadly, we didn’t have the camera settings right on the first night, so we were not able to capture their first steps and so we can only imagine, were they tentative? were they confident? did they all go together? or did Dante head off first and report back to the others?

Since then, thanks to Janine, the camera has been positioned in a better spot to trip the action and the timer adjusted. On the second night, we spotted Dante watching the enclosure from the tree bough as inside the enclosure Norris had yet to leave. He had been there the next morning, whether he went out in the night and returned or wasn’t ready yet, we’ll have to guess. Was Dante encouraging him to follow the rope and join the others? Was it actually Norbert waiting for his biological brother Norris? In the camera footage it can be hard to tell, and, of course, they are now different possums to the ones we’ve known; they are glorious and wild, back where they belong. So, while we may not have much footage of their first wild steps (first video), what we do have is knowledge that all four have left the enclosure and are now off exploring their new surrounds (with no evidence of them having not made it detected). And what new surrounds they are! Captured on film, a brushtail climbs atop the nest box and leaves a calling card (second video), a microbat flits by (possibly a Lesser long-eared, in the fourth video), and a sugar glider* (third video) investigates the box.

* “Previously classified as a single widespread species (Petaurus breviceps), recent research has revealed that the Sugar Glider is actually three genetically distinct species: Petaurus breviceps and two newly identified species, Krefft’s glider (Petaurus notatus) and the Savanna Glider (Petaurus ariel)” (Australian Wildlife Conservancy). In reference to their canopy acrobatics, the scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as “short-headed rope-dancer”.

28th September, 2023
From 2.53am

29th September, 2023
From 3.49am

1st October, 2023
From 7.15pam

1st October, 2023
From 8.19pm

From this lush red box canopy, a second rope bridge leads to another nesting box, and there are several others dotted around the area for Norbert, Norris, Kitri, and Dante to find, including two dreys camouflaged with some of the spent browse from inside the enclosure, and sprinkled with their scat.

Of animal whereabouts to a forthcoming group exhibition.

Coming up:
Whereabouts: Printmakers respond
Art Gallery of Ballarat
Saturday 18 November, 2023 — Sunday 4 February, 2024

The word whereabouts refers to ‘the place where someone or something is’.

For this exciting project, leading Australian printmaker Rona Green invited a cross-section of emerging and established artists from across Victoria to participate in a group exhibition exploring their personal relationship to place, country and home.

The 56 artists involved use a variety of print media and work in a range of genres and styles. Each artist has created a new work in a standard size using the printmaking technique of their choice, responding to the theme.

Artists in the exhibitionare Sue Anderson, Elizabeth Banfield, Matthew Clarke, Paul Compton, Miranda Costa, Fiona Davey, Rachel Derum, Mark Dustin, Grace Eve, Philip Faulks, Kevin Foley, Eleanor Franks, David Frazer, Tyronne Gietzmann, Silvi Glattauer, Jackie Gorring, Rona Green, Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, Gregory Harrison, Bill Hay, Judy Horacek, Anita Iacovella, Kyoko Imazu, Deborah Klein, Gillian Kline, Anita Laurence, Dianne Longley, Michael Lye, Marion Manifold, Cassie May, Aaron McLoughlin, Glenn Morgan, Carnegie Muir, Angela Nagel, Billy Nye, James Pasakos, Jim Pavlidis, Catherine Pilgrim, Michael Reynolds, Cathy Ronalds, David Rosengrave, John Ryrie, Libby Schreiber, Gwen Scott, Heather Shimmen, Glen Smith, Ruth Stanton, Neale Stratford, Sophia Szilagyi, Helen Timbury, Clayton Tremlett, Peter Ward, Deborah Williams, Joel Wolter and Jessi Wong.

The Gallery acknowledges the generosity of all the artists in donating print number 57/57 from each edition to the Gallery Collection.

Image credit: Dorothy Thornhill, Tree portrait, 1947, oil on canvas, in the collection of National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, © The Estate of Dorothy Thornhill