Late September — Early October, pepper shaker soft-release

Seeing the beauty and abundance of the soft-release site, for our fifth group of Ringtail possums with Koala Clancy, always helps make the transition from care to soft-release so much easier. Knowing what awaits them as they leave the trailer, and imaging how that might feel after 6-months raised in care, it is an exciting time for them. A rich, sensory world awaits. This, in conjunction with knowing that, with the help of Koala Clancy’s Janine, Gloria and Peter, they are in safe and loving hands, as they keep an eye over them and care for them, until they head off, is so comforting. Such well-connected soft-release sites, on private property, made possible by such enthusiastic, devoted teamwork, are the stuff of dreams.

Looking back over our records, Linus came into care from Carnegie, after being with a member of the public (MoP) for two days, and then, when he went downhill, taken to a vet clinic in Fitzroy. He weighed 80 grams on the 2nd of April. Lute came into care from Prahran, three days later, on the 5th; ‘he’ on the initial paperwork from the vets became ‘she’, Lute weighed 86 grams. Sylvie followed, on the 6th. She came in with her fur still flat to her body, from Aspen Gardens, and she weighed 82 grams.

Pictured (below) then, and at their last weigh-in just before we popped them in their green travel basket and headed with them to the soft-release site, they’ve come so far.

(In the accompanying pink basket, autumn 2025’s release group, Ginni, named after a Hawthorn football player, and Basil, Constance, and Rose, after three characters in The Australian Ballet’s Oscar©. While the four of them are smaller than we would have hoped, the littlest weighing 62 grams, they, too, are doing well so far. They are especially enjoying the beautiful browse hand-delivered by dedicated Koala Clancy members, Gloria and Peter, who continually go above and beyond. Naturally, it seems the quartet that follows this one will need to be named after them.)

Gentle Linus remains recognisable by the peach ear tufts, Lute, as befits the stringed instrument, by her triangular face, and Sylvie, who for the longest time it seemed uncertain if she’d even make it, is now the strongest and largest in the group.

As Linus, Lute, and Sylvie begin their soft-release chapter, at a different part of the Koala Clancy property to previous releases, the view from the roof of one of the newly installed possum boxes reveals a scene less familiar to the humans, and it is expansive, verdant, and comforting, for, when we open the soft-release enclosure this Sunday, after they’ve had a little longer to become familiar and settled in their new environment, there is so, so much for them to explore and inhabit. So many trees for Linus and Lute to scale and branches for Sylvie to navigate. So many things to see, feel, taste. So many things to learn. A whole brilliant, wild, arboreal world awaits them. One they’ve not really encountered before, and one in which they’ll thrive in. Imagine being able to scale such trees! What do they sense up there? Lucky, deserving, brilliant and (nearly there) wild possums! A forest feast of red gum and sugar gum, and more besides, awaits!

To help them find their bearings, we place a grevillea a piece in the nesting box inside their soft-release trailer as a house-warming offering of a familiar treat. Devoured upon entry, this surely bodes well. With the trail camera set up in place to record any activity around the soft-release site, our paws remain crossed for them, and those before them.

Look back at earlier possum soft-releases with us.

Atlas and Clover, in Emerald
Ada, Agnès, Hilda, and Violet, in Balliang
Sid, Noodles, Feeney, and Finnius, Balliang
Myrtle and Poppy, Emerald
Dante, Kitri, Norris, and Norbert, in Staughton Vale
Ernestine, Henrietta, Beryl, and Bernice, Staughton Vale

Twenty-three possums, in total, nineteen of which with the help of Koala Clancy, since 2022. It doesn’t sound like all that much, when you register the numbers, but these small steps, we hope, sound big notes, and illustrate the maxim that from little things, big things do indeed grow.

The image component of our artists’ book, Restoring corridors, is currently on display at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, as part of the 2024 National Works on Paper exhibition.

2024 National Works on Paper
Until Sunday 24th November, 2024
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington, Victoria
11am–4pm, Tuesday–Sunday
(Closed public holidays)

Vote for your favourite work in the 2024 National Works on Paper People’s Choice Award

Image credit: Historiated initial with King David playing the lute, Manuscript Cutting c.1495–1505 (illuminated), (attributed to) Girolamo dai Libri

In Italy illuminated choirbooks and liturgical manuscripts contain the work of large numbers of miniature painters. Some individuals can be identified. This initial B is attributed to Girolamo dai Libri of Verona. It shows King David, one of the great heroes of the Old Testament, reclining on a rich carpet and playing a stringed instrument. King David was a musician and was traditionally believed to be the author of the Psalms.

The large size of the initial and the quality of its execution are reflections of the magnificence of such books.
—V&A