Rock wallaby
Petrogale penicillata (Gray, 1825)
Macropodidae
(Alecto Facsimile Edition - Plate 10)

BAU12

$750.00

12. Black-footed Rock-wallaby. Petrogale lateralis hacketti (Gould, 1842) [W,P&M]
342 x 510mm
This wallaby was shot on Mondrain Island, Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia on 13
January 1802. A description of the island landing is given by Matthew Flinders : “On the 13th, the
wind blew fresh from the eastward; and as we could not sail with the ship, lieutenant Fowler and
Mr Thistle went over to Mondrain Island, the largest we had yet seen in the archipelago. An
observation of the latitude and a set of angles were there taken, and they brought back some
seals of a reddish fur, and a few small kanguroos of a species different from any I had before
seen." The drawing represents the earliest record of this rock-wallaby as the original specimens
have not been preserved. The sub-species is named after Sir John Winthrop Hackett who was
Chairman of the Western Australian Museum Committee.
Today, the black-footed rock-wallaby is widespread in Australia but populations are in decline.
W&M : 316-7; W,P&M : 50-1, 52-3