It wasn’t only the gentle wallabies who took over my Mountain house yard once I’d let them in. The bigger Eastern Grey Kangaroos eventually used it too. The families became easy around me, but never the males. When a male stood erect, he was taller than my gate had been.
This one is clearly ready for chasing a female; their penises were always curved like this, although mostly not seen.
They were slower than the wallabies to venture inside my yard, no doubt concerned that the gates might shut them in. The females and young came first.
The kangaroo joeys were as cute as the wallaby ones, and gradually ceased to bother about me, the only human… and pathetically without a tail.
The next drastic step was taking down the netting fence altogether. As you can see, the kikuyu grass was long inside it. That’s a Wallaroo outside; they remained wary and never did venture in far.
That fence had been a labour to build, and mostly by me, so it was a painful step to dismantle it.
Taking off the netting and rolling it up was a sort of relief and a sort of defeat. I think the roos felt better without it there to possibly hem them in, as even the males seemed more relaxed, preening and cleaning as they usually would.
For me, having an uninterrupted flow down to the small dam allowed better viewing of all the wildlife who came to drink there. Once I saw a female roo even hop in to escape a persistent male! But that was rare.
I felt closer to the wildlife as the man-made barriers came down, while I still regretted the garden dream, the heritage roses…
The price I paid for the overwhelming task and trauma of writing Rich Land, Wasteland was actually incalculable.
Once upon a time a wise man said (a) local RLWL issue was, compared to working with Australiana sustainably, ‘a minor headache’. Kangaroo totems now better placed, for centuries hence. They’re the real spark plug. Methinks you’re justly blessed