Bilbies are city's cutest attraction

Makayla Harding gets to cuddle Paulie the bilby at the new Bilby habitat opening day at the Queens Park Nature Centre.

Rob Williams

HUNDREDS of people flocked to the official opening of Ipswich's newest attraction at Queens Park last week.

Known for their silky grey fur, enormous translucent ears and indisputable all-round cuteness, four endangered bilbies have been given a new chance at life in the custom-built habitat.

The event attracted more than 500 people and included free animal face painting, a visit from the Dreamworld mascot Bonza the Bilby and a baby animal feeding session at the barn yard.

Visitors can now see the nocturnal creatures at the Ipswich Nature Centre from Tuesday to Sunday between 9.30am and 4pm.

The $430,000 enclosure contains a computer controlled environment which tricks the animals into believing night is day and day is night.

This strategy has been taken to create an atmosphere where the animals could undertake their normal night time activities throughout the day to allow visitors to view them.

“They adapted so well to their new surroundings we decided to open the enclosure during the school holidays a week ago so hundreds of people have already seen them,” Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said.

Cr Pisasale thanked local bilby expert Frank Manthey for his tireless efforts to save the species.

“A large part of this enclosure is the story of Frank Manthey and his close friend and fellow conservationist Peter McRae who established the Save the Bilby Fund,” Cr Pisasale said. “Through this fund Frank and Peter raised enough money to fence off a large area of Currawinya National Park, near Charleville, close to the centre of the bilbies' former range in eastern Australia.

“This move has seen the bilby numbers improve significantly by protecting (them) from predators like foxes, wild cats and wild dogs.”

Parks, Sport and Recreation Committee chairman David Morrison said the exhibit would allow people to see the marsupials happy in possibly the closest thing to its natural environment.