Leadbeater’s Possum

---

That may not sound that exciting at first, but this possum, a Leadbeater’s possum, was supposed to be extinct. This tiny marsupial, weighing about half as much as a can of coke, was somewhat of an icon to the people of Victoria, Australia. It was first described by western scientists in 1867, and they even honoured it by naming it Gymnobelideu leadbeateri after John Leadbeater, the National Museum of Victoria’s famous taxidermist (while this might now seem strange, back then animal stuffing was still an evolving science and a good taxidermist was a real treasure).

Extinct or not extinct? That is the question

After 1867, however, it seems the possum’s numbers declined. Although a few more specimens were found in subsequent decades, the mass clearance of the forests of the Bass River Valley where it lived meant that by 1921, this local treasure had been declared extinct.

A mere ten years later, however, in 1931, there came a clue that the possum might still be alive. A curator of mammals at the National Museum of Victoria, Charles Brazenor, found a misidentified stuffed animal that was in fact a Leadbeater’s possum, proving it had been wandering around quite recently.

And so Charles started a mini-crusade to find the possum along with noted naturalist David Fleay, focusing on the promisingly still-forested area of Mount Wills in north-eastern Victoria. His searches were unsuccessful however, and after an appeal in the popular ‘Wild Life’ magazine failed to uncover any sightings by the public, he began to feel that the possum had really gone. As the years went by, he got promoted through the Museum, eventually becoming Director and slowly letting go of his dream of finding the possum.

In 1960, the Leadbeater’s possum was once again pronounced well and truly extinct, descending into myth and mystery, a relic of a past Victoria.

A glint in the darkness – the possum is rediscovered

What Charles didn’t bank on, however, was the keenness of the next generation – little eight-year old Eric Wilkinson was among those who read his appeal to the public to report any sightings of the possum. In 1959, Eric decided to undertake some self-funded surveys of nocturnal mammals and began researching what he might find in the chosen vicinity while saving up for a car. When he came across mention of the Leadbeater’s possum, he remembered the article he had read twelve years before and made sure to examine the National Museum of Victoria’s old specimens when he landed a job there the following year.

With this information fresh in his mind, he understood the significance of what he saw one night in 1961. Eric was out with some friends surveying in Cumberland Valley, less than two hours’ drive from Melbourne. Standing still in the dark, he heard a creature rustling in the undergrowth and used his spotlight to pick out a tiny animal with a particularly long and thin brushy tail. Within a few moments he recognised it as none other than the Leadbeater’s possum. They couldn’t quite believe it though, and soon afterwards packed up to head back without seeing any more possums’ eyes glint in the darkness.

As Eric drove back home past a spot called Tommy’s Bend, he was surprised by what he thought was a nightjar (a sort of bird) swooping in front of his car. He stopped out of curiosity to shine a light after it, but instead of the nightjar he saw what he was now certain was another Leadbeater’s possum!

This second sighting proved it – the Leadbeater’s possum was alive. Eric knew, however, that he needed evidence, as nobody would really believe a young assistant if he started claiming that he had seen the ‘sasquatch’ of Victoria. A few days later, he returned in the dead of night to Tommy’s Bend, and managed to take the first ever pictures of a living Leadbeater’s possum.

The official return of the possum

The film had to be sent to Sydney to be developed, and we can only imagine how nerve-wracking those 10 days were. Here was his chance to answer Charles Brazenor’s appeal of 15 years ago, his chance to bring back the Leadbeater’s possum to the world, and it all depended on a night time flash photo. The photos were eventually developed and Eric excitedly asked Charles Brazenor for a meeting.

Eric went to that meeting clutching his photos in eager anticipation. He sat there in front of his boss, this eminent scientist who had been looking for the possum for decades, offering proof that he, a young whippersnapper, had found it by accident. Charles inspected the photos from all angles, holding them up to the light before finally launching into a lecture on the unreliability of photos. Eric’s photos, he maintained, were no proof, and Eric left the Director’s office dismayed.

But Charles must have thought there was something more to the photos, for he later authorised Eric to go on a trip to look for a specimen with his colleague John Coventry, probably the best marksman in the Museum. Rain and snow made searching impossible on their first night, but on the second John obtained a genuine specimen. When the possum was presented to Charles, he said, somewhat begrudgingly, “It looks as though you were right after all.”

Finding the Leadbeater’s possum was a defining moment of Eric’s life, and when he fell in love later that year he brought Mary Sexton, his future wife, out with him to spotlight the possum.

A community gathers to save the possum

The Leadbeater’s possum still lives in the central highlands of Victoria, though they are considered endangered. They are a delicate species, nesting in the hollows of old trees, but many of these old trees have been cut down. To make matters worse, bushfires tore through Victoria in 2009, destroying about 40% of the possums’ habitat and halving the possum’s wild population. There are now thought to be only about 1,500 Leadbeater’s possums left in the wild.

But the people of Victoria are not going to let it go extinct without a fight. The voluntary Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum organisation has set up nestboxes for the possum, monitoring them and providing them with shelter and food, sometimes even having to ski through the snow to reach them! There are also captive breeding programmes, ensuring that there is a safe population that can’t be harmed by fires and deforestation. With all this effort and commitment, we can hope that the Leadbeater’s possum will never again be declared extinct.

 

Many thanks to Eric Wilkinson for supplying his story, and to Rebecca Carland, whose film on the possum was a great help in putting this article together.

---