BAC25501 1999. Watercolour and gouache on Arches paper, 650 x 560mm, framed, signed and dated by artist.<P> Last Record: 1956. Distribution: Western and Central Australia. The woodlands and scrubs of the west and centre of Australia were once home to the silky-furred crescent nailtail wallaby. The genus to which it belongs is distinguished, as its common name suggests, by the presence of a horny spur at the tip of the tail. The function of this appendage is still unknown. The crescent nailtail was the smallest member of the genus, resembling a hare in size. One of its more peculiar characteristics was its propensity to seek refuge in a hollow tree when chased, entering at the bottom, and clambering up until it appeared at an opening high above. The very last specimen ever collected as a living animal was caught in a dingo trap on the Nullarbor Plain in 1927 or 1928. The `dogger' who caught the animal, a Mr W A. Wills, sent it to Taronga Zoo in Sydney, from where it made its way to the Australian Museum. Wills was still alive in June 1984 when the Western Australian Department of Land Management decided to conduct a survey of the Nullarbor Plain. They arranged to speak with him, in the hope he would recall something of the creatures' habits and distribution. Wills, unfortunately, became so nervous at the prospect of the interview that the night before it was to take place he escaped from his retirement home, and drove his car through the night to visit his brother in Queensland! The crescent nailtail wallaby remained common, even in agricultural districts in the south-west of Western Australia, until around 1900. By 1908, however, it had begun a steep decline and the last record from the region dates to that year. It survived in the more arid parts of its distribution until the 1950s. Just what caused its disappearance is still debated, but the spread of the fox seems to be correlated with its loss and may have been the principal factor. $4500.00AUD
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