History of the Northern hairy-nosed wombat
Discovery and Naming:
In 1797, when a sailing ship by the name of Sydney Cove got shipwrecked on Clarke Island, Tasmania, the crew of the Francis, the salvage ship, discovered a population of wombats on the island (Wells 1989). Two live wombats were captured by the crew, including Matthew Flinders, who was aboard the Francis at the time, and taken back to Port Jackson for further studies (Wells 1989). The corpse of one of the specimens was later sent to the Literary and Philosophical Society where Joseph Banks verified the wombat as a new species (Simpson 2009). The new species was also said to be seen living in New South Wales and resembled a badger.
The name “wombat” is derived from the language of the, now nearly extinct, Aboriginal Darug people who were original inhabitants of the Sydney area (Butler 2009). The name was originally recorded in January of 1798 when James Wilson, a white man whom adopted the ways of the Aboriginals, and John Price visited, the now named, Bargo in New South Wales. Early settlers often mistook wombats for badgers due to their habits and size and, because of this, locations such as Badger Corner in Tasmania and Badger Creek in Victoria were mistakenly named after the wombat (Middleton 2009). The spelling of ‘wombat’ went through many variations over many years including “womback”, “wombach”, “womat”, “whombat” and “wambat” and this possibly reflects the dialectal differentiations in the Darug language (Middleton 2009).
In 1797, when a sailing ship by the name of Sydney Cove got shipwrecked on Clarke Island, Tasmania, the crew of the Francis, the salvage ship, discovered a population of wombats on the island (Wells 1989). Two live wombats were captured by the crew, including Matthew Flinders, who was aboard the Francis at the time, and taken back to Port Jackson for further studies (Wells 1989). The corpse of one of the specimens was later sent to the Literary and Philosophical Society where Joseph Banks verified the wombat as a new species (Simpson 2009). The new species was also said to be seen living in New South Wales and resembled a badger.
The name “wombat” is derived from the language of the, now nearly extinct, Aboriginal Darug people who were original inhabitants of the Sydney area (Butler 2009). The name was originally recorded in January of 1798 when James Wilson, a white man whom adopted the ways of the Aboriginals, and John Price visited, the now named, Bargo in New South Wales. Early settlers often mistook wombats for badgers due to their habits and size and, because of this, locations such as Badger Corner in Tasmania and Badger Creek in Victoria were mistakenly named after the wombat (Middleton 2009). The spelling of ‘wombat’ went through many variations over many years including “womback”, “wombach”, “womat”, “whombat” and “wambat” and this possibly reflects the dialectal differentiations in the Darug language (Middleton 2009).
Endangered Status:
In the 1980s, the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat population was as little as 35 individuals remaining in the world and were all located at Epping Forest National Park located in Central Queensland. However, in 2009, a second population was discovered at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge located in Southern Queensland. More recently, in 2012, the population of both sites totalled approximately 200 wombats. In May of 2012, under the Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995), the species was officially listed as extinct in New South Wales and in July of 2012, under the Nature Conservation Act (1992), the species was listed as endangered in Queensland (Department of Environment 2013).
In the 1980s, the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat population was as little as 35 individuals remaining in the world and were all located at Epping Forest National Park located in Central Queensland. However, in 2009, a second population was discovered at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge located in Southern Queensland. More recently, in 2012, the population of both sites totalled approximately 200 wombats. In May of 2012, under the Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995), the species was officially listed as extinct in New South Wales and in July of 2012, under the Nature Conservation Act (1992), the species was listed as endangered in Queensland (Department of Environment 2013).
The image to the right shows the historical range of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat in comparison to its range today (Treby 2005).
References:
Butler, S 2009, ‘The Dinkum Dictionary: The Origins of Australian Words’, Text Publishing, Melbourne.
Department of Environment 2013, ‘Lasiorhinus krefftii — Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat’, viewed 14 October 2013,
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=198
Middleton, A 2009, ‘The Day of the Wombat’, Australian Geographic, Sydney.
Simpson, J 2009, ‘The ‘Wombat’ Trail: Transient Languages and Cultures’, The University of Sydney, Sydney.
Treby, D 2005, 'Husbandry Manual for the Common Wombat, Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat and the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat', University of Queensland, viewed 14 October 2013,
http://www.aszk.org.au/docs/wombat_husbandry_manual.pdf
Wells, R.T 1989, ‘Fauna of Australia: 32. Vombatidae’, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Butler, S 2009, ‘The Dinkum Dictionary: The Origins of Australian Words’, Text Publishing, Melbourne.
Department of Environment 2013, ‘Lasiorhinus krefftii — Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat’, viewed 14 October 2013,
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=198
Middleton, A 2009, ‘The Day of the Wombat’, Australian Geographic, Sydney.
Simpson, J 2009, ‘The ‘Wombat’ Trail: Transient Languages and Cultures’, The University of Sydney, Sydney.
Treby, D 2005, 'Husbandry Manual for the Common Wombat, Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat and the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat', University of Queensland, viewed 14 October 2013,
http://www.aszk.org.au/docs/wombat_husbandry_manual.pdf
Wells, R.T 1989, ‘Fauna of Australia: 32. Vombatidae’, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.