Mala Reintroduction Project Factsheet
Commonwealth of Australia
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About the Factsheet
Anangu and Parks Australia have completed the construction of a 170 hectare feral proof enclosure, which is the new home for 25 Mala, reared in Watarrka National Park in the Northern Territory. It is hoped that the Mala will adapt to their new home, breed and eventually be released into the wild and contribute to the long-term survival of the species.
The Mala, or rufous hare-wallaby, once inhabited spinifex country throughout Central Australia. Today the Mala is extinct in the wild, wiped out by European settlement, changing fire regimes and feral predators such as cats and foxes. There have been no Mala in Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park since the mid 1900s. But for Uluru's traditional owners, Anangu, the Mala or 'hare wallaby people' are important ancestral beings. For tens of thousands of years, the Mala have watched over them from rocks and caves and walls, guiding them on their relationships with people, plants and animals, rules for living and caring for country. Mala Tjukurpa, the Mala Law, is central to their living culture and celebrated in story, song, dance and ceremony.
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