Community Participation
In 1991 the 'Friends of the Tuan' was formed by the National Threatened Species Network,
hosted by the Victorian National Parks Association. This group coordinates and gives
assistance to groups interested in the conservation of the Brush-tailed Phascogale.
Activities to date include liaison and assistance with postgraduate research work,
facilitation of a nest-box monitoring project at Rushworth with the Australian Trust for
Conservation Volunteers, provision of information for extension displays including at Bendigo
Special School and distribution of monitoring sheets.
Land for Wildlife participants and local naturalists' groups are involved in the erection of
nest-boxes.
Examples of Bendigo's Threatened Fauna
- Barking Owl
- Brushtail Phascogale (Tuan)
- Common Dunnart
- Painted Honeyeater
- Pink-tail Worm-lizard
- Powerful Owl
- Regent Honeyeater
- Striped Legless Lizard
- Swift Parrot
Phascogale tapoatafa
Distribution
The Brush-tailed Phascogale has a disjunct distribution in Australia. Two subspecies are recognised:
P. tapoatafa tapoatafa, which is found in southern Queensland, coastal New South Wales, southern
Victoria and the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia (at which locality it is apparently extinct)
and south-west Western Australia; and P. t. pirata from northern Australia, above 18 degrees, including
Cape York Peninsula.
In Victoria the Brush-tailed Phascogale's distribution is fragmented. The species occurs in the
foothills to the east and north-east of Melbourne; central Victoria around Ballarat, Heathcote
and Bendigo; north-eastern Victoria from Broadford to Wodonga; the Brisbane Ranges north-east
of Geelong; and far western Victoria from Mt Eccles to Apsley. There have been no records from
Gippsland for over 25 years (Atlas of Victorian Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources and
Environment (NRE)) despite many fauna surveys including Norris et al. (1983) and other surveys
in the 'assessment of biological significance' series carried out by the Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources (CNR) and its predecessors.