Free half-hour webinars, each followed by 10 minutes Q&A

Starting 3.00 pm (Queensland time), third Monday of every month

(scroll for schedule).

Ronda J. Green

Images: Araucaria Ecotours

Next webinar

3.00pm Monday, 19 January 2026:

Bandicoots and carnivorous marsupials

These are not so likely to be seen by visitors, but if talking about our local fauna it will still be of interest to nature-loving travellers.

Even many Australians are unaware that we have small relatives of the Tasmanian Devil living in the forests of SE Qld, ranging from mouse-size to cat-size. The most common, the antechinus, may be seen at night around some ecolodges or campgrounds and mistaken for mice, but they are very different from mice in many ways.

Bandicoots are common, as are the little conical holes they leave in the ground after digging for grubs, roots and fungi, but as they are strictly nocturnal they are not often seen by visitors except on some nocturnal tours or camping overnight in areas occupied by bandicoots. They show some physical similarities with carnivorous marsupials, and some with herbivorous marsupials, which seems fitting as they eat both plant and animal material.

Scroll down for the Zoom link and the schedule for the next few monthsi

This series is a fantastic opportunity to get to know our wildlife better and to spread our knowledge to visitors to our region.

Many of our visitors, but also many Queenslanders – including many in the tour industry – do not fully appreciate how special the area surrounding Brisbane is for wildlife experiences.

In 2032, there will be a lot of visitors to SE Queensland for the Olympics. Many of these will want to see something of our wildlife while they are here.

Wouldn’t it be great if all our tour operators, hotel staff, even restaurant waiters and service station workers could be knowledgeable about the amazing diversity of wildlife that can be seen close to Brisbane, both in the wild and in captivity, where to see them, how to watch them with disturbing them, and some fascinating facts about them.

Do you know which of our local birds are found nowhere else except the SE Qld and NE NSW? Can you tell keen bird watchers where and how to find them? Can you give nature-lovers advice on short drives or public transport from Brisbane to see a variety of habitat types and wildlife? What about some well-run wildlife parks where they can see the species they are unlikely to encounter in the wild?

The Olympics offer an excellent opportunity to let international folk know there is a lot more than kangaroos, koalas and kookaburras in Australia.

And while the initial idea for this series of webinars, initiated at Wildlife Tourism Australia’s 2022 conference, was to inform tour operators and other folk likely to meet lots of international visitors in 2032, these webinars can of course be enjoyed by our visitors themselves while planning their trips, and by anyone else either living in Southeast Queensland or planning to visit.

The Scenic Rim, just a little south of Brisbane, along with the NE corner of NSW, is part of the region boasting the third highest biodiversity in Australia. We have many of the famous species here – kangaroos, koalas, platypus, kookaburras, wedge-tailed eagles, lyrebirds, bowerbirds, carpet pythons, etc. Also, many kinds of habitat: various forms of rainforest and eucalypt forest, sheoak-dominant riparian vegetation, creeks, rivers, mountain heath, brigalow … 

Then there are regions such as the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast with whales, turtles, dugongs, coral, mangroves and tea tree wetlands, and Bribie Island, which has been recorded as harbouring more bird species than Kakadu. We don’t have cassowaries, wombats, Tasmanian devils, red kangaroos, emus or penguins in the wild (although they can all be seen in well-run wildlife parks), but for any nature-lover visiting our country for a short time, there is an amazing diversity of wildlife within easy access from Brisbane.

Hence, along with the Scenic Rim branch of Wildlife Queensland, we are about to launch a series of short webinars on wildlife that can be seen within a short drive from Brisbane (and will also mention a few that are not so easy to see but we think would be good for people to know about)

These webinars will run at 3.00 pm on the third Monday of every month over the next couple of years, starting from July 2025. 

For details, including Zoom link, please contact Ronda at chair@wildlifetourismaustralia.org.au

Join Zoom Meeting

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86777923627?pwd=SEcGmG2MEWrzYasg6mLp3sKF1O8FmT.1

Meeting ID: 867 7792 3627
Passcode: 971533

---

One tap mobile
+13092053325,,86777923627#,,,,971533# US +13126266799,,86777923627#,,,,971533# US (Chicago)

---

Join by SIP

• 86777923627@zoomcrc.com

Join instructions
https://us06web.zoom.us/meetings/86777923627/invitations?signature=EeVQ3ixpY9399Jd7HixCLWa0uVwKQSpkJxM0SFtRqU0

Schedule for this year (2025):

21 July The amazing diversity of wildlife in southeast Queensland. Learn why our region has such a great diversity of wildlife. (scroll down for abbreviated pdf of this webinar)

See https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/wildlife-of-se-queensland-webinar-no-1-why-such-high-biodiversity-here/

18 August Platypus and Echidna: Laying eggs is just the start of their oddities! Do you know how they use electricity, what colour a platypus glows under UV light, and the many reasons we should NEVER refer to echidnas as porcupines? What advice would you give someone wanting to see a platypus? Many local residents haven’t seen one in the wild, but despite some conservation issues they’re still reasonably common. Twice in my own tours (Araucaria Ecotours) we’ve had a father(one from USA, one from Austria) bring a young daughter to Australia for the sole purpose of seeing a platypus on her birthday, and one American lady told us she’d been waiting 50 years to see one.

See

• https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/platypus-and-echidna-no-2-in-webinar-series-wildlife-seq/
• https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/platypus-and-echidna-webinar-series-2-part-2/
• https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/platypus-and-echidna-webinar-series-2-part-3/

15 September Kangaroos, wallabies and potoroos. No, wallabies are not all alike! And there are more species to be seen around the Qld/NSW border than in any other part of Australia . Some like rocky mountain slopes, some prefer eucalyptus forests forest with plenty of grass, in both rural and suburban areas, while others live under dense rainforest. Eastern grey kangaroos (which are called Macropus giganteus for a reason!) can be found in great numbers in some easily-reached places. Australians are often a bit blasé about kangaroos and wallabies, but international visitors still find them fascinating, even quite unbelievable. How much can you tell them about what behaviours to watch for, and how best to approach for photos without disturbing them? We were joined b yDr David Croft (from ResearchGate: “After completing a PhD at the University of Cambridge, David has had a long career at UNSW teaching subjects in vertebrate biology, animal behavior and ecology, and natural resource management in the arid lands. He has published research on invertebrates, various marsupials, sheep, marine mammals, and primates. His specialty is the behavioral ecology of the kangaroos and their kind with a recent focus on interactions with people in livestock enterprises, on roads, and in wildlife tourism.” David was the founder of RooTourism, which offers nature-lovers a great amount of information on macropods (kangaroos, wallabies and relatives). with hints on where to see them.

Kangaroos and kin. SE Qld Webinar series 3 Part 1

20 October Koala. It’s not hard to see why they are, along with kangaroos, the most popular of our animals with international guests, and they’re found in the wild only in eastern Australia (tending west safari as Adelaide). Can you advise visitors where to see them, and perhaps the unusual features to look for on their hands and feet? How to look for signs that they have recently been around even if proving a bit elusive? What season they’re most active?

17 November Gliders and other possums. We have five species of gliding possum in the region, arguably as cute as koalas, and they soar through the air (well, glide actually). None are easy to find in the wild. Would you like a few tips on increasing your chances of seeing them, and how to ensure you don’t disturb them? Can you tell visitors where to see them in captivity if they don’t have time to attempt seeing them in the wild? Can you explain the differences between the opossums of the Americas and the possums of Australia? What do they eat (it’s not the same for all species)? Which ones have successfully colonised our suburbs and which are strictly forest-dwellers? How do you tell the city-dwelling possums apart?

December – break

Webinars in 2026

19 January. Bandicoots and carnivorous marsupials

16 February. Bats large and small.

16 March. Rakali and other rodents

20 April Whales, dolphins and dugongs

18 May Bowerbirds and catbirds

15 June Honeyeaters

… to be continued

2027 – reptiles, frogs and fish

2028 – invertebrates (butterflies, glow worms, marine creatures…), plants, ecosystem ands other topics TBA

2028 and beyond …. TBA

A summary of information from each webinar will be posted on both the Scenic Rim Wildlife website and the Wildlife Tourism Australia website, including:

• species
• special features of the species
• behaviour
• ecological roles
• endemism (whether found only I our region, only in eastern Australia, etc.)
• conservation status
• where to see them, both in the wild and in well-run captive situations (we won’t be saying where to see the rarest and most vulnerable, or those which could be targets for poachers – the black market pet trade is an ongoing problem)
• how to watch them without disturbing them

More details soon …

Remember:

These webinars will run at 3.00 pm on the third Monday of every month over the next couple of years, starting from 21 July 2025. 

For details, please contact Ronda at chair@wildlifetourismaustralia.org.au

Help spread the word. Download pdf: https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/WIldlife-SEQ-Webinars.pdf