Save The Bilby Fund
Our Vision
Our vision is to save the bilby from extinction in our lifetime.
The Fund’s focus is to help build an insurance population of 10,000 bilbies in Australia by 2030.
We breed and release captive bilbies to a sanctuary surrounded by a predator exclusion fence in Currawinya National Park to build a population of 400 free-living bilbies.
The Fund
Save the Bilby Fund is a national charity launched on 28 March 1999 by the late Frank Manthey OAM and the late scientist Peter McRae to raise the money to build the fence in an effort to stop the steady decline of bilby numbers.
Our Values
Honesty, integrity, passion, commitment and transparency.
Our Team
CEO, Feral animal eradicator, Bilby researcher
Kev joined Save the Bilby Fund in 2002 and has been its CEO since 2014.
Immediately before his current role, Kev was the former Director of Veterinary Services and Animal Operations with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Queensland. His primary responsibilities included strategic planning and operational and administrative management of animal and veterinary operations for the RSPCA statewide.
Kev has made significant contributions to improving captive animal care and welfare as well as wildlife conservation outcomes through a well-respected career in the Zoological Industry spanning 30 years. He is the current Chair of the Greater Bilby National Recovery Team and a member of the Greater Bilby Meta-population Management Sub-Committee.
- Current Chair Greater Bilby National Recovery Team (2015- Current)
- Greater Bilby Meta-population Management Sub-Committee Member (2015-Current)
- Director- Center for Animal Welfare and Ethics (CAWE) University of Queensland (2012-Current)
- Director of Veterinary Services and Animal Operations, RSPCA Queensland.
- Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee member, RSPCA Queensland.
- Former Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Life Sciences Dreamworld/Whitewater World, Gold Coast, Australia.
- Past President: Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria, Queensland Branch (ARAZPAQ).
- Board Member: Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA).
- Founding Chairman: ARAZPA Accreditation Committee.
- Appointed Representative to the Recreational and Commercial Animal Management Advisory Committee (RACAMAC) to the Minister for the Environment Queensland (2003–2007).
- Zoological Industry Representative: Rural Industry Training Advisory Council, advising State and Federal Government training priorities.
- Representative of the Animal Care and Management Working Group to develop a qualification framework for the Captive and related Animal Care Sectors.
- Board member: National Industry Steering Committee for the Animal Care and Management Training Package.
- Representative of the captive animal sector/ Animal Care and Management Training Package 2003/ 2004. Course development – implementation and endorsement.
- Convenor: National Zookeeper Education Working Group.
- Committee Member: Course Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) for Cert III in Native Animal Rehabilitation.
Sara, originally from the UK, lives in Brisbane and has been working part-time with the Save the Bilby Fund since late 2018.
Sara is working to ensure that the fund has enough income to carry out the steps needed to save the bilby. We have lost more income streams than we could brook, and so we have had to quickly use her expertise in fundraising to plug the gaps.
A fundraising all-rounder, Sara is super pragmatic and determined for Save The Bilby Fund to achieve sustainable growth on a shoestring.
Cass (left) and Kev holding a Bilby
Cass is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland researching the Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis). Cass’s research is being undertaken in collaboration with Save the Bilby Fund and Arid Recovery, where she is investigating the home range and movements of reintroduced bilby populations. Cass is tracking bilbies in fenced reserves at Currawinya National Park in southwest Queensland’s mulga lands and in the arid zone in South Australia, using novel, lightweight GPS logging devices. This research aims to investigate the effects of climatic zones and bilby density on home range size and movements to better understand the spatial ecology and requirements of reintroduced bilby populations in fenced reserves.
Our Board of Directors
Paul has been a director of Save the Bilby Fund since 2010 and helped implement their ‘Bilby Tracks’ citizen science trips to outback Queensland.
Rachel has been involved with Save the Bilby Fund from the early days of the fund and has been a board director since 2015.
Board director since 2012.
Involved with Save the Bilby Fund for over 17 years.
How we spend your donations...
The Save the Bilby Fund is a tiny Australian registered charity that receives no recurrent government funding. We are reliant on the support and generosity of Australians to achieve our vision.
We are incredibly grateful for every gift, large or small, and we understand your expectation that it should be spent directly on our work. As a tiny team who all work part-time from home or in the field, we minimise expenditure where possible and seek only to cover our costs at each stage of delivering the National Recovery Plan.
We dedicate our time and effort to these areas –
- Our CEO, Kevin Bradley, is Chair of the Greater Bilby Recovery Team
- Monitoring of the predator exclusion fence at Currawinya National Park
- Building the population of bilbies behind the fence to around 400
- Breeding genetically diverse bilbies for release in Currawinya and other similar sanctuaries across Australia
- Enabling critical bilby research
- The Charleville Bilby Experience
History and Achievements
2024
June: “Lights, Camera, Take ACTION!” fundraiser
roughly 400 – 500 biblies inside the fence and a few thriving outside too
2023
March: Dig Deep 4 Bilbies
May: “From 30km2 to 300kms” fundraiser
November: “Poop. That’s where the bilby’s secrets lie” fundraiser
2022
Successful year of breeding in Charleville – 8 joeys born
March: Dig Deep 4 Bilbies
2021
Charleville Bilby Experience re-opens
March: Our first ever giving day
May: Estimate population of bilbies in Currawinya over 200
October: Breeding facility update completed
October: Boulia to Birdsville survey
2020
March: Bilbies not Bunnies petition opens
March: COVID-19 Pandemic
April: Unable to open the Charleville Bilby Experience
May: Preliminary estimate of bilby population in Currawinya deemed to be 60 – 80 bilbies
August: 6 more young adults released to Currawinya
November: Appeal launched to upgrade breeding facilities
2019
April: First release of 6 pioneer bilbies back into the Currawinya fence
June: First babies of the pioneer bilbies are sighted
July: Tail tracker appeal to raise money to purchase tail trackers to monitor and understand behaviour of released animals
September: Second group of 20 bilbies released in the fence
2018
Currawinya bilby fence major works begin … one panel at a time to ensure no feral cats are allowed into the fence
First Charleville bilby festival – street parade including the 3rd bilby ball and annual NBD celebrations
UQ PhD student, Cassandra Arkinstall begins her research of the upcoming bilby releases into the Currawinya bilby fence
2017
National parks announcement of 750,000 to retro fit the bilby fence
September: MOU with National parks to take over the Charleville breeding facilities
Extensive update and revamp of the breeding facilities
2016
Indigenous Bilby Knowledge Festival supported by Save the Bilby Fund
Revised memorandum of understanding signed with the Queensland Government
The Bilby Channel launches on YouTube
The new Charleville Bilby Experience officially opened located at the historical Charleville train station
Inaugural Fur Ball and Dawnie Express steam train highlights in Charleville as part of fundraising for National Bilby Day
Citizen science surveys the first “2016 Bilby Tracks” trip conducted in Currawinya National Park
2015
Greater Bilby Recovery Summit 2015 initiated by Save the Bilby Fund with the National Interim Conservation Plan for the Greater Bilby developed and published
Save the Bilby Fund appointed Interim National Recovery Team Co-ordinator for the Greater Bilby – 2018 no longer interim
2014
Queensland Feral Animal Summit initiated by Save the Bilby Fund
Save the Bilby Fund granted Deductible Gift Recipient Status and added to the Australian Government Register of Environmental Organisations
2012
Frank Manthey awarded OAM for services to conservation
Ipswich Nature Reserve’s ‘Frank Manthey – Bilby Burrow’ display opened
2011/12
The bilby fence is breached by feral cats
2009
Dreamworld opens Bilby display
Griffith University engaged to survey Currawinya and PPBio plot research supported for environmental monitoring
2005
First Bilby release into Currawinya Bilby Fence
National Bilby Day officially declared by Federal Minister for the Environment The Hon. Ian Campbell – the second Sunday in September
2004
Dreamworld breeds Bilbies under Captive Breeding Agreement with the Queensland Government
2003
Bilby Fence officially opened by Environment Minister Dean Wells
Frank awarded Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year
1999
Save the Bilby Fund officially formed under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Queensland Government and the Murweh Shire Council
1991
National appeal launched by Frank Manthey and Peter McRae to construct the Bilby Fence at Currawinya National Park