G'day yet again Murray,

Yeah, the Tasmanians can be pretty laconic in their speech. They tend to call the animals just roos and wallabies - or, if pressed, Bennets and Rufous. I'll check a few references at home and see if there are any other common names. I don't know what Pommy term could be bent to describe them, but the Tasmanians would try.

When Richard Evans (concertina player / maker at Bell, Blue Mts) was down the West Coast some years back, he asked a local shopkeeper if there was much wildlife about (Strahan?). She replied that, if he went down to the creek, he might see some porcupines and moles and maybe a badger or two ... echidnas, platypus and wombats! My mother-in-law tends to use the same terms, but she is 88!

Regards,

Bob Bolton