"And is it really true that 'kangaroo' is the Aboriginal word for 'buggered if I know mate'?"

Yes that's it - well that's the modern Oz-lish translation of the original.

Bruce, the second page of info I linked to above is actually a U.S. site with some info on keeping wallabies as pets. It does say that they are higher maintenance than cats, dogs etc and you would need to make a high level of commitment over a lot of years to look after them.

Helen