Australians love cuddling up to a koala, and spotting a bilby or platypus in the wild. But our sunburnt country has borne witness to the disappearance of scores of native species over the past hundred years – earning us the nickname ‘extinction central’. From the golden bandicoots in the Strzelecki Desert to the platypuses in the Royal National Park, can we save our endangered species through rewilding? 

Hear from UNSW Sydney’s Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science, Professor Richard Kingsford, Principal Ecologist for the Wild Deserts project Dr Rebecca West, Scientia Fellow and Associate Professor Katherine Moseby and Lead Researcher for the Platypus Conservation Initiative Dr Gilad Bino, for a lively panel discussion chaired by ABC journalist Ann Jones as they emphasise the urgency to break free from the confines of traditional conservation approaches to landcare, and highlight the power of rewilding our fragile ecosystems – all before it’s too late. 

Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and UNSW Science as a part of National Science Week.