Community
1 October, 2025
Bandicoot spotted in Port Campbell
AN ENDANGERED bandicoot species was spotted in Port Campbell over the weekend, surprising one resident with the sound of its foraging.
Simon Illingworth was minding his own business near the Point in Port Campbell when he said he heard a munching sound behind him.
“I literally just turned my head because I heard this crunching sound – it was eating a waffle cone and having a bit of a scratch around,” he said.
“I’m not sure – it might have been eating ants around the waffle cone, but I’m not 100 per cent sure.
“I saw one once at the Well in Peterborough, at surf break, near the carpark there.
“The one that I saw near the Well had an almost brown-red colour as opposed to this one, which is a different colour.
“Port Campbell’s got gang-gang cockatoos which are endangered and also these bandicoots.”
According to Bush Heritage Victoria, bandicoots are small marsupials native to Australia, which use their front feed to dig for food.
They’re solitary and usually nocturnal – making Mr Illingworth’s daytime sighting especially exciting.
“The current main threats to bandicoots are habitat loss from urbanisation and land clearing, predation from foxes, cats and dogs and collisions with vehicles,” the website said.
“Native predators include snakes, owls, quolls and dingoes.
“Intense wildfires, or too frequent burning, also has negative impacts, destroying the shelter used to hide from predators.”
Mr Illingworth said he felt it was important money went towards saving Australia’s native fauna’s natural habitats.
“To be quite honest, I’m really hoping that tourists do get charged at the 12 Apostles for entry – not locals, just the tourists – so that money can be spent protecting a lot of these habitats,” he said.
“As long as they keep a share of the money being pulled in at the 12 Apostles, it would make life a lot easier for a lot of those critters if that money got spent back into the parks.”
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