An online campaign following the lives of Brian and Betty Bettong will aim at encouraging donations from the public to help treble the size of the rare marsupials' sanctuary at Mulligans Flat.
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The ACT government allocated $900,000 in its budget to kick-start the expansion and fundraiser driven by the sanctuary's managers' the Capital Woodland and Wetlands Conservation Trust.
But more funds are needed to add an additional 13.5 kilometres of predator-proof fence to the existing 12-kilometre fence to increase the size of the sanctuary from 485 to 1555 hectares.
And corporate and public sponsors are squarely in the sights of the Bettong Bungalow campaign.
While the trust's general manager Jason Cumming admitted it would be easier for the group to lobby for more government support to fund the expansion, he was hopeful that the public would come on board to support the small kangaroo-like marsupial.
"We've been working closely with Territory and Municipal Services and we're very pleased to see it in the budget," he said.
"[The government seed funding means] people can be confident now that every dollar they put in is going to the sanctuary."
"It means it's going ahead the only question is how big we can make it."
The campaign, launched on Friday to coincide with World Environment Day, aims to increase the sanctuary's size to give eastern bettongs more space in which to live and breed safe from predators such as foxes, cats and dogs.
Online videos and social media accounts will follow the exploits of bettongs named Brian and Betty as they raise funds to expand their home over the next six months.
"A lot of people around Australia and Canberra don't know about Mulligans Flat or the bettongs," Dr Cumming said.
"Corporate sponsorship will be particularly important to lift the profile of the initiative."
The sanctuary's existing 12-kilometre long predator proof fence was built in 2010 at a cost of $1.3 million.
Dr Cummings said if the campaign raised more than its target of $600,000 the extra money would go into improving the habitat.
"The 1500-hectare expansion will take up all the land between the sanctuary and the Federal Highway… so we can't really expand beyond that," he said.
Bettongs were considered extinct on mainland Australia for close to 100 years until 32 from Tasmania were released into the sanctuary in 2012 as part of a joint project by the Australian National University, CSIRO, Tasmanian government, Woodlands and Wetlands Trust, and the ACT government.
At last count in spring 2014 their numbers had increased to 179 and they are now estimated to number more than 200.
Mulligans Flat remains the only place outside Tasmania where the bettong can be found in its natural habitat.
The rabbit-sized bettongs, which aerate soil by digging for native truffles, were common in the region until foxes were introduced.
Mulligans Flat is also home to the endangered New Holland mice, released into the sanctuary in 2013, and bush stone-curlews, a ground-dwelling bird also reintroduced.
The Wetlands and Woodlands Trust manages the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary and the Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve as a partnership between government, the business sector and the community.
For more information, or to donate to the project, visit bettongbungalow.org.