He's a Canberra personality and here is your chance to show him some love while raising funds for a good cause.
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Brian the bettong will be the guest of honour at BentSpoke Brewing Co's Start of Spring Carnival next week, encouraging Canberrans to dig deep for local wildlife charity the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust.
The eastern bettong found it's way into the hearts of Canberra's native wildlife lovers when it competed against Rhonda the rock wallaby last year for the honour of being the ACT's mammal emblem. While he missed out on the title, he did walk away with more than a few fans - a status he is happy to use for BentSpoke's Start of Spring Carnival.
The event will also mark Threatened Species Day - a cause close to the hearts of Bentspoke's owners Tracy Margrain and Richard Watkins.
"[The environment is] a really pressing issue," Margrain says.
"There are a lot of new suburbs being built and obviously, they encroach on wildlife and the ACT's kind of making sure that there are still places where they can live and thrive, so we don't lose what we love about living in Canberra which is all the green spaces and plants and animals."
Celebrated nationally on September 7, Threatened Species Day puts native plants, animals and ecosystems that are under threat in the spotlight and asks people to reflect on how they can be protected for the future.
The Canberra brewery is hoping those who attend their Start of Spring Carnival may be able to learn a little more about what threatened species there are in the ACT and what can be done to help them following the event.
"Hopefully the people who come along will be able to learn something and the people from The Woodlands and Wetlands Trust will be around to talk to people what are threatened species because I think it is something that is probably not really well known," Watkins says.
"We can get people talking about it and know what's going on very close to where they live."
Entry to the September 7 event is a gold-coin donation, and there will be brewery tours given as well - the cost of which will go directly to the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust.
Canberra art organisations PhotoAccess and M16 Artspace have also come on board to provide free interactive art activities. Artwork has also been commissioned to be hung at the event and sold at a silent auction. Meanwhile food offerings will be brought to you by Ramen Daddy and Tikka Stand.
"We wanted this participatory sort of vibe so it's not this sort of in your face information event," marketing and events coordinator Felicity Wybrew says.
"We wanted people to get involved and we've got a local lady doing up so drawings for kids to colour-in and things like that. Then we have another organisation doing some prints, so you get some objects like leaves and things like that to make a shape, and then we'll be hanging it up to make this evolving sculptural piece of a tree."
- The Start of Spring Carnival will be at The Cannery from 11am-8pm on September 7.