Painting & Wandering: A Creative Guide to

the Wildlife of Lutruwita

Welcome to the world of caretakers and creation beings—animals who walk Country with purpose, memory, and presence. This painting pad is not just about what you see—it's about what you feel when you sit still, when you’re watched, when you know you are sharing space with something older than story.

These beings are kin. They hold knowledge, they remind us of balance, and they teach us to move gently.

Bring your Wildlife painting pad, your travel brush, your presence, and your patience.

🦘 1. Meet the Beings in Your Pad

Each animal in this collection has a place in story and a presence in the land. Here’s where you might meet them—or feel them close:

• Kangaroo (Tara) – Seen in open grasslands and reserves like Narawntapu, Mount William, and Oatlands. Quiet in the early morning, bold in the golden dusk.

• Spotted-tail Quoll (Luwayina) – Elusive but present in the forests near Trowutta Arch, Mount Field, and Tarkine Drive. Move slow, leave space.

• Tasmanian Devil (Purinina) – Visit them at Devils@Cradle or look for signs at night in wild areas near takayna, Cradle Mountain, or Mount Field.

• Echidna (Treenoner) – Waddling through woodlands and bush tracks. Common around Freycinet, South Bruny, and Pencil Pine Walk at Cradle.

• Wallaby (Layanner) – Found in abundance, especially along coastal roads and open plains—look along the Tarkine Drive, Lake St Clair, and Tinderbox hills.

• Platypus (Larila) – Best seen early morning beside still rivers like the Liffey, Lake Lea, or the Waratah township creek. The Aboretum near Devonport is a certain sighting and we hear you can see them in abundance behind the Mole Creek Pub.

• Wombat (Probelattenna) – Slow and solid. Sit with them at Ronny Creek, Maria Island, or Cradle Mountain. Let their movement calm you.

• Pygmy Possum (Timita Katina) – Tiny, mysterious, and usually hidden. Imagined in alpine areas like Mount Field or deep takayna forest—a quiet presence to honour with soft marks.

🌿 2. Where to Paint & Walk with the Animals

Here are places to be with these beings—to walk where they walk, to sit where they feed, and to paint with deep awareness.

Wildlife Painting Spots:

• Narawntapu National Park – The “Serengeti of Tasmania,” full of kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, and birds.

• Ronny Creek (Cradle Mountain) – Wombats roam freely at dusk. The air is cool and full of mountain breath.

• Lake St Clair – Still waters and quiet trails—platypus and wallaby moments await.

• Mount Field National Park – Rich with devils, wallabies, quolls, and the rare pygmy possum.

• Bruny Island Neck & Adventure Bay – Forests, wallabies, fairy wrens, and coastal paths.

• Maria Island – A sanctuary where devils, wombats, kangaroos, and birds live side by side.

• Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary – A powerful space to learn and sketch many of these beings respectfully.

• Devils@Cradle – Up-close opportunities to observe and honour the devil (Purinina) safely and with care.

🎨 3. Tips for Painting with the Animals

• Sit still. Let them come into your awareness slowly.

• Use soft lines and warm, earthy tones—feel into their shape.

• Don’t aim to “capture” them. Paint their movement, their spirit, their presence.

• Leave white space—these beings carry stillness as much as motion.

🖤❤️💛 4. The Sacred Stop – Freycinet Peninsula / Cape Tourville

Paredarerme Country

• Out on the granite headlands of Freycinet, among the wind-cut she-oaks and white sands, the animals move as they always have.
  Wallabies and devils, eagles and wombats leave tracks in dust and shadow—reminders that this is their Country first.
  Stand quietly at Cape Tourville and listen.
  You are being watched.
  To walk here is not to spot wildlife—it is to be a guest in the territory of old kin.
  These beings are not symbols. They are elders in fur and claw.