Easter Bilby

Easter Bilby

In Australia, the fecundity of introduced rabbits made them a major environmental pest, and feral rabbits are still a problem. There have been moves in recent years to popularize the endangered native bilby [cite web |url=http://deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/tsd05greater-bilby.html |title=Greater Bilby |publisher=Australian Government |accessdate=2007-04-07] as an alternative to the Easter Bunny through the promotion of chocolate Easter Bilbies. [cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/18/1050172755503.html |title=Wild about bilbies and a rabbit-proof Easter |publisher=smh.com.au |accessdate=2007-04-07] However, they have failed, and the Easter Bunny remains more popular.

Origin

The origin of the Easter Bilby concept dates back to the late 1970s. The first documented case of someone using the the term Easter Bilby is in 1979 in author Rose-Marie Dusting book, “Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby”. Rose-Marie has been a advocate for Bilby conservation for almost 30 years and a percentage of the sales of her books has been donated to Bilby conservation funds. But it has been suggested by Ian Faithfull, a journalist, that "the concept of the Easter Bilby was invented between 1976 and 1983 by Malcolm Turner of the Hawthorn Junior Field Naturalists Club as a replacement for the Easter bunny at the Club’s traditional Easter bush camps. Officials of the Club acted as the Easter Bilby and delivered chocolate eggs to camp participants on Easter morning."

The Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia [cite web |url=http://www.rabbitfreeaustralia.org.au/|title=Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia] began using the Easter Bilby in 1991 to show the damage that the feral rabbit does to the australian environment.

Darrell Lea

Darrell Lea is a strong supporter of the "Save The Bilby fund" [cite web| url=http://www.easterbilby.com.au/default.asp |title=Save The Bilby fund|publisher=easterbilby.com.au] ever since it was formed in 1999. Darrell Lea has been manufacturing chocolate easter bilbies [cite web| url=http://www.easterbilby.com.au/save_bilby/chocolate.asp |title=Chocolate Bilbies|publisher=easterbilby.com.au] which they have been giving a portion of the sales to the foundation.

See also

*Easter
*Easter Bunny

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Easter bilby — /ˈistə bɪlbi/ (say eestuh bilbee) noun the rabbit eared bandicoot which, by analogy with the Easter bunny, is said to deliver Easter eggs to Australian children …  

  • Easter Bunny — The Easter Bunny is the ghost of a rabbit who carries eggs and candy to children in a basket on the Easter holiday. Its origin is disputed; some trace it to alleged pre Christian fertility lore [The claim is that Hare and Rabbit were the most… …   Wikipedia

  • Easter — This article is about the Christian Festival. For secular uses, see Easter customs and Ēostre. For other uses, see Easter (disambiguation). Easter Resurrected Jesus and Mary Magdalene, by Antonio da Correggio, 1543 …   Wikipedia

  • Easter Monday — Two boys enjoy treats during the annual Easter egg roll at the White House lawn on Easter Monday, 1911 …   Wikipedia

  • Easter bonnet — An Easter Bonnet An Easter Bonnet represents the tail end of a tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter,[1] in harmony with the renewal of the year and the promise of spiritual renewal and redemption. The Easter bonnet was fixed in popular… …   Wikipedia

  • Bilby — This article deals with the species. For the Genus see Macrotis. Greater Bilby[1] Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • bilby — The bilby is either of two Australian bandicoots, especially the rabbit eared bandicoot Macrotis lagotis, a burrowing marsupial of woodlands and plains of drier parts of mainland Australia, The word is a borrowing from Yuwaalaraay, an Aboriginal… …   Australian idioms

  • Bilby — Kaninchennasenbeutler Großer Kaninchennasenbeutler (Macrotis lagotis) Systematik Klasse: Säugetiere …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Reform of the date of Easter — has been proposed several times because the current system for determining the date of Easter is seen as presenting two significant problems: Its date varies from year to year (by the Western system of calculation, it can fall on any of 35… …   Wikipedia

  • Octave of Easter — Andrea del Verrocchio s sculpture of the incredulity of St. Thomas. The term Octave of Easter may refer either to the eight day period (Octave) from Easter Sunday until the Sunday following Easter, inclusive; or it may refer only to that Sunday… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”