Our pet kangaroo "Henry Lawson"

One morning about 7.15am, just back from my morning swim, I came into the kitchen and heard Red Symons of ABC 774 talking about a pet kangaroo who was receiving a special award for knocking on the door of the farmhouse property where he lived and alerting the family to the fact of the father having been injured by the tractor in a paddock.

I immediately rang Red, with whom I often share a few words, telling him about our pet kangaroo who answered to the name of Henry Lawson. I then realised it'd make a good blog..............

Henry Lawson, playing with the grandchildren.

Some 30 years ago when we were living on our 30 acre property Prospect Hill Park at Wandin North - just 10 minutes past lovely Lilydale along the Warburton Highway, my then partner in my real estate business Ian Davis turned up one day on our doorstep caressing and cradling in his arms a truly tiny baby kangaroo he'd found in it's dead mother's pouch on the side of the road while away in the bush....... feeling sure that Marge and I would care and look after him (we jumped at the chance), he gave us a baby's bottle with which he'd been feeding him.

We had a beautiful old barn about 50 metres up the hill and we soon prepared him a cosy comfortable sleeping spot. He adored smoothly sucking the teat as he fixed his eager eyes on mine while I was comfortably seated in my favourite chair.........

The barn at Prospect Hill Park.

As he grew I soon introduced him to hopping along next to me as we wandered through the pine forest and open paddocks across the creek and around the swimming pool.

Gradually, as he grew more confident, he'd venture further afield but by now had become quite used to his name Henry Lawson, who was an early Australian writer and poet, and when I called out "HENRY!" he'd soon come into view boisterously bounding along the green-grassed paddocks - a spectacular sight.

At that time we only had three grandchildren, Stephen, Campbell and James, who adored him. I can't remember how long he was a beloved member of the Greenberg household but once when the boys were playing with him he suddenly excitedly extended his front paws and began throwing punches at Stephen!

It was obviously time for Henry Lawson to move on and I accordingly released him at the Healesville Sanctuary where he was soon enjoying the company of other kangaroos. A few days later I took the boys there to a large grazing group and endeavoured to see him but we couldn't recognize him among the others and when we shouted out his name a few times we were only rewarded with languid looks as though we were crazy.................

Strangely enough, Henry's boxing partner then, Stephen, is living quite close to him at Healesville........
 
'till next time, hopefully in about 10 days...