This is the story of how Australia’s most iconic animal got its pouch.

A long time ago the creator got bored and thought, ‘Today I will go down into my own creation and check how everything is going.’ He looked at the earth and decided to visit Australia.

He came down in the form of a wombat, that was a bit worse for wear, and decided to sit by the side of the road and see if anyone would be kind enough to help him.

The creator came down as an old wombat

The first animal who came along was a water-rat, the divine wombat asked if he could help, as he was tired and hungry. The water-rat ignored him as he was thinking about his swan girlfriend see platypus story. Then an Emu went by ‘can you help’ he asked agin. ‘No’ said the emu ‘I have gone past you and can’t walk backwards’.

Then a dingo went by, he said ‘think yourself lucky I am not hungry!’ Gulp thought the creator ‘this story could have come to a sudden end’. Then a zebra came by, again the creator asked for help. The zebra said ‘I would but I am actually in the wrong story  so I can’t get involved’.

Luckily the dingo was not hungry

Finally a kangaroo bounded along the road, carrying her joey. At this time kangaroos did not have pouches, so they carried their young in their hands. That is why they hop, keeping their hands free, to carry their young. The kangaroo being a kind animal agreed to help. ‘Sit on my tail’ she said ‘and I will take you to a wonderful place, near a creek, where you will find plenty to eat’.

A kangaroo hopped up

The divine wombat sat on her tail, and held on tightly, then she started jumping onwards down the road. It was a very bumpy ride and soon he had a very sore bottom! ‘I should have stayed in heaven and let my angels do this for me!’ thought the wombat. Eventually, they reached the spot, a lush green field by the creek. ‘Here you go’ she said, ‘you will be happy here, and there is plenty to eat’.

Suddenly some men appeared, with spears and boomerangs. The kangaroo realised the elderly wombat would be an easy target for the hunters. ‘Hide here’ she said ‘I will lead them away from you’. She hopped off, and hid her joey, then whistled to the men to distract them. They shouted and aimed their missiles, but she jumped away quickly, and the men followed in hot pursuit. She soon outran them, and left the men breathless.

Men suddenly appeared

She then doubled back, but could not find her joey. She looked everywhere, becoming more and more anxious. Darkness fell and she went back to the wombat, a broken creature. Up to this point, the creator had just been thinking about his sore backside. That seemed a bit trivial now, that the kangaroos joey was missing. Suddenly it was his compassion that was being tested!

The little joey got lost

The old wombat hugged her, as she cried and cried, after many hours, the poor kangaroo fell into an exhausted sleep. At dawn the wombat found the joey, and he was reunited, with his delighted mother. Then then wombat revealed his true form and turned into god.

‘You have pleased me today’ said the creator, who sounded like James Mason, with a slight aussi accent. ‘Above all other animals you have been kind. As a reward all kangaroos will now have a special pouch so you will never have to leave a joey unattended again. Also you will be the symbol, and top-selling soft toy of all Australia!’

A special pouch was the creators gift