My name is Neve Marques-Jones and I’m 10 years old.
I made this Eastern Barred Bandicoot with the help of my sewing teacher, Margaret, from Daisy Chain Fabrics.
Eastern Barred Bandicoots are marsupials native to Tasmania and Victoria in South East Australia, and they are nocturnal. They weigh less than 2kg and live for 2-3 years. They like eating crickets, beetles and earthworms. The females have around 5 litters per year.
You can see Basil the Eastern Barred Bandicoot in the Australian section of the Great Glasshouse.
It forms part of a trail of stitchwork creatures representing each of the Mediterranean climate-zone areas of the Great Glasshouse, all made by members of the Garden’s Stitching Botanicals group.
Another new creature in the Australian section of the Great Glasshouse is a Numbat, a termite eating marsupial which is the emblem for Western Australia. Once widespread across southern Australia its range is now restricted to several small colonies, and it is listed as an endangered species. The Numbat was made by Glenys Richards Jones.