This article and accompanying photos were kindly provided by Ed Frazer (August 2017), who has lived in the district for 45 years and is well known for his award-winning photos of birds on his Brookfield property.
I regularly get photos of the native Water Rat with my infra-red triggered cameras around our Gold Creek boundary.
The Water Rat is about 1kg and 30cm long and has thick water repellent fur. It is our largest rodent and has taken the place that otters occupy in other countries. It and the Platypus are our only Amphibious mammals.It is a voracious feeder on aquatic insects, lizards and snails and feeds almost entirely through the night.
In the 1940’s a beautiful fur coat was made from 100 water rat pelts, but it is now a protected species.
Going by the numbers I see in my cameras, they are quite plentiful in the Moggill Creek Catchment.
