A boater rowed out and brought a tired wallaby back from the sea
Matt Smith was on a visiting yacht at the Portland marina on Friday when seagulls led him to a wallaby swimming more than 100 metres offshore.
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A wallaby swimming off the Portland marina is back on land because a visiting boater rowed out to it. ABC News reported on October 30, 2026, that Matt Smith was tidying the back of a yacht that morning when seagulls started squawking near the end of the marina in south-west Victoria.
He thought the shape in the water was a dog. It was a wallaby, already tiring, and it was heading into deeper water more than 100 metres from shore. Smith said he did not think it would have lasted much longer. He rowed a dinghy out. The wallaby climbed in, then jumped straight back out because it was scared. He got it onto dry land, and wildlife carers met it there. ABC said the wallaby is now resting with those carers.
Smith had heard of wallabies swimming to get away from a dog or a dingo. He also mentioned a similar rescue about two weeks earlier near Port Lincoln. The Portland account is one animal brought ashore. It does not say what sent this wallaby into the sea.
For the classroom
On Friday, October 30, 2026, Matt Smith was on a boat at the marina in Portland, in south-west Victoria, Australia. Seagulls were noisy, and he saw an animal swimming. He thought it was a dog. It was a wallaby, more than 100 metres from shore, and it was getting tired. He rowed a small boat out. The wallaby climbed in, jumped out because it was scared, and then he got it to dry land. Wildlife carers are looking after it. ABC News said wallabies sometimes swim to get away from a dog. This story is one animal that reached the shore.
- What did Matt Smith do when he realized the animal in the water was a wallaby?
- Why might a wallaby swim even though it lives on land?
- Who looked after the wallaby once it was back on land?
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Portland, AustraliaAnimal rescueWildlife conservationKindnessGood news on October 30
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