General News
7 November, 2026
Barry's Corner: Wild dingoes
It is a surprise to many people that we have wild dingoes in Western Victoria at all. A dingo can move around easily in most areas, but for the past 200 years they have been confined to the Big Desert.
It is a surprise to many people that we have wild dingoes in Western Victoria at all.
A dingo can move around easily in most areas, but for the past 200 years they have
been confined to the Big Desert.
This desert is not all that big, but it covers from the South Australian border to Lake Hindmarsh and north to Walpeup, almost to Ouyen.
It is not a traditional bare sand desert but is covered in heath and mallee trees.
With sand to hold the plants upright.
Any predator needs a food source to maintain itself.
If an eagle wants to feed a brood of chicks, it must hunt to find a suitable edible target.
Rabbits have made up a good part of an eagle's diet for the whole time while rabbits have ravaged the landscape.
Dingoes have survived on rabbits, wallabies and young kangaroos wherever they have had an opportunity, and there are few reports of big numbers and out-of-control kangaroos or dingoes around the Big Desert, Sunset Country or Little Desert or over the border in South Australia around Ngarkat National Park.
For a top predator, this is normal behaviour and can be expected.
There is no dingo training for etiquette to make quick kills, only taking what food they and any pups can consume.
A dingo needs to be on the lookout all of the time for kill opportunity, and the process is not pretty.
They will chase anything that runs, so farmers' lambs can be prime targets.
One dingo by itself has a tough time to catch enough food to make a square meal.
There have been reports of dingoes in this area since sheep were introduced, with intermittent reports ever since.
They have also been under pressure all of that time by farmers, grazers and keen
trappers.
Yet the dingo has survived and is now protected under heritage regulations despite
multiple efforts to wipe them out.
It was thought we were dealing with a dog crossbreed, but the scientists assure us they are purebred dingoes.
Few people want to see the last of the dingo and have them wiped out.
There would be fewer than 100 animals left, so the genetic profile would be wearing a bit thin.
Having kept some dingoes in the past, they are strong-willed, intelligent, and strong, but
loyal.