Australian gifts for Princess Charlotte
Hello possum! The new Princess will help save an endangered native animal as part of Australia's official gift to her.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's baby girl will also get a Tasmanian wool blanket for her cot emblazoned with our floral emblem, the wattle.
The merino wool blanket was made by Launceston's Waverley Woollen Mills, while ACT Embroiderers Guild members added the wattle.
Echoing a similar gift for her big brother Prince George, Tony Abbott said $10,000 would be donated to the Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria for its mountain pygmy-possum breeding program.
The mountain pygmy-possum is Australia's only hibernating marsupial and fewer than 2000 still live in the wild.
"I hope one day the Princess can visit Australia and hold a mountain pygmy-possum herself," the Prime Minister said.
Zoos Victoria said more than 90 possums had been bred since 2006 at the sanctuary. "This gift is not only special for the Princess, but also for the profile of this unique and critically endangered species," a spokeswoman said.
