Australia’s $10k present for royal baby
07 May 2015 by News Desk
The Australian government will donate $10,000 to help save a rare possum as a birthday present to Britain’s new royal princess.
The new princess, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, will be invited to visit Australia and hold a rare marsupial, the mountain pygmy-possum, after the Government donated money to help save the endangered species in her name.
As part of the nation’s official gift to the newborn, the government will give the cash to Healesville Sanctuary to support its conservation work for the pygmy-possum. Fewer than 2000 mountain pygmy-possums remain in the wild. “I hope one day the princess can visit Australia and hold a Mountain Pygmy-possum herself,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
The government is also to send a Tasmanian Merino wool cot blanket from Launceston’s Waveley Woollen Mills to keep the baby girl warm in her royal crib. The blanket will be embroidered with Australia’s floral emblem of the wattle by the ACT Embroiderer’s Guild.
