Boater rescues tired wallaby swimming out to sea more than 100m offshore

feel good

• By Laura Mayers

• ABC South West Vic

• Topic:Animals

Posted Fri 30 Oct 2026 at 2:30pmFri 30 Oct 2026 at 2:30pm, updated Fri 30 Oct 2026 at 2:35pmFri 30 Oct 2026 at 2:35pm

In short:

A boater in south-west Victoria has rescued an exhausted wallaby spotted swimming away from shore. 

Matt Smith says the wallaby may have succumbed to exhaustion if he hadn't rowed out to save it. 

What's next? 

The wallaby is now resting with wildlife carers.

A South Australian boater is being hailed a hero after rescuing an exhausted wallaby that was spotted swimming out to sea in south-west Victoria.

Visiting boater Matt Smith said he spotted the wallaby near the Portland marina on Friday morning.    

"I'm on a visiting yacht, and I was tidying up out back and I could hear these seagulls squawking at something near the end of the marina here," he said.

"When I looked over I thought it was a dog, but when looked a bit closer I realised it was a wallaby."

Mr Smith rowed out in a dinghy to the wallaby, which was quickly tiring and swimming into deeper water, more than 100 metres offshore.

"I don't think it would've lasted much longer if it started heading out [to sea]," he said.   

Getting it to join him in the boat was easy enough. Enticing it to stay with him was another thing. 

"On the first attempt it actually got on the boat, into the dinghy, and then it jumped out again," he said.

"It was really scared."

He was eventually able to get the wallaby to dry land, where it was met by wildlife carers.

The swimming wallaby

It's not unusual for kangaroos and wallabies to swim, especially if they are being chased by another animal, such as a dog or dingo.

In 2020, a wallaby was rescued 6.2 kilometres off the coast of North Stradbroke Island in Queensland.

He had heard of wallabies swimming to get away from predators.

"It's not uncommon," he said. 

"About two weeks ago a similar thing happened [in Port Lincoln]. I think it was actually a kangaroo.

"They rescued it, gave it a cuddle and took it back to shore."

Mr Smith is being praised on social media for his actions, but he has asked people on the beach to keep their dogs on leashes because he has “done enough rowing for one day”.