Easter Bilby

The Easter Bilby is an Australian alternative to the Easter Bunny and chocolate bunnies. Bilbies are special native Australian animals called marsupials that are unfortunately endangered, meaning there aren't many left in the wild.

To help protect these wonderful creatures and raise money for their conservation, many stores in Australia sell chocolates shaped like bilbies along with other related items during the Easter season. This idea gives people a fun way to celebrate Easter while also supporting efforts to keep bilbies safe and thriving in their natural homes.

By choosing a bilby-shaped chocolate instead of a bunny, families can learn more about these unique animals and help make a difference for their future.

Concept and stories

The idea of the Easter Bilby started in the mid to late 1900s as a way to help protect the bilby, an endangered Australian animal. A young girl named Rose-Marie Dusting wrote a story about "Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby" in 1968, which was published in 1997. Authors and nature groups have created many books and stories about the Easter Bilby to teach children about Australia’s native wildlife and the problems caused by rabbits.

Books such as Burra Nimu, the Easter Bilby by Jeni Bright and The Bilbies' First Easter by Irena Sibley have become popular. These stories show the bilby as a hero helping to protect the land. In recent years, new books like Banjo Frog's Concert Spectacular continue this tradition, encouraging children to help save native animals.

Chocolate bilbies

The first chocolate Easter Bilbies were sold at the Warrawong Sanctuary and were made by Melba Chocolates. Many chocolate companies, like Pink Lady and Haigh's Chocolates, donate money from bilby sales to help protect these animals. In 2014, Pink Lady gave 30 cents from each large bilby sold and $1 from every 10-pack to bilby conservation.

Over the years, money from chocolate bilbies has helped build fences to keep bilbies safe from predators. Some companies, like Darrell Lea, stopped making chocolate bilbies for a while but started again in 2022. Even though some big companies no longer make them, you can still find chocolate bilbies that help save these special animals.