The night before the wedding bride and groom must be as excited as kids are the night before the Easter egg hunt. In many places, people eat rabbit-shaped chocolate and brioches for
Easter, but not so much in Australia. Right, it is on the other side of the
world, they have all the right in the world to do it differently over there.
Ms and Mr Hare and probably also their helpless offspring are not very popular
in Australia. To Australians, they are a scourge because they destroy everything. Smart, in that very certain way only Australians can be, they have invented something unique, really, they are good at that. Something that is only available in Australia. Something special. This is Australia. Rabbits are too conventional ...
Easter is celebrated in Australia with a typical Australian, and no it
isn't Crocodile Dundee but the rabbit-bandicoots ... the chocolate version of
them. In Australia, a rabbit-bandicoot is much better known as a bilby. As I
said to Australians rabbits were simply annoying and they started to look for
somebody who could take over the role of the Easter Bunny but in the most
decent manner.
Imagine two Marketing gurus browsing a coffee table book with illustrations of the Australian Fauna. They are in the middle of a most animated brainstorming session.
Tony: I bloody hate rabbits.
Cameron: Sure, everyone bloody hates them.
Tony: Who can replace the bloody Easter bunny?
Cameron: What have we got in our beautiful bush?
Tony: Kangaroos?
Cameron: Yeah nah too bloody obvious.
Tony: Koalas?
Cameron: Yeah nah not rabbit-ish enough.
Tony: Possums?
Cameron: Yeah nah I beg your bloody pardon?
Tony: Oh la la, what have we got here? This little bugger will do, it looks
pretty much like a rabbit with its long ears. The bilby. Let's put the word
Easter in front of it and the bloody rascal is good to go. What do you think?
Cameron: The Easter Bilby is born. You are a bloody genius mate. You
created our very own world-class Easter icon.
The Easter Bilby
The small marsupials (yes, they have a pouch) with long ears are an endangered species. I've never seen them in the wild but only made from chocolate, and to this day the Easter Bilby is the Australian version of the Easter Bunny. So far so good.
Until the European settlers arrived in Australia the bilbies roamed the
continent unhindered. As often the case humans and their lil furry friends plus
their cattle started to destroy their natural habitat. The settlers also
liked their soft fur. Today it is nearly too late for them. It went from happy
bouncing around bilbies to endangered species in the blink of an eye really.
Taking into account that Australia, as we know it today, is still a relatively
young nation.
The chocolate bilbies are not only cute but a fantastic way of raising
awareness, and trying to rescue the species from extinction. If you would like
to help, please eat as many chocolate Easter Bilbies as you can when on
vacation in Australia. (Legend has it the Easter Bilby was the idea of a nine-year-old girl).
From Berlin with love