FREMANTLE author and illustrator Renee Treml still hopes there may be thylacines hiding somewhere in the Tasmanian wilderness.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the tragic extinction of the thylacine and (despite scientific evidence to the contrary) I hope a small population is secretly living in in some untouched pocket of Tasmanian wilderness,” Treml told the Herald.

That fascination eventually led to her latest book, The Thylacine and the Time Machine, which was redcently shortlisted in the Eve Pownall Award category of the 2026 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards.

“When I heard on the news that scientists in Melbourne were working to bring the animal back to life, I had to learn more,” Ms Treml said.

The non-fiction graphic novel explores the science and ethics of de-extinction, focusing on efforts to bring back the Tasmanian tiger while also looking at projects involving the woolly mammoth, dire wolf and dodo.

Treml said her original intention had been to focus purely on the science, but her research uncovered a more complicated story.

“When I started digging into the research, I found there was a lot about the history of Thylacine that I had misunderstood,” she said.

De-extinction

“I also found myself questioning the ethics of de-extinction science – who decides which animals are okay to de-extinct? Are we prepared for the future if we are successful?”

While excited by the science, Treml said she wanted readers to think about the broader consequences.

“Yes, while the scientific advances are exciting, I hope readers will consider what this means for our future,” she said.

“I wanted to write a book that informed readers about the science while also leaving space for them to make their own decisions about how they feel about de-extinction.”

If she had the chance, Treml said she would not hesitate to bring back the thylacine.

“I would 100 per cent choose the thylacine,” she said.

“I think the reasons to bring it back are compelling and valid: (1) the thylacine was hunted to extinction less than 100 years ago; (2) as a top predator (that poses no danger to humans) it could bring balance back to the Tasmania ecosystem; and (3) provide a strong reason to protect and preserve the landscape.”

Her research also led her to challenge a number of myths about the animal.

“In Tasmania, the thylacine were blamed for killing livestock and attacking people and as a result were hunted to extinction,” she said.

“However, the colonists had it wrong. Thylacine hunted alone and weren’t strong/big enough to take down an adult sheep or human.

“There was a lot of false news and propaganda circulating against the thylacine and it was a scapegoat for the colonists’ failures.”

Mainland

Treml said another common misconception was that thylacines only ever lived in Tasmania.

“Before the end of the last ice age about 4,000 years ago, the thylacine roamed the mainland of Australia,” she said.

“In WA we have first nations rock art and fossils to prove it.”

She also discovered the widely accepted story about the last captive thylacine being a male called Benjamin was wrong.

“The last living thylacine to die in captivity was an old female,” she said.

“She was left out of her enclosure overnight and died of exposure.”

The book is modelled on A Christmas Carol, with “a rusty old time machine driven by the (grumpy) ghost of the last thylacine” taking a young girl and her dog through the past, present and future of the species.

Treml said while she supported the science behind de-extinction, it could not replace protecting species that were still alive.

“I am fascinated with de-extinction science and the potential applications of it to help endangered species, but I don’t think it can or should replace conservation efforts to protect animals and landscapes,” she said.

by STEVE GRANT