
The Thylacine and the Time Machine
The Thylacine and the Time Machine
Renée Treml
A & U Children’s, 2025
164pp., graphic novel, RRP $A17.99
9781761181184
As part of a school assignment, Violet is researching the Tasmanian Tiger, now more correctly known as the thylacine, when she is visited by Thyla, the ghost of the last Thylacine, who takes her and her dog Tassie on an amazing trip in a time machine to investigate the origins of this enigmatic creature, what happened to it and why, and what the possibilities for its future, if any, might be. As she discovers the quest to bring the thylacine back to life, particularly through the work of Melbourne University’s TGRRR lab Violet not only learns about the importance of conservation, she also has to consider the ethical implications of such de-extinction. How would the creature survive and what impact would it have on existing ecosystems?
Through Violet as a realistic and relatable character, and the graphic novel format, Treml has used her own professional background to provide younger readers with both an insight into this creature with lots of embedded factual information, and a springboard for thinking about the bigger picture.
When I first discovered Michael Salmon’s book, The Great Tasmanian Tiger Hunt, and asked my students, “What should Colonel Horsfeld-Smythe have learned about the Tasmanian Tiger before he set out to find it?” it provoked one of the most interesting and enduring units of work that I produced in my teaching career. and it has continued to fascinate me, including building a collection of stories and a trove of memorabilia when I visited Tasmania. This may have the power to do the same thing for a new generation, but as well as being an informative text having the power to provoke a lot of big picture questions. What if the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the upcoming Jurassic World: Rebirth really did come back to life through the hands of modern science and technology?