The author honoured a patron of Tunney's expeditions in the naming of the species, Walter Rothschild, whose special interest in Macropodidae was also noted.

[6] Rothchild's rock-wallaby occurs at hummocks of vegetation covering scree slopes, around boulder piles and on cliff faces.

They feed nocturnally beyond their daytime refuge, venturing out to seek green vegetation such as grasses on the surrounding sand plains.

The diet includes buffel grass, herbaceous plants and fruits of native Ficus species and prickly pear is consumed by the introduced population at West Lewis Island.

[6] The range of diurnal refuge for the species is most frequently at caves, crevices or the collapse of cliffs, but it extends to include records of occupancy at features such as displaced rock piles and rail embankments created by the region's iron ore mining operations.

A Western Australian management plan published in 2013 included P. rothschildi amongst the five species of rock wallaby identified for recovery actions to protect them from threatening factors to the populations.

The shifting coastal terrain allows occasional access for red foxes to island refuges of P. rothschildi, causing periodic threats to these populations.

The species has been displaced by mining of iron ore in the region, and proposals for future ventures are expected to impact a larger area of its range.