In 2014 a genetic and morphological study identified a separate species, the eastern short-eared rock-wallaby (Petrogale wilkinsi), previously thought to be P. brachyotis.

Prior to its revision, the generalised description for the species Petrogale brachyotis (sensu lato) incorporated variations later recognised as distinctive characters.

[3] Petrogale brachyotis has a patchy occurrence within a wide distribution range, extending west from the border of Queensland and the Northern Territory through the Top End to the Windjana Gorge in northwestern Australia.

The favoured habitat is monsoonal rainforest and open grasslands, where they inhabit cliffs, hills and valleys that provide refuge and forage.

[2] Speakers of Kunwinjku in West Arnhem Land call the wallaby badbong, and people would traditionally travel with spears into the escarpment to hunt them.

[7] According to Kunwinjku elder Reverend Peterson Nganjmirra they would trap badbong in rocky country by setting fire to "spinifex" (actually Triodia spp.).

Local extinctions are known to have occurred in the southern range in the Northern Territory, the subpopulation in Western Australia has not been historically surveyed.