Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (known commonly as Skippy) is an Australian television series created by Australian actor John McCallum, Lionel (Bob) Austin, and Lee Robinson, produced from 1967 to 1969 (airing from 5 February 1968[2] to 4 May 1970[3]) about the adventures of a young boy and his highly intelligent pet kangaroo, and the various visitors to the fictional Waratah National Park, filmed in today's Waratah Park and adjoining portions of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park near Sydney.

The stories revolved around events in the park, including its animals, the dangers arising from natural hazards, and the actions of visitors (featuring numerous stars, predominately of the period in guesting roles).

Capable of near-human thought and reasoning, she could understand everyone, open doors, carry things in her pouch, cross streams on narrow logs, foil villains, rescue hapless bushwalkers, untie ropes, collect the mail, and even operate the radio.

[5] Members of the Aboriginal Theatre from Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory made guest appearances in three episodes.

There, he met actor and theatre businessman John McCallum and legal expert Bob Austin, who used their local knowledge to find financing from Australian backers.

The film did well, and McCallum and Austin together with veteran Australian producer Lee Robinson went on to set up Fauna Productions.

The business made its reputation with Skippy, produced in association with Frank Packer's TCN Channel 9 Sydney.

Fauna Productions went on to produce the TV series Barrier Reef and Boney, as well as the feature film Nickel Queen.

[5][6] The series was shot in northern Sydney, on then undeveloped Crown land west of Namba Road now known as Waratah Park.

"The Australian bush provided an excellent scenic backdrop, which was much appreciated by local and overseas viewers alike.

[5][6] To make Skippy move her mouth, supposedly creating the vocalisations, production staff gave the kangaroos chocolate, chewing gum, or grass, and in some cases, an elastic band around the lower jaw.

A menagerie of other animals and birds was used for the show, including dingoes, possums, emus, galahs, and koalas, all trained and managed by Scotty Denholm, a former NSW police-dog trainer.

"Basically a feature-length episode, the movie was seen as a good, rollicking adventure yarn and was well-received by Skippy fans.

In Australia and many overseas countries, one could buy Skippy pyjamas, ice-creams, toys, jewellery, soap, comics, jelly-beans, rulers, pencils, puzzles, toothpaste, shampoo, T-shirts, towels, and soft drinks.

There were LP and EP records, an adventure story narrated by John McCallum, and several books, and in 2009, one could still buy Skippy Corn Flakes.

The popularity of Skippy was summed up by Fauna's marketing and merchandising manager, Kevin Gleeson: 'Skippy is clean, non-violent fun with no sex.

Making its debut in the UK on 8 October 1967 on ATV (four months before it was released in its native Australia), Skippy rivalled Doctor Who and The Avengers in terms of popularity in Britain’s TV Comic.

In Germany, it was known as Skippy, das Buschkänguruh, while in Italy, it was known as Skyppy il canguro and broadcast by RAI Television.

This revival series focused on the now-adult Sonny Hammond (played by Andrew Clarke) – having followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a ranger at a wildlife park – who now had his own family and a pet kangaroo named Skippy.

[20] In September 2008, actor Tony Bonner sued the production company seeking residuals from merchandising and DVD sales from the series.