Save The Platypus Is The Message To All Shoppers

The Sunday Age

Sunday April 5, 1998

AS WE get set to sink our teeth into some Easter goodies, the range of chocolate novelties is increasing rapidly in line with our expanding chocolate consumption.

Our major chocolate manufacturers have been working double time for weeks to prepare for the biggest event on their calender and it's almost time for us to dig in.

It is a fact that more Australians trade Easter eggs than birthday presents and that 65 per cent of all Easter purchases are made for children.

This year alone the Red Tulip company will produce some 60 million Easter eggs and novelties, or an average of almost three chocolate eggs for every person in Australia.

The company has been keeping Aussies in chocolate for the past 50 years and has a range of Easter items that starts at 15 cents and continues up to the Mammoth Egg, which weighs in at 1.25 kilograms. There are lots of varieties in between.

The Easter Bilby is a recent innovation, designed to promote awareness of Australian native animals and provide a competitor to the traditional rabbit - an Australian pest.

Bilbies are now sold at most chocolate shops, Myer and Coles supermarkets and a percentage of the profit from their purchase is put toward animal research.

At Myer this year, a chocolate platypus has emerged as the newest Easter gift.

Cocoa the Platypus represents the much-loved Australian species that faces the danger of extinction unless steps are made to ensure its survival.

For this reason, Myer has teamed up with the Chocolatier company to launch Cocoa, based on a real platypus that lives in Warrandyte in Victoria.

Myer will make a donation to the Australian Platypus Conservatory for each $11.95 Cocoa sold.

The money raised will assist a two-year study of the feeding ecology of the platypus to be undertaken by the Australian Platypus Conservatory in conjunction with Melbourne Water.

Also new at Myer this year is the Eggyland world - a chocoholic's haven where names such as Newman's, Chocolatier and Cachet are displayed in a dizzying array of indulgence.

If you want to organise your own Easter-egg hunt, the store has packs with clues, instructions and prizes and other games to keep the kids busy.