When 5-year-old girl '''Dot''' becomes lost in the Australian outback, she is approached by a '''Kangaroo''' who offers her some berries to eat. Upon eating the berries, Dot gains the ability to understand the language of animals. Dot tells the kangaroo her plight, and Kangaroo, having lost her own joey, agrees to help Dot find her way home by carrying Dot in her pouch, in spite of Kangaroo's fear of humans.

During the course of their journey, Dot and Kangaroo encounter various animals and ask them for advice and directions, and are hunted by a tribe of aborigines and their dogs, who give up their pursuit when Dot's crying combined with the bellowing of a flock of bitterns cause them to mistake Kangaroo for a bunyip. Dot and Kangaroo eventually arrive at Dot's home where Dot is reunited with her parents and Kangaroo with her Joey, whom had been caught and given to Dot's father by his hunting companion. Dot's father vows from then on to never hunt kangaroos again, and builds a dam which provides all of Dot's new animal friends with a nearby watering hole.

Dot has the power of interspecies communication, which she gained by eating the Berries of Understanding that were given to her by Kangaroo.

* Dot and the Kangaroo (1899)

* Dot and the Kangaroo (1924)

* The 1977 ''Dot and the Kangaroo'' animated film will enter the public domain in 2073 under United States copyright law. This film's sequels, as well as all other post-1977 films created by Yoram Gross, will enter the public domain in 2086, the 70th year following Gross's death in 2015.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_and_the_Kangaroo Wikipedia]
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18891/pg18891-images.html Project Gutenberg]
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/DotAndTheKangaroo TV Tropes]
Category:1899 Debuts
Category:Female Characters
Category:Juvenile Heroes
Category:Protagonists
Category:Duos
Category:Damsel-in-Distress Characters
Category:Animated Characters
Category:Animal Characters
Category:Talking Animals
Category:Australian Character
Category:Literary Characters
Category:Movie Characters
Category:Surname Unknown
Category:Ethel C. Pedley - Creator
Category:Heroes
Category:Kangaroo Themed Characters
Category:Theatre Characters
Category:Musical theatre Characters
Category:Marsupials