THE world's first ever image of a kangaroo is unlikely to come to Australia.

A multi-million-dollar campaign, spearheaded by David Attenborough, looks likely to secure it a permanent home in the UK.

To allow time for the campaign, the British Government earlier this year blocked the export of two oil paintings, dating back to the early 1770s, by revered British artist George Stubbs.

The works, The Kongouro from New Holland (the Kangaroo) and Portrait of a Large Dog (the Dingo) were created from sketches and verbal accounts from Captain James Cook's first voyage to Australia.

They were to have been bought in a private sale by the National Gallery of Australia.

But the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich believed the works were too important to the British public to be lost to Australia, and began to raise the $9.5 million needed to outbid the Canberra gallery.

It is understood that bid has now been successful, though the Greenwich museum yesterday declined to comment before a formal announcement in about a fortnight.

The works are believed to have been commissioned by Joseph Banks, botanist on Cook's voyage, and had remained in the hands of the extended Banks family for 200 years until last year, when they were offered for sale.

The works created a sensation when first exhibited in London's Royal Academy in 1773, the images of strange creatures from the other side of the world enchanting the public.

The Canberra gallery worked for three years to ensure the purchase, claiming their rival museum's rights over the works were tenuous and the kangaroo image was particularly "an icon of national identity".

But Greenwich brought in the big guns, in Sir David Attenborough, to spearhead its campaign.

"Its (maritime museum) Cook collections are, of course, of world importance and I have no doubt that these two Stubbs paintings should be placed among them," Attenborough said.

It is understood most of the money was raised through the Heritage Lottery Fund, set up about 20 years ago to give grants to projects of regional or national importance.

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