MALLEE Cliffs National Park has become home to the iconic bilby for the first time in 100 years as part of a historic program hoped to boost the world population of the species by more than 10 per cent.

The NSW Government and Australian Wildlife Conservancy have spent three years preparing a 9570 hectare enclosure for bilbies and nine other native animals at Mallee Cliffs, 30km east of Mildura on the NSW side of the Murray River, and last week released the first 30 animals.