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The brush‐tailed rock‐wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) is an endangered species in southeastern Australia and many of the remaining populations are declining. The steep rocky habitat and shy nature of the species make it difficult to obtain data on population parameters such as abundance and recruitment. Faecal pellet counts from scat plots are commonly used to monitor population trends but these are imprecise and difficult to relate to absolute population size. We conducted a noninvasive genetic sampling ‘mark–recapture’ study over a 2‐year period to identify individuals from faecal DNA samples and estimate the population size of four brush‐tailed rock‐wallaby colonies located in Wollemi National Park, New South Wales. Scat plots in rock‐wallaby colonies were used as sample collection points for this study. Two separate population estimates were carried out for three of the colonies to determine if we could …