The bush rat is a small Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n nocturnal animal

Nocturnal animal

Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal"....

. It is an omnivore

Omnivore

Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...

. It is one of the most common species of rats and is found in many heathland areas of Victoria and NSW

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. Adult bush rats are smaller than the Australian swamp rat

Australian Swamp Rat

The Australian Swamp Rat is a species of rat occurring around the coast of south and eastern Australia. It occurs in lowland country from Fraser Island down the coast of New South Wales and Victoria to the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia...

, (Rattus lutreolus), and in addition, the bush rat's foot pads are a pink colour, whereas the swamp rat's foot pads are dark brown.

Bush rats first arrived in Australia in the second wave of rodent migration, around two million years ago.