Queensland resident Phyllis Johnson in hospital after fighting off escaped pet that attacked her as she put out washing

A 94-year-old woman in an outback town struck a kangaroo she thought was going to kill her, hitting the animal with a broom then managing to crawl to safety in her house before police subdued the creature with pepper spray.

The householder, Phyllis Johnson, said the red kangaroo attacked her while she was hanging out her washing in her yard on Sunday in the Queensland town of Charleville.

"I thought it was going to kill me," she told the Courier Mail from hospital where she was treated for bruises and scratches. "It was taller than me, and it just ploughed through the clothes on the washing line straight for me."

She said she saw a blur of red fur before the kangaroo knocked her down and kicked her as she lay on the ground. She managed to get to her feet, and then she grabbed the broom to hit the animal enough times to daze it.

"She fought it off herself with a bit of help from the family dog," said her son, Rob Johnson, who called the police after the incident. The kangaroo had "a bit of a go" at him too, he said.

He said his mother has a large gash on her leg but was recovering.

Stephen Perkins, head of police in Charleville, said the first officer to reach the house had to spray the kangaroo to avoid being injured.

"The animal jumped away, then saw another officer at the back of the police car and went for that officer – and he also had to deploy his capsicum spray. So the roo had to get sprayed twice," Perkins said. "After that, it hopped away from the scene, but police could still monitor its location – it didn't go too far."

Wildlife rangers from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service later trapped the intruder. Red kangaroos are the world's largest marsupials and can stand as tall as a man and weigh about 90kg (198lb).

The kangaroo, which is a male, will be examined by a vet before a decision is made about his future, Mike Devery, a government official, said.

Kangaroos rarely attack humans. Perkins said he had never before heard of police using pepper spray againstone before. "It did subdue the animal and drew its attention away for the officers – so it worked," he added.

The Courier Mail reported that despite Johnson's frightening ordeal, she insisted she wanted to see the animal cared for. "I definitely do not want it killed," she said. The kangaroo was identified later as Eddie, a pet orphaned as a joey, who on Sunday slipped from his enclosure in the neighbourhood to go on his rampage.