Several rare albino wallaroos are living at Australia's spiritual home of motor sport, researchers have confirmed.

Mount Panorama, in central-western New South Wales, is best-known for motor-racing but its famous events have not been without conflict between humans and animals.

There have been numerous near misses and several crashes involving race cars and kangaroos, and one such accident forced David Russell out of last year's Bathurst 1000.

A kangaroo cull in the lead up to the 2009 event sparked controversy in the community.

The Bathurst Kangaroo Project has been considering ways to manage kangaroos in the region, but the researchers are particularly excited by the discovery of several albino wallaroos.

Albino wallaroos have excited researchers and wildlife watchers in central-western New South Wales. ( Audience submitted: Tim Bergen )

Project head Daniel Ramp said it was believed there were three, and possibly four, albino wallaroos - including a mature mother and daughter and an albino joey with a non-albino mother.

"This population is special for lots of reasons but also because they've got this heavy, high level of albinism in it," he said.

Researcher Melanie Purdy said the group was hoping to find out if the albino gene was building up in the population.

"We've been taking DNA samples and certainly if we get to tag an albino wallaroo we'll be able to see what kind of genes it's carrying and relate those to the genes of other wallaroos in the area," she said.

"We can see if the populations are related and that would certainly be something that would be interesting, because that means that slowly, as time goes on we might be able to get that recessive gene coming out in the population."

Camera traps and listening posts track wallaroos

An albino wallaroo was first snapped several months ago by Bathurst Regional Councillor Jess Jennings while he was out jogging.

He said he mistook it for a dog.

"Then I saw it lying next to two kangaroos, grey kangaroos, and as I got a bit closer they all stood up and the one in the middle was a white kangaroo," Cr Jennings said.

Researchers said the wallaroos were larger than wallabies but smaller than eastern grey kangaroos. ( Audience submitted: Tim Bergen )

To find out exactly how many kangaroos are living on "The Mount", and to track their movement and behaviour, researchers are darting and tagging 30 kangaroos with ear tags.

The tags transmit data back to 10 listening posts.

Researchers have also installed 20 motion-sensitive camera traps across Mount Panorama and some have recorded the albinos.

Local wildlife photographer Tim Bergen, who managed to take some close-up pictures, said he was thrilled to see the "amazingly beautiful" animals.

He and the research team have declined to reveal where the animals have been photographed.

"There are people out there who are trophy hunters and an albino is something they'd like to hang on the wall, which I personally think is a bit sickening, but there are people out there that are like that," he said.

It is believed the wallaroos could be descendants of a male albino that lived on Mount Panorama about 30 years ago. ( Audience submitted: Tim Bergen )

It is believed the wallaroos could be descendants of a male albino that lived in the Sir Joseph Banks Nature Park, on top of Mount Panorama, about 30 years ago.

Former park ranger Ian McArtney said the animal was donated by Sir Edward Hallstrom, a one-time benefactor of Taronga Zoo and a keen collector of albino species.

"He was quite a docile old fellow and a good breeder," Mr McArtney said.

"He fathered quite a few babies, but never in my time an albino."

Research aims to help roos live by race track

Ms Purdy said the camera and tagging technology was not in place for the Bathurst 1000 race in October, but it would be used during the Bathurst 12 Hour in February.

"From that, we'll be able to tell where the kangaroos go during the races," she said.

"Using that data, hopefully Bathurst council will be able to find more ways of stopping them from jumping onto the tracks."

She said if the albinos caught on camera could not be tagged, DNA samples could be collected from hair found in locations such as on fences.

Researchers are looking at whether the albino gene is building up in the population. ( Audience submitted: Tim Bergen )

Dr Ramp said Mount Panorama was a unique place because of its diverse land uses.

"It's got a car race, there's lots of farms, vineyards and so forth and there's also wild animals," he said.

"Historically, there's been friction between the kangaroos and the people of this place and we're trying to find a resolution to that."

The Bathurst Regional Council has contributed funds to the research project, which is being run by the Centre for Compassionate Conservation at the University of Technology, Sydney.