A three-metre scrub python has made a meal out of a wallaby in far north Queensland on New Year’s Day – the second such event recorded in the area in recent weeks.

Bernie Worlsfold said the wallaby was gone in about three hours. Photo: Bernie Worlsfold

Bernie Worlsfold came across the python mid-feed about 5:00pm on Sunday, while attending to the horses on the Kuranda property where he lives. 

He said he had lived in the area for 20 years and the sight of a python swallowing a wallaby was nothing new.

But he said Sunday’s catch, including the wallaby and its joey, was the biggest he had ever seen.

“It was right in the middle of the paddock, there it was rolling around this huge wallaby and python,” Mr Worlsfold said.

I was amazed by the size of his [python’s] head … he swallowed that wallaby in three hours.

“It was an amazing sight.

“I didn’t watch it all. I went away to make a cup of tea but came back every hour.”

Mr Worlsfold said he managed to free the joey from its mother’s pouch, but it did not survive.

Scrub pythons are the longest non-venomous snakes in Australia and can grow up to 7m in length.

They mainly feed on small birds, other reptiles and frogs, but have been known to go after wallabies.

Last month, just one suburb away from Kuranda, another python eating a wallaby on a golf course made headlines around the world.

Python vs wallaby up near Cairns on New Year's Day. This guy is set for months after this meal @ABCNewsBrisbane (Video: Bernie Worlsfold) pic.twitter.com/iEBxd5JzK9

— Patrick Williams (@PatrickWilliams) January 2, 2017