 David Fleay's achievements at the sanctuary were numerous.In 1955, he achieved the first known captive breeding of the mulgara, followed in 1958 by the breeding of the planigale (a midget marsupial).In 1958 he successfully delivered a further three platypuses to New York's Bronx Zoo and later that year was able to construct a new and improved platypussary at the West Burleigh sanctuary with a small grant awarded to him by the New York Zoological Society.