Rhinos could be grazing the grasslands of Australia as early as this year if an ambitious plan to import an "insurance population" of the species goes ahead.
As poaching continues to threaten the wild population in southern Africa, plans are under way to relocate 80 white and black rhinos to Australia for safe keeping. The breeding herd will be an insurance population in the event of the extinction of the species in the wild. 
Founder of The Australian Rhino Project, Ray Dearlove, said under the plan 20 animals a year would be imported from South Africa between 2016 and 2019. The first family group of six white rhino will go to Dubbo's Taronga Western Plains Zoo, where they will be quarantined.
Mr Dearlove said two years ago the family group, living on a private game reserve in the north-west of South Africa, numbered 12. But half have since been killed by poachers, leaving one male and five females.
"This first group is very important to us," Mr Dearlove said.
A dramatic increase in rhino poaching deaths has been recorded by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs since 2007, when 13 animals were killed for their horn. That figure peaked at 1215 animals in 2014 and last year fell slightly for the first time in eight years, to 1175.
It has been estimated that if current trends continue the rhino could be extinct in the wild by 2024.
"If you are losing 1200 a year, which is roughly three a day, it's just not sustainable," Mr Dearlove said. "So I hope Australia will become a safe and secure stronghold for the rhino."
Weighing in at about 2500 kilograms, each rhino will travel from Johannesburg to Sydney in a crate on a chartered flight. At least two vets will travel with them to monitor the animals around the clock.
It is not a cheap exercise - the cost of moving one rhino alone is about $60,000.
"It's a lot of money. But for me it's about preserving a species," he said.
Deakin University ecologist Euan Ritchie said the project illustrated just how dire the situation was for wild rhinos.
"If that's what we have to do, then that's what we have to do. It would be a travesty to see such amazing animals go extinct."
Taronga spokesman Mark Williams said Dubbo's Taronga Western Plains Zoo has already undertaken to quarantine the first six white rhino. He said staff had a proven track record in rhino husbandry and captive breeding.
Under the program, rhinos will also go to South Australia. Zoos SA chief executive Elaine Bensted said Monarto Zoo would take around 30 rhinos in coming years, accommodating them on about 500 hectares.
While in Australia, Mr Dearlove said the rhinos would be introduced to breeding mates, in an effort to deepen the gene pool.