Paintings which gave the British public their first glimpse of a kangaroo and dingo could stay in the country after the Government introduced a temporary export bar.

Potential buyers need to find £5.5 million to keep the two George Stubbs oil paintings – The Kongouro From New Holland and Portrait of a Large Dog (The Dingo), in the UK.

First shown in 1773 at the Royal Academy, the works are thought to have been commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks following his part in Captain James Cook's first voyage of discovery to the Pacific.

The paintings, dated 1772, are hailed for bringing to public attention two of the animals which would be most closely identified with Australia.

Stubbs, best known for his images of horses and dogs, could not paint the creatures from life so worked from spoken accounts and, in the case of the kangaroo, from sketches and after inflating the preserved skin.

The temporary export bar was announced by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey today.

His ruling followed a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee On The Export Of Works Of Art And Objects Of Cultural Interest.

Committee chairman Lord Inglewood said: "It would be a terrible shame if the UK were to lose these extraordinary paintings to an overseas buyer."

The export bar remains in place until August 5 and can be extended until November 5.