Declining species of vertebrates, including amphibians, have a life history that is characterised by low fecundity, long time to maturity, limited capacity to disperse and habitat specialisation. However, by studying aspects of the life history of an endangered amphibian in south-eastern Australia we show that a paradox may exist for some declining amphibians. We used standard mark–recapture methods over two breeding seasons (2000–01) to study a population of the green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) on Kooragang Island, New South Wales, with the aim of determining its age structure, and the growth and survival rates of individuals. Two age classes for males and three for females were derived using von Bertalanffy growth models. Around a quarter of the male and female marked population was a first-year cohort. The male and female age structures appeared to be stable over the two breeding seasons. However, there were fewer female L. aurea in the <12-month age class and more in the >24-month age class in 2001, which may indicate that recruitment declined in the study area. A short time to maturity (~3 months) was recorded for males. The maximum-likelihood estimate of survival for males in the 2000 breeding season was relatively high (0.76), although the capture probability was low (0.19). The biology of L. aurea conforms to an ‘r’-strategist, which is characteristic of a colonising or ‘weed-like’ species and not of one that has become extinct over much of its former range.