The 'Guulabaa' - Wild Koala Breeding Story - Part 1

It’s big, bold, and could be the key to saving the species…

On the eve of the launch of our centre at Guulabaa - Place of Koala, the world’s first Wild Koala Breeding facility and world-class nature-based tourism experience, we reflect on our journey to make this dream a reality.

The success of this enormously challenging project is a testament to the tenacity of our board, staff and volunteers here at Koala Conservation Australia, along with the support of our partner organisations, and the generosity of our donors. It really has taken a village and is a testament to the power of the people.

So let's take a look at how we got here....

Pioneers in Koala Conservation for over 50 years

The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital was established in 1973 as Australia’s first dedicated Koala Hospital and licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility. Since then, we’ve rescued, treated, and released thousands of koalas. The hospital has evolved into a leading koala training, research and education centre, becoming a popular tourist attraction and visitor education hub. We welcome over 100,000 visitors from around the world each year!

As koala habitat loss continues to escalate, our habitat conservation work has also expanded to include two large-scale koala food tree plantations, close to 200ha of prime koala habitat in Port Macquarie (held in perpetuity as a national park), and habitat rehabilitation programs. We have over 14,000 koala food trees planted at our Maria River Road plantation.

The Blackest Summer

During 2019’s ‘Black Summer Bushfires, Port Macquarie was surrounded by fire. Highways were cut, and anxiety ran high. Homes, properties, and lives were lost. Far too late, the rains came, and they didn’t stop. Floods swept through fragile, burnt habitats, and the impacts on wildlife from these extreme weather events were devastating.

Koalas go from ‘Threatened’ to ‘Endangered’

Before the fires, koalas were already vulnerable due to habitat loss, drought and disease. Our region on the mid-north coast of New South Wales is home to one of Australia’s most significant Koala populations, and the Black Summer Bushfires were catastrophic. Burning through 5.5 million hectares in NSW alone, the fires hit our koala populations hard. It is estimated that 60,000 koalas perished across the country.

In 2020, as the huge losses to our koala populations became evident, the Australian Government upgraded the severity of the koalas' plight as a species from ‘Vulnerable’ to ‘Endangered.’ At the current rate, it is estimated that koalas could go extinct by 2050. We are indeed at a tipping point in the species' future. We know that without urgent intervention, the outlook is grim.

From the Ashes, Hope Rises.

During the fires, our small volunteer-run koala hospital was at the frontline, rescuing and treating an assembly line of horrifically injured koalas. Our staff and volunteers worked around the clock. Our efforts received extensive worldwide news coverage, eliciting a tremendous emotional response from the public. So much so that our website kept crashing because so many people were trying to donate!

We then set up a GoFundMe page, targeting $25,000 to support our work, and something extraordinary happened… a staggering $7.9 million poured in from around the world- an Australian GoFundMe record!

With this sort of funding comes great responsibility. We knew it had the potential to transform our conservation work. We immediately ramped up our rescue and rehabilitation of hundreds of koalas from the fire grounds. We rolled out critical wildlife-saving initiatives, including fabricating and deploying over 150 mobile wildlife watering stations across NSWs, saving countless animals from dehydration and death.

And, in the biggest potential game-changer yet for the future of the species, these additional funds allowed us to accelerate the development of our Wild Koala Conservation Breeding plans – an innovative program that would have taken many more years if not for the GoFundMe donations.

And we are nearly there.... we have done what we said we would do.

So what's next?.... check out Part 2....