A YEAR WITH KOALAS

A journal of the experiences of Photographers and koala advocates David Mackenzie and Linda Barnes.

AS the fireworks displays are undergoing their final preparations all around the world in readiness for the new year celebrations, I have been thinking about the past year and what it has meant for us in our quest to provide support and advocacy to Australia’s vulnerable koalas.

Early in the year, Linda and I made a conscious decision to extend our network to include as many influential and active members of the koala community as we could. Researchers, governments of all persuasions, volunteers, action and advocacy groups and individuals.

It should be obvious to all by now that to save our koalas, we must save and replenish their habitat. That means trees, koala food trees. The more trees that go in the ground, the more space there is and the more food there is for koalas. Not only that but creating koala habitat also brings new habitats for all sorts of other creatures.

Our first foray into mass tree planting came with an invitation to attend a habitat restoration project conducted by a partnership program between Queensland Trust for Nature and the Youth Enterprise Trust, sponsored by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science, at YET’s property Woodstock near Tamborine Village. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, maybe a bit over 3 hours, we, along with 40 or 50 other volunteers, planted, mulched, tree guarded and watered over 300 habitat trees to create a wildlife corridor from 1 side of the property to the other across a floodplain of the Albert River.

A few weeks later, we came across an opportunity to connect with the wonderfully energetic and creative Linda Sparrow from Bangalow Koalas. They organised a planting near Pumpenbil in northern New South Wales. The property on which these trees were planted is owned by retired vet John Quale but was once owned by Bill Mollison, known as the founder of the permaculture movement in Australia.

Wild Koala Day came into our focus in May so we created a short music video to mark the occasion. Here is a link if you would like to take a look: Motion Images (davidmackenziephotos.com)

The cooler months brought many expeditions into forests all over southeast Queensland, spotting and photographing koalas and collecting stories that we hope one day soon to put into a book. We had become aware of the work being done by Queensland Koala Crusaders and their ambassador Meghan Halverson. Their goals and objectives seemed to align with many of our own beliefs and we looked forward to becoming more involved with them.

Early spring led us to venture over the water to Stradbroke Island to meet the amazing Dr Romane Cristescu who came to prominence during the bushfires of 2019/20 with her koala detection dog “Bear”. She has been researching koalas for over 12 years and was able to share some insights into the threats and challenges koalas face and her work on developing methods of tracking wild koalas.

Meghan told us about an upcoming event to be held in Noosa in early November called the Noosa Biosphere Koala Gala. “You must come”, she said. So we did, eventually bringing enough other people with us to fill two tables. Great entertainment, food prepared by famed chef Matt Golinski and lots of like-minded koala people. Murmurings were beginning about us (Linda) having a greater role with Queensland Koala Crusaders.

Throughout the year, our friendship with koala carer Anika Lehman became stronger. She selflessly cares for anywhere between 4 or 5 and 12 orphaned koala joeys at her property near Ocean View. We also got to know the joeys in her care, transporting some of them to medical appointments either at Australia Zoo, Currumbin Wildlife Hospital or RSPCA at Wacol, and generally being useful backup volunteers for her. We were delighted to be involved in a tree planting working bee on her property and being there to help restore order after a particularly nasty storm.

In November, the board of Queensland Koala Crusaders asked us to join them in a visit to a koala sanctuary being established near Geham, north of Toowoomba, by a group called KLAWS (Koala Land and Wildlife Support), an amazing small volunteer organisation that cares for and rescues koalas in the region. The QKC board presented them with a cheque to help in their quest to buy the property for their sanctuary.

November also found us participating in tree planting working bees at a property owned by Gubbi Gubbi Elder Dr Eve Fesl, an inspirational 93 year old woman with a passion for nature and a desire that her property should be used for education for young people about nature and wildlife.

December came around with the Annual General Meeting of Queensland Koala Crusaders. After much thought, Linda agreed to stand and was duly elected unopposed as President of QKC for 2022. Having some experience in this area, I agreed to take on the role of treasurer. Our objective is to help QKC grow, with more members, more activities, and more influence to benefit koalas.

Happy new year and looking forward with excitement to 2022.

It all begins with an idea.