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We have just visited the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie. I didn’t want to visit the hospital because I thought it would be far too sad an experience. However, the car rental man at the airport pretty much insisted we visit saying it was wonderful, so we took him at his word & are so glad that we did.
My knowledge of koalas was mostly about their continuing loss of habitat & the risk of extinction in the wild if we do not save their habitat. I had only seen one wild koala before & this was a male walking across a field bellowing for a girlfriend at Healesville in Victoria.
The Koala Hospital is within city limits in the Macquarie Nature Reserve next to historic Roto House, a rare late Victorian country house built for surveyor John Flynn & his family in 1891. The NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service manages the house & nature reserve.
The first thing that hits you when you drive in to the reserve is the truly enormous trees on the property. There are all kinds of Eucalypts, some Bunya pines & at least one Fig tree, plus a forest as a backdrop. Next to the house is an almost hollow Mulberry bush that is still very much alive. I’d guess it was planted in 1891 or shortly after. For more information see – http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/macquarie-nature-reserve
The Koala Hospital has been in Macquarie Nature Reserve since 1975. According to the National Parks website Macquarie Nature Reserve is a major habitat corridor for the koala & home to a number of threatened species – “the barred cuckoo-shrike, square-tailed kite, grey-headed flying fox & glossy black cockatoo.” It’s no wonder looking at the reserve, as to me, it looks like heaven for wildlife.
As we walked towards the Koala Hospital a small sign beneath a massive tree read, ‘Koala up tree.’ This was my first surprise. A tiny brown circle was visible way up in the furthest branches. I had no idea koalas were so small. I wondered whether the similar shape I’d seen in the grove of Eucalypts in the airport was a koala or a bird’s nest – they look so similar. A staff member told us that people generally know that a koala is above by their scat on the ground.
We went to the rehabilitation area before we went to the low-key shop & information area. A very friendly & knowledgeable volunteer explained how the hospital works & introduced us to a number of the koalas. Some were permanent residents because of such diverse problems as scoliosis (curvature of the spine), amputation of a leg & the loss of one eye due to an accident & blindness from Chlamydia.
Other koalas come in for a variety of reasons, get patched up, given time to recover & heal, then are released back to the area they came from. Koalas at the hospital are given names that include the area from where they came & the first name of the person who brought them in. eg. Lighthouse Harry.
The koalas outside live in fairly large pens with what looks like a picnic kiosk in the centre. They all have trees, though some have their trunks wrapped at the bottom to prevent the koalas from climbing. You can’t have a sick koala high up in a tree when you need to give him medication.
The kiosks have a roof & there is a range of very big branches that offer perches for the koalas to sit. Some perches are set up to offer full support to the koala, while others look more like a fork of a tree. Huge bundles of four types of gum leaves are attached to the branches around the kiosk offering meals on demand without the koala needing to struggle to access food.
While we were there the one-eyed, one-legged koala, a permanent resident who gets room service, decided to climb a very high tree, then clamber along a long side branch until he reached the leaves that were growing on this branch. Then he sat down & started to eat. They can move fast if they want to.
Was it sad visiting the Koala Hospital? Not at all. Their living conditions mimic the wild. They are safe. They have lots of food & a range of climbing conditions. Apart from the fences & man-made structures, the surrounds are essentially the bush, so they can see, hear & smell everything that they are used to. The hospital was nothing at all like I had imagined. It is a terrific place for children to visit to learn about koalas.
We spoke to two volunteers. They absolutely loved their work & of course the koalas. Incidentally, I met another volunteer of the Koala Hospital in the Fair Trade shop in town who also loved her volunteer work with the koalas.
As with any animal hospital & rehabilitation centre, the Koala Hospital exists on very little money & with the assistance of volunteer workers, so you can help by becoming a member or simply making a monetary donation. They are a registered charity, so donations within Australia are tax deductable. More information is available here – http://www.koalahospital.org.au/membership
They also have an ‘Adopt a Wild Koala’ program – “Your adoption helps with the rescue & treatment of sick & injured koalas & release back to home range if possible; also the preservation & expansion of habitat, collection of information for research relating to habitat, disease, nutrition & habits of wild koalas & to provide educational material, to increase public awareness of all aspects of the koala.”
One other campaign by the Koala Hospital that I love is planting koala food trees – the more common being Tallowood, Swamp Mahogany & Forest Red Gum.
Each tree costs only $15 to buy & plant in the ground. !!!
The trees grow big in Port Macquarie, so $15 will pay for a tree that will not only increase much-needed habitat for koalas who are being hounded out of existence, but also provide habitat & food for all sorts of other wildlife from insects to birds. I’ve not seen such value for money before. http://www.koalahospital.org.au/act-now/plant-a-koala-food-tree
If you get the chance to visit this place, do so. You will not be disappointed. The koalas are easily visible in their pens. The environment is lovely. The staff are friendly. The atmosphere is great. The only thing the hospital asks of visitors is not to make noise or use a camera flash when taking photographs. Entry is free.

A close-up of the above photo. This is the one-legged, one-eyed Koala who was climbing incredibly well.
1. The Cumberland Courier reported that Energy Australia is to spend $62 million installing high-voltage power lines between substations at Allambie Heights & Balgowlah to protect endangered tree communities at River Flat Eucalyptus Forest & Duffys Forest Ecological Community & to not damage historic Sloane Crescent Bridge. This is a great thing they are doing. http://cumberland-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/power-plan-to-protect-trees/

showing the Optus cables clearance - extreme at this end of Renwick St Marrickville South. At the other end of this street the branches were pruned to & above the Optus cables
Pity about what Energy Australia did to the street trees at the Woolworths end of Renwick Street during ‘routine pruning’ last February. People just looked at the trees with their mouth open. As usual, the feeling was “the damage is done & there is nothing we can do about it.”
It is such as shame as we know they can do better. See https://savingourtrees.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/tree-pruning-planting-practices-compare/ where just last February I complimented Energy Australia for the good pruning they did in Excelsior Parade. Even Renwick Street has different pruning outcomes. The lower end, towards Carrington Road, the street trees were moderately pruned. Some trees that had been almost destroyed during the previous pruning cycle 7-8 years ago were looked after this time. Interestingly, Energy Australia workers did not clear branches below the Optus cables at this end of Renwick Street, whereas up the other end the Optus cables where given a huge clearance. The trees on the corner of Renwick & Excelsior had more than 2/3s of their canopy removed.
2. Brisbane City Council announced they will plant 2 million trees across the city by 2012. This is a fabulous initiative & the community can participate. http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_2645
Their website http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_694 says residents can request a street tree be planted & provides a list of suitable trees. Brisbane City Council also say they plant trees which will not interfere with overhead powerlines & that street trees are classified as “valuable Council & community assets” & protected under the Natural Assets Local Law making it an offence to prune, interfere with or remove street trees. Wonderful.
In another lovely initiative, Brisbane City Council has organised Tree Trail. Information & a map of 20 locations can be downloaded highlighting special & significant trees around the CBD. I think this is a terrific idea & believe it would be a boon for tourism. HTTP://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_936
3. Hornsby Councillor Bruce Mills’ proposal to plant mature trees to create ‘instant boulevards’ was voted in during a March Council Meeting. Residents need to request that their street become a tree-lined boulevard. Councillor Mills says this initiative will be “returning ratepayer funds in a way which adds to their property value.” http://cumberland-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/tree-lined-streets-are-a-reality-in-cherrybrook/
The Boulevard in Dulwich Hill is an excellent local example of a street loved because of its many, large street trees that cascade over the road. Ask any real estate agent & they will tell you this street is sort after with buyers paying more to purchase property here because of the presence of these trees.
The following is a short, but relevant article about trees & property value in America. Adelaide University has assessed the value of trees upwards to 25% of the property’s value in line with Australian property prices as they are more expensive than in the USA. http://www.keeferealestate.com/news/concierge.php?itemid=620
Personally, I would love it if our Council copied the ‘instant boulevard’ idea. Even planting more developed trees would be a step forward as these have a greater chance of surviving. City of Sydney Council planted 200 litre root-ball 4 metre high Simon Poplars along & on the corner of side streets in Glebe Point Road in 2009. All these trees have survived & are growing well. There positive impact was immediate & the area looks greener & prettier for it.
4. City of Sydney Greens Councillor Chris Harris wrote about a proposed cycleway in Johnstons Creek that he says will destroy wildlife habitat. This new 2.5 meter wide cement path starts at Orphan Creek, an woodland & wildlife habitat area in Forest Lodge that was decimated for a similar path in 2009 despite enormous & organised community opposition. What is also disturbing in this article is residents from Minogue Crescent who are directly affected by the new cycleway, were refused permission to address the Councillors during a Council Meeting who ‘voted in a block’ to deny them this opportunity. I would have thought it a right. http://www.chrisharris.org.au/2010/03/10/johnstons-creek-cycleway-on-the-wrong-track/
5. The Daily Telegraph reported that State Forests NSW started woodchip logging in the Mumbulla & Murrah state forests on 29th March 2010 despite this being the last area in SE NSW where the threatened species Koala lives. A group of residents attempting to save the Koala habitat managed to stop logging by getting in the way of loggers. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/tense-stand-off-over-koala-colony/story-e6freuyi-1225847595335?from=public_rss

This street tree in Renwick Street had a naturally round canopy. Before it was pruned early 2010, it looked something like the area shaded in yellow. It may have been taller
Koalas are listed as a threatened species & classified as ‘vulnerable.’ From the NSW state governments own web-site – A ‘vulnerable’ species is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances & factors threatening its survival or evolutionary development cease to operate. Yet, they are taking down forests where Koalas are known to live. I just don’t understand this.
Everyone fell in love with the burnt Koala who was filmed drinking water given by a Fireman during last year’s Victorian bushfires, but we can’t rely on our government to save our national emblem. For more information about this issue including how you can help, go to Nature Conservation Council of NSW http://nccnsw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3002&Itemid=1
On 24th January 2010 I reported in Tree News Local & International of a report by The Cumberland Courier of the death of a grove of 40 year old Gums on a property in Boundary Road, Box Hill which was being investigated by Hills Shire Council & Castle Hill police. Seems Hills Shire Council believes the trees have been poisoned as they have drill holes in them. Apart from the Gums, a number of Ironbarks thought to be older than 100 years are also dying on this property. Sad. Sad. Sad. You can read the first part of the story here – http://cumberland-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/what-s-killing-box-hill-s-trees/
& the second follow-up article here – http://cumberland-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/dying-trees-may-be-over-100-years-old-council-confirms-trees-poisoned/
Energy Australia is getting more negative publicity this time from the Inner West Courier. http://inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/wrights-rd-drummoyne-ruined-days-after-resurfacing/
Coffs Harbour City Council just won a court case against a company owner for the removal of koala habitat trees on a Moonee property in June 2009. The company received a hefty fine. To read this click on the following – http://www.lgtra.com/in-the-news/7-council/61-tree-preservation-order-fines-highlight-need-for-awareness.html
I don’t know if this type of offence has always made news, but it seems to me that tree vandalism is making the news globally at the moment. I think this is terrific. When I was growing up people did dreadful things to trees & there was no-one to call them to account for it. The attitude was ‘man conquers trees’ & we have huge loss of forests world-wide & a massive reduction in the percentage of urban trees to show for it.
Times have changed & it seems the community is insisting that offences against trees be punished. This type of attitudinal shift will only benefit us in the long-term & perhaps over the next 30 years we can leave the world in a much better state than it is currently.
The Cooks River Valley Times this week had the intended massive expansion (more than double) of Marrickville Metro shopping centre on their front page. If AMP do get approval to expand Marrickville Metro, we will lose another lot of healthy, mature & old Hills Figs. There are more than 20 which surround the shopping complex. Apart from the food & shelter these trees give to local wildlife, they serve a very important role in disguising the visually unpleasant complex, which is basically a cement box with entrances & ramps leading to car parking. Okay, this is what malls generally look like, but the Figs are way too precious to be chopped down to significantly enlarge a centre where shop-keepers have told me during general chit-chat over last 2-3 years that they are struggling to survive. There are also a number of tall Eucalypts with trunks around 2-3 metres which may also have to go if the building expands outwards & not upwards. This DA is going to have a big impact for the community if it goes ahead. I seem to remember Marrickville Council’s Draft LEP mentioning something about new units planned to house thousands of people within 800 metres from Metro. Oh boy. More high-rise.
http://www.torchpublishing.com.au/read/Valley_Times_4_February_2010/index.html
Integral Energy have “chastised some of its contactors for overzealous pruning of street trees” after the street trees in Christine Street Northmead were ruined. Intergal Energy admitted their contactor “got it wrong.” In the article written in the Cumberland Courier the energy company talks about their tree pruning practices & training.
http://cumberland-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/residents-cant-see-the-trees-for-deforest/
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