After 20 years of working for koala and wildlife conservation, Lorraine Vass has received one of the top honours in Australia - and has been named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Lorraine was one of two Lismore locals this January 26 to receive a national Australia Day Medal.

Lorraine said she was ‘overwhelmed’ when she received the news that the Governor General had officially conferred her with the citation for her service to wildlife conservation, particularly the koala.

Local doctor Dr David Scott also receives an OAM. Read more Local doctor David Scott honoured with OAM for medical service

Friends of the Koala (FoK)

Lorraine’s work with Friends of the Koala (FoK) over the past 20 years has been instrumental in raising awareness of the plight of the koala.

She spent 15 years as president of FoK, after joining the organisation in 2000 and said while she was koala focussed – she has a much broader focus on wildlife in her campaigning work.

“I retired here from the N.T. and joined FoK because we had koalas through our Wyrallah property,” Lorraine said. “The profile of FoK has skyrocketed over the years since then.

“Looking at the big picture is my strength. From early on, it was important for me to build relationships with other organisations and build alliances and relationships. Public service management was my background and I realised you can’t do anything alone – you need partnerships and goodwill - and to educate people.”

Lorraine also won a NSW woman of year award in 2016 for her work and has been inducted into the Koala Tree of Fame.

Peter Garrett

She has met with many politicians in her work lobbying for koala conservation. One of the memorable times was meeting former federal environment minister - Peter Garrett.

“I met him when he visited Lismore when Janelle Saffin was the Federal Member for Page,” she said.

“We were talking about the business of koala care and how there were no hospitals here and most vets are not trained to treat wildlife, but were doing it in their own time and at their own cost. Peter said ‘I’ve never thought about how sick wildlife are treated’ and I thought that’s an honest answer.”

Lorraine said it important to her that the environment minister had become aware of the plight of Australian wildlife because of their chat.

Fast forward to today - after the 2019-2020 bushfires killed or injured so many native animals - and the plight of the koala and native wildlife has become a national issue that politicians are now all aware of.

Wildlife hospital

She has been in the background lobbying for a new wildlife hospital which will now be built in Wollongbar, which was important because a lot of the koala activity is in Northern NSW. Read more: Long awaited wildlife hospital planned for Wollongbar

“A wildlife hospital in our area has been a long held aspiration,” she said. “When Steve Irwin started Australia Zoo and Wildlife Hospital in 2004 on the Gold Coast, FoK took koalas for specialised medical treatment into Queensland.

“Then over the years Currumbin Wildlife Hospital had built an expertise in koala work and FoK used this facility even though it was so far away.

“Even Byron Bay now has a mobile wildlife hospital - the fires were a huge tragedy, but have drawn attention to the need for preparedness and capacity to respond.

Lorraine is no longer the president of FoK but when she was, she worked over a 100 hours a week in the voluntary role.

“I enjoy the work and I have no intention of stopping,’ she said. “My first love is koala conservation and broader wildlife is still in my scope,” she said.

Plight

Lorraine hopes being given the AM honorific will continue to amplify the plight of the koala and wildlife in Australia.

“Getting this award is important,” she said. “It’s good to see recognition being given to environmental work because it’s always been sidelined.

“It becomes a vehicle for achieving outcomes that are good for koalas, other species and environment - and draws attention to wildlife carers in conservation.

We can get involved in the fabric of government to get more done.”

Koala conservation park

Lorraine’s ongoing interest is working toward the establishment of a regional koala conservation park.

“I represented Fok when planning koala management plans in all four local council government areas and the next step is developing a Northern Rivers koala conservation strategy that will be based on work done over the past few years in a local research project,” she said.

Over the years, Lorraine has also sat on committees on a wide range of environment focussed projects in different organisations, including NSW Wildlife Council, North Coast Environment Council, Broadwater Koala Reserve Trust, Northern Rivers Fire and Biodiversity Consortium (NRFABCON) , NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Northern Rivers Animal Law and Education Project.

Read more about koala conservation: SUNDAY PROFILE: Ros Irwin: Koala conservationist and ex-councillor