Lucy Kingsley and her husband Scott McKinnon bought a farm at Wyrallah 15 years ago and started planting trees for koalas. 

“This morning at my dairy, I saw a koala mum and bub in a tree,” Lucy said. 

“I know there’s at least two mums and two babies around the dairy area now. But the koala numbers are down on what we saw 10 years ago.”

“We thought numbers would increase, but we realised we need more people to rehabilitate land and plant koala food trees so we can keep koalas off the road and in the safety of trees.

Lucy wants to encourage more land owners to plant koala trees and help create koala corridors in our region to help our slowly disappearing koala populations.

This Friday October 18, landowners, farmers and graziers on the Wilsons and Richmond floodplains are invited to attend Lismore Council’s free field day about living with koalas on rural lands.

Lucy Kingsley at her property looking at a koala.

Lucy said she hopes people will come to the field day at South Gundurimba to learn about different koala habitat sites and discuss the practical and science-based approaches to looking out for koalas, monitoring koala health and reconnecting broken habitat.

“With our diminishing forests, landowners need to help create tree corridors for koalas to move in, rather than across open land.

“Then the koalas are safe from cars, predation by eagles, dog attacks and being rumbled by cows who think the koalas are dangerous dogs.

“It’s also important that farmers understand the importance of keeping big old farm trees for koalas rather than knock them down for cultivation.

“When we bought our farm, we knew we had a small koala community on it because the previous owner has planted koala trees many years ago.

“Friends of the Koala (FoK) were harvesting leaves for their care centre and we could see that if we didn’t do something about the number of trees available, we’d be in trouble.

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

“So, we started planting more trees.

“We gave FoK a paddock and we all helped plant more trees for harvesting there. 

“We own a long stretch of riverbank that we fenced off through grant funding and we planted 100 trees there. 

“Now the trees are big - and we have koalas there and we’re putting in more tree rows so the koalas can safely run between trees.”

Lucy said there are different challenges for landowners to create a koala tree forest – like fencing off areas of newly planted trees to stop cows getting in and eating them.

“We put our wieners in the fenced areas for a day or so to chew the grass down and give the trees a chance to stabilise and grow,” she said.

Lucy said koalas are as inquisitive as the busload of tourists who drive down her road every Saturday are looking for koalas. 

“A lot of the tourists are visitors not from our area,” she said. 

“We keep metal containers near the road so the koalas can stay hydrated in the heat.

“One of the koalas here has a tracing device on it so researchers can work out how far koalas actually travel. After about four months, the device will fall off.

“We know we are doing the best we can to save them from extinction.

“It would be a pity if our children don’t get to see a koala in the wild.”

About the field day

The field day – Living with Koalas: Enhancing the habitat and health of koalas on the Richmond floodplains – will be held on Friday, 18 October from 9.30am to 2pm – and includes a free lunch. It will be held at a farm in South Gundurimba and Council will provide address details on registration.

To attend, RSVP to Lismore Council on 1300 87 83 87. 

Lunch is provided and please wear sturdy shoes and a hat for walking.

The day will focus on seeing koalas in the field and discussing ways that farmers and graziers can undertake habitat re-establishment within productive environments. 

Participants will travel to a number of different habitat sites and discuss the practical and science-based approaches to looking out for koalas, monitoring koala health and reconnecting broken habitat.

Hosts for the day are a local cane-growing family whose Richmond River property is also home to many resident and travelling koalas.

Presentations on the day will include:

• The impacts of wild dogs on livestock and wildlife (Local Land Services).
• Isolated paddock trees and windbreaks on the floodplain.
• Koala hotspots on the floodplains – where they are and why.
• A vet nurse will explain the differences between a healthy, sick and an older koala, and what to do when you see a sick koala.
• Koala food tree identification and what to plant if you are planning a revegetation program.

This free event is delivered in association with Monaltrie Landcare, Friends of the Koala and Local Land Services.

The event is part of Lismore City Council’s Rural Landholder Initiative field days to help local landholders and farmers connect, learn and discuss protecting biodiversity.