In a major conservation win, koalas have been detected in multiple locations in Wadbilliga National Park for the first time. Their detection follows the most comprehensive koala survey ever done in that section of the rugged escarpment. The survey was done by Gadhu Bagan, the Southern Yuin Firesticks team of Cultural Fire Practitioners, in partnership with the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

It took the team of twelve three weeks to put specialised acoustic monitors in 48 selected spots across the rough and remote landscape. They recorded whatever called out over a two-week period. The work forms part of two projects, the Southern-Yuin Koala Project and the government’s NSW Koala Strategy.

Djiringanj man Koorin Campbell has worked with the national not-for-profit for four years. He said the Southern-Yuin Koala Project began in 2018, helped by a Protecting Our Places grant. The care of Country by Koorin and his fellow Gadhu Bagan Cultural Fire Practitioner Durramah Parsons Campbell is reshaping how koala conservation is understood and delivered across the Murrah, Biamanga, Kooraban, Gulaga and broader Wadbilliga landscape.

Historically, koala records in the park have been scarce, with most detections previously concentrated along the park’s western fringe. Considering the damage from the Black Summer bushfires the detections are very encouraging. None of the sites were impacted by last December’s Brassknocker bushfire, indicating key habitat areas remain intact to support the koala population. They hope to do a follow-up drone survey in the next year.

‘It is ground-breaking for us because the koala songlines reach out that way from the south coast to northern Yuin Country up Nowra way,’ Koorin said. ‘We believe the absence of Cultural Fire has had a massive impact on some of our threatened species like koalas and potoroos.’

Marion Williams

Photo: Durramah Parsons Campbell and Koorin Campbell installing the monitors in Wadbilliga National Park. Photo Lachlan Wilmott.