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Wide Bay

Koala Woman Says

This electorate stretching from Noosa to Maryborough and westwards to Murgo was the scene of many Koala deaths in the days of the fur trade, the Maryborough Chronicle (14th November 1900) noted that “thousands of koalas have been killed in the Wide Bay and Burnett District in a one-month period”. This coincided with a period of land clearing for dairy farming. We don’t think Koalas ever recovered from this slaughter and then a second wave of development starting in the 1970s removed 35% of the remaining habitat and increased fragmentation so that Koalas, while looking for food trees, had to also deal with dogs and cars. You could always take people to Noosa National Park to see at least half a dozen Koalas, but None have been recorded around Noosa since 2021.The Park Koalas are isolated from other Koalas by busy roads so we think they’ll be entirely gone in a couple of years. A bit further west at Tewantin, there are still a few Koalas hanging on around the edges of suburbia.

Scattered Koalas occur westwards to Eumundi and Moy Pocket and north to Ross Creek on the Tin Can Bay Road. The only other concentration of Koalas in this electorate is at Tinana, a suburb of Maryborough being developed at a rapid pace. This may explain the extremely high incidence of dog attacks, vehicle strikes and disease in Tinana. Since 2015 there have been 19 sightings here, but only four since 2021, so these Koalas are gone. It seems the White Shoe Brigade has moved from the Gold Coast to Tinana.

The news is better around Murgon and Cherbourg in the western part of Wide Bay, away from the developers but Koalas are in very fragmented habitat with many roads.

I am pretty confident that the lower number is accurate here, and there is a lot of bush left which gives some opportunity for recovery but it is not the best-quality habitat and is highly fragmented. The only thing missing is political will because the coast is a future growth region for housing and unless the community insists on ‘Koala Beach’ type developments, Koalas in Wide Bay are headed to extinction.

Member for Wide Bay

The Hon Llew O’Brien MP
Liberal National Party of Queensland
Llew.O’Brien.MP@aph.gov.au
PO Box 283 Maryborough QLD 4650

Will he Act or Axe?

Koala Numbers

Estimated AKF Koala Population: 200 – 300

Estimated Koala Habitat left: 47.1%

Estimated Federal Government Population: No data. No opinion.

Listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act (Feb 2022)

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