About the Koala Action Group

Some of our main activities include

The planting days are a very social event with the volunteers rewarded for their hard work with a home baked morning tea.  Several members of the tree planting team have been attending planting for numerous years and families are regular attendees at this monthly Sunday morning event.

For several years our group managed our own nursery, propagating and growing koala food trees that were sold to Council, developers and members of the public.

KAG also undertakes planting projects with Redlands schools which provides an opportunity to educate them about the values of protecting koalas and the natural environment.

Our group holds information displays at community events throughout the year which helps to raise awareness of our organization and spread the word about the plight of koalas.

The Koala Action Group was founded in 1987 by former Redland City Councillor, Helen Murray and a few local residents in the Thorneside area. Helen recognized the importance of creating public awareness and welfare strategies and realized there needed to be a political component to the group’s plan.  In 1994 Helen was elected to Redland City Council and served for 18 years as a local councillor.

The founding  members also recognized the importance of data collection and so began the Annual Redlands Phone-in Koala Survey which has continued to this day but is now named the Annual Koala Count-a-thon.   The survey process invites members of the public to phone-in or send details of koala sightings on a nominated weekend in October.  Not only is quality data obtained, but the survey is an opportunity to provide the caller with valuable information on supporting koalas in their neighbourhood.

KAG has worked in conjunction with Redland City Council for over 25 years to re-vegetate land in all areas of the Redlands.  What were once large expanses of unused grass areas and concreted water easements have been transformed into lush wildlife corridors.

KAG plants a large variety of plant species to replicate the vegetation that is endemic to the location and uses a regime of planting one koala food tree to five other native species.  The re-vegetated areas have proven to be utilised by wildlife relatively quickly and we have observed koalas browsing on eucalyptus trees as soon as four years after planting.

The Koala Action Group will continue to be the ‘voice for koalas’ in the Redlands and believe that if koalas disappear from our natural environment many other lifestyle values will also be lost.