In the Southern Highlands, the bush tells a story of both loss and possibility. Morton National Park, once home to thriving koala populations, now stands silent of their calls. Hunting, habitat destruction, disease, and climate extremes have left the park locally bereft of koalas. But the Southern Highlands Wildlife Sanctuary (SHWS) believes this story doesn’t have to end here.
For SHWS, Save the Koala Day isn’t just about awareness. It’s about action, science, and building the foundations for one of the region’s most ambitious conservation goals: bringing koalas back to Morton National Park.
The Case for Recovery
Koalas in NSW are facing a crisis. A 2020 parliamentary inquiry found they could be extinct in the state by 2050 if current rates of habitat loss continue. The NSW Biodiversity Outlook Report 2024 paints the same stark picture: only half of threatened species are expected to survive the next century.
In the Southern Highlands alone, seven ecological communities are formally listed as threatened. Fragmented bushland, car strikes, dog attacks, and disease are daily realities for marsupials that once thrived here. For koalas, the decline is clear and Morton National Park has become a sobering reminder of what extinction looks like in real time.
Morton National Park and the Southern Highlands township of Bundanoon were directly hit during Black Summer. The Morton fire formed on 4 January 2020 after embers from the Currowan fire crossed the Shoalhaven River, burning about 23,004 hectares inside Morton National Park and impacting nearby towns. Homes were lost in Bundanoon, Wingello and Kangaroo Valley as the fire moved through the region. Statewide, the 2019–20 season burned more than 5.5 million hectares, including 38 percent of the NSW national park estate, which damaged habitat and disrupted connectivity for tree-dependent species.
Yet, with the right planning, research, and investment, SHWS sees Morton as a future home for recovery.
Building the Foundations
Reintroducing koalas to a place where they’ve disappeared isn’t as simple as releasing a few animals and hoping for the best. It requires long-term strategy: restoring habitat, addressing disease, genetic diversity and creating corridors that allow safe movement between bushland areas.
That’s why SHWS is embedding science at the heart of its mission. Every wombat treated for mange, every rescue of an injured animal, every record of roadkill builds a picture of ecosystem health. These data points, combined with university research and citizen science reports, are shaping a roadmap for how to make reintroduction viable.
The organisation’s planned Education Centre in Bundanoon is part of this foundation. It will be a hub for training, research, and community engagement, where schools, volunteers, and citizen scientists can learn and contribute to the work of ecological restoration.
Citizen Science and Community Power
Conservation can’t happen behind closed doors. Across Australia, citizen scientists have proven how powerful everyday observations can be. Community records of species sightings, disease outbreaks, and even healthy populations often highlight trends long before formal research catches up.
For SHWS, mobilising local knowledge is key. From residents noting koalas crossing roads, to volunteers joining bush restoration projects, every contribution helps piece together the puzzle of how to bring species back where they belong.
This grassroots power complements the bigger picture of regional efforts, such as the Southern Highlands Koala Conservation Project led by Wingecarribee Shire Council. There’s a growing momentum to protect koalas across the region.
Proof That Science Works
Reintroduction is possible; and the evidence is there. Tasmanian devils, devastated by facial tumour disease, are slowly returning thanks to managed populations at Barrington Tops and Maria Island. Brush-tailed bettongs, once absent from large parts of the country, are now thriving again in Western Australia after years of careful monitoring and habitat restoration.
These examples prove that when science and community combine, species can be pulled back from the brink. SHWS is determined to apply those lessons in the Southern Highlands, starting with wombats and expanding to koalas.
Why It Matters Now
Koalas are more than an emblem of Australia. They are ecosystem guardians. Their feeding shapes the growth of eucalypt forests, and their presence signals a healthy, functioning bushland.
Bringing them back to Morton National Park isn’t only about righting a loss, it’s about restoring balance to an entire ecosystem.
And it’s about people too. The Southern Highlands community has already shown extraordinary commitment to conservation, from volunteering to donating expertise and resources. SHWS is building on that foundation, creating a space where science, education, and grassroots action can work together to give koalas, and all native animals, a fighting chance.
