Conservation

Saving the Koala

Koalas are under severe threat along Australia's east coast. Now a vast, new protected area, the Great Koala National Park, has been proposed in NSW to safeguard the iconic species. The problem is, not only do we need the NSW Government to live up to its promises, we need private landowners nearby to assist with koala-habitat connectivity.

Words + Photography Johan Augustin

Koalas are special in our culture—we call them dunggiirr," says Micklo Jarrett.

Once hunted by Aboriginal people, the koala today holds a different but equally powerful place in Indigenous culture: as a totem. Micklo is a cultural leader of the Gumbaynggirr people, whose land stretches along the coast of northern New South Wales. And it's on their land that, in September 2025, the state government committed to protecting a vast new conservation area: the Great Koala National Park, aka the GKNP. Part of that commitment involved placing a temporary moratorium on timber harvesting within the proposed park's boundaries until its actual establishment.

It's envisioned that when it's finally gazetted, the GKNP will cover a total of about 476,000ha—making it one of New South Wales' largest protected reserves. It will include areas of state forest added to existing national parks to create a new, connected conservation landscape for koalas and other threatened species.

Ecotourism and cultural knowledge

With the creation of the new national park, up to a hundred new jobs are expected to be created. Ecotourism will be central to the park's future, offering opportunities for people with deep cultural and ecological knowledge—like Micklo—to work as guides and custodians of the landscape.