Wild Koala Day – May 3!
May 3, 2026: 10 years of advocacy for wild Koalas!
Wild Koala Day celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
In 2016 a network of koala conservation groups proposed the first Wild Koala Day. Every year since then, Wild Koala Day has been celebrated all over Australia and the world. Politicians, government departments, celebrities, sports stars and universities post about it.
From the start, the day has been WILD koala day. Wild, because that means habitat. Koalas can only live wild and free if there’s forest habitat. So let’s keep sharing, advocating, protesting, planting and protecting forests.
Tags #wildkoaladay #wildkoaladay2026
A concerned group of koala conservationists, Australia-wide, have declared
May 3 is Wild Koala Day
Download or Save As to use these official Wild Koala Day tiles to promote your event!
In the ten years since the beginning of Wild Koala Day in 2016, a lot has happened for koalas.
- Tree planting for koalas is now a big thing.
- At least 847,000 koala trees have been planted across Australia, by Bangalow Koalas, NSW: 520,000+; Koala Clancy Foundation, VIC: 185,000+; Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation, VIC: 100,000+; Koala Action Gympie Region, QLD: 42,000+ and others.
- Koalas were uplisted to Endangered in February 2022
- Toondah Harbour was saved from development by sustained community opposition.
- Port Macquarie Koala Hospital celebrated 50 years of operation in October 2023.
- The first National Koala Disease Risk Analysis was published in 2023.
- A National Koala Conference was held in Port Macquarie in May 2023. The next Koala Conference is coming up in July 2026.
- Australian Ethical divested from Lendlease over koala concerns at Mount Gilead, NSW in March 2023.
- Shenhua Watermark mine proposal was withdrawn in April 2021 after a decade of fierce community opposition.
- Emails from the public about Koalas crashed the NSW parliamentary system in October 2020
- The Koala Wars in NSW Parliament almost brought down a government in 2020.
- $7.9 million in donations after the fires launched the Guulabaa wild koala breeding program at Port Macquarie in Sept 2020
- Surveying for koalas using drones was tested in 2020, and is now achieving results all over the koala’s range.
- The Black Summer 2019-2020 megafires killed thousands of koalas.
- The first tree planting specifically for koalas occurred in Victoria in June 2016
Read more about these events at our new blog – coming soon.
