What’s happened to koalas in the last ten years?

In the ten years since the beginning of Wild Koala Day in 2016, a lot has happened to, and for koalas.

In many ways, it’s been the worst decade koalas have ever faced. Who could forget the images of burnt koalas from the Black Summer bushfires? But there have been some great steps forward, most of them driven by the people of Australia – giving, caring, protesting, planting, researching, writing reports, rescuing, writing letters, signing petitions and standing up for koalas in many different ways. Here’s a few of the highlights, and some lows, of the decade.

Tree planting for koalas is now a big thing. But before 2016, it wasn’t.

The concept of tree planting specifically for koalas was started, to our knowledge, in 2016 by Koala Clancy Foundation and promoted as part of Wild Koala Day. The first plantings were just 300 trees by the Little River, Victoria. The following year Bangalow Koalas, Campbelltown Council, ARROW and Kilcoy Landcare all joined in and planted trees for koalas. In 2018 Koala Action Gympie were planting and in 2019 we added Greening Australia and Team Koala Tweed to the organisations doing and promoting koala plantings. In 2020 Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation started planting. In 2022 Queensland Koala Crusaders planted for koalas, and in 2024 Redlands, WWF, and Moreton Bay Koala Rescue were planting too. In 2025 Greater Sydney Landcare did a koala planting as well.

To date, at least 909,000 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+

Queensland Koala Crusaders, QLD: 35,000+

Raymond Island Landcare, VIC: 18,000+

ARROW & Kilcoy Landcare, QLD: 5000+

Clarence Valley Koalas, NSW: 5000+

and many others. (If your group has planted trees specifically for koalas, we are happy to add you. Please let us know)

A further 185,000+ koala trees have been distributed for free to communities throughout eastern Australia, by Koala Conservation Australia, NSW.

Koala tree planting by the Moorabool River, Victoria. Louisa Jones Photography

Koalas uplisted to Endangered status.

It’s terrible when a species is uplisted, but important. Koalas were uplisted to Endangered (the combined populations of NSW, Queensland and the ACT) by the federal government on 12 February 2022, after a long campaign by environmentalists leading to a joint nomination by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane Society International (HSI) and WWF-Australia in March 2020. Read about it here: https://www.ifaw.org/au/press-releases/koalas-uplisted-endangered and here: https://www.ifaw.org/au/journal/koala-endangered-list and here: https://wwf.org.au/blogs/how-could-listing-the-koala-as-endangered-be-a-good-thing/

The reasons for the change to listing are cited by the federal government as: “prolonged drought, Black Summer bushfires, and cumulative impacts of disease, urbanisation and habitat loss over the past 20 years.” Read more: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/species/koalas/listing-under-national-environmental-law

A Recovery plan for the Koala has been published, see here: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/publications/recovery/koala-2022

Toondah Harbour development finally stopped.

The awful Toondah Harbour development proposal in Moreton Bay, Queensland, threatened an Endangered Koala population and RAMSAR-listed wetlands home to Critically Endangered Eastern Curlews. The proposal was withdrawn in April 2024 after sustained community opposition, but Walker Corporation pushed ahead with a smaller development plan. However, on 24 April 2026 the company announced that they will not proceed any further. Read more: https://redlandbaysidenews.com.au/exclusive-walker-walks-away-from-toondah-after-decade-long-development-saga/

Hopefully government can learn from this. Leave Toondah alone. Stop encouraging ‘developments’ on koala habitats.

Koalas become the first Australian wildlife species to get a full disease risk analysis.

The National Koala Disease Risk Analysis (KDRA) was published by Wildlife Health Australia in Sept 2023. This is the first disease risk analysis for an Australian wildlife species at the national level.

This exceptional document helps veterinarians, researchers, wildlife hospitals and carers/rehabilitators make good decisions for koalas, and gives them up to date information on koala illnesses.

Find the KDRA here: https://wildlifehealthaustralia.com.au/Portals/0/ResourceCentre/BiosecurityMgmt/KDRA%20Report%20v1.2_FINAL.pdf

A National Koala Conference brings together leading scientists, environmental groups and koala rehabilitators.

The National Koala Conference was held in Port Macquarie in May 2023, organised by Koala Conservation Australia. The conference was excellent, and attracted over 300 participants.

The second conference is happening 20 to 22 July 2026 and available to book now: https://kca-national-koala-conference.raiselysite.com/

Congratulations to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital (now Koala Conservation Australia) who celebrated 50 years in October 2023.

Wild female koala in the You Yangs, VIC. pic Koala Clancy Foundation

A major construction and development firm suffers when it threatens koalas.

The Lendlease development at Mount Gilead, south of Sydney, on land that homed part of Sydney’s last healthy koala population, has been a mighty battle that has cost the developer in money and reputation. Stage One (Figtree Hill) went ahead, but Stage Two is looking less likely.

In March 2023, after several warnings, Australian Ethical divested (sold all their shares) from Lendlease, citing concerns over koala welfare. They say:

“The survival of the Mt Gilead koala colony hinges on the existence of appropriately sized wildlife corridors to provide safe passage across the site, according to advice from the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer (OSCE). We have serious concerns about the way the reports from the OSCE are being interpreted by the NSW Department of Planning & Environment (DPE) and Lendlease and the lack of transparency around public consultation to date. Even the NSW Government’s own environment protection body, the Environment and Heritage Group (EHG) has found that the current Lendlease proposal is inconsistent with the recommendation from the OSCE.” Read more: https://www.australianethical.com.au/insights/why-we-divested-from-lendlease/

Lendlease lost a recent court ruling in a suit against the landowners, launched an appeal, and lost that too. https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/lendlease-campbelltown-gilead-court-appeal-landowner-dispute

While the habitat lost at Figtree Hill, and the koala lives lost to vehicles on the roads where Lendlease did not install wildlife crossings will never be replaced, we hope that developers learn a lesson from this.

Friends of the Koala celebrated their 2000th koala release

In 2022, Friends of the Koala, NSW rehabilitated and released their 2000th koala – a male named Sir Lancelot.

Huge Shenhua Watermark coal mine proposal withdrawn.

The Shenhua Group proposal for a huge coal mine on the Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah, NSW began in 2008. The proposed mine site was to be 35 square kilometres, and the proposal included the destruction of 847 hectares of koala habitat. After decade of community opposition, the project ended in April 2021 when the NSW government agreed to pay the company $100million to withdraw. Read more:

https://www.edo.org.au/shenhua-watermark-coal-mine/

Koala Wars split a state government

The governing Liberal-National coalition of New South Wales split in 2020 over changes to the State Environmental Planning Policy (the Koala SEPP) intended to protect koala habitat. Deputy Premier Barilaro and the National Party left the coalition, leaving the Liberal Party governing in minority. But soon after the Liberal Party backed down and accepted the National Party’s demands to weaken the Koala SEPP. The final law was so bad for koalas that a Liberal MP, Catherine Cusack, crossed the floor to vote against it. Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/a-state-of-disarray-as-koala-war-continues-to-rage-20201120-p56gik.html

Bushfire donations launch wild koala breeding program

Donations from the public launched the world’s first wild koala breeding program at Guulabaa, Place of Koala, west of Port Macquarie NSW. Watch out for some big news from Koala Conservation Australia on Wild Koala Day!

https://koalaconservationaustralia.org.au/pages/wield-conservation-koala-breeding

Surveying for koalas using drones began

Survey techniques for finding koalas have improved enormously in the last ten years. The first drone surveys were trialled around 2015-2016 by researchers from the Queensland University of Technology. Since then the method has been deployed throughout the koala’s range. A recent paper compared three methods: drones, acoustic recording and human visual searching; and found drones to be the most accurate at estimating abundance.

Koala News & Science begins

A monthly summary of the latest koala science began in February 2020 as a response to the Black Summer devastation. Published every month until recently, and now bi-monthly, the newsletter highlights important news and any scientific publications relating to koalas published in the preceding month/s. Subscribe here: https://mailchi.mp/808fc4af1ee0/koala-news-science Latest edition here: https://www.wildkoaladay.com.au/koala-news-science/koala-news-science-march-april-2026/

Black Summer megafires killed thousands of koalas.

The series of bushfires that came to be known as the Black Summer megafires began in central Queensland in June 2019 and continued until March 2020. The fires burnt more 17 to 24 million hectares (240,000 square kilometres). Smoke travelled as far as New Zealand, and weather patterns around the world were impacted.

As explained in this excellent analysis by CSIRO, the Black Summer wasn’t normal, and was a result of human-induced climate change.

Those fires killed or displaced an estimated 61,000 koalas, and destroyed their habitat.

Out of the ashes came a lot of focus on koalas, millions in donations, and support for research and habitat restoration.

Queensland finally amended horrific land clearing laws on Wild Koala Day, May 3 2018.

After five terrible years of accelerated land clearing under the Newman Liberal government, on 3 May 2018 the Palaszczuk government finally passed amendments to the land clearing laws with the support of Greens MP Michael Berkman and independent Sandy Bolton. The amendments reinstated some habitat protections that affected koalas, that existed prior to 2013. The act is: Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (Qld)

wild male koala “Gulkurguli” in the You Yangs, VIC. pic Koala Clancy Foundation

REFERENCES:

Blog Wild Koala Day 2022: https://www.wildkoaladay.com.au/news/7-years-celebrating-wild-koala-day-may-3/

The Guardian 4 May 2018: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/04/queensland-passes-land-clearing-laws-after-gruelling-three-day-debate

Hernandez, S., Adams, V.M. and Duce, S., 2024. The hidden impact of policy changes on remnant vegetation in Queensland, Australia. Land Use Policy, 139, p.107064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107064