116 – Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

There are a few ways to get to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, but the most interesting is going up the Brisbane river by boat.
Along the way you get a history of Brisbane, which I will spare you most of.
However, I will say the Brisbane river is 328 km long, with the first 90km navigable by boat. It is almost pure salt water for the first 30 km, but another 20km further, where the Lone Pine Sanctuary is, it is very brackish.
The river does flow directly into Moreton Bay, thus the salt water for the first portion, but because it does flow into a bay, it is driven by the tides. The flow of the river changes direction 4 times per day, causing a lot of stirring up of the mud on the bottom and the ‘dirty’ or brown color of the water.
Others say that the reason the water is brown is because the Hanson concrete works used to be located on the bank of the river and for over 50 years, they dredged the river to get their materials. The City council eventually banned dredging because of river discoloration and bank erosion… and the water is still brown. So, not exactly sure they got that one right.

In 1823 Australia was still a penal colony and the governor of New South Wales was Lt. Governor Brisbane. He decided he needed a new penal colony more inland so he dispatched a man named Oxley north up the Brisbane river. Oxley’s job was to survey the river, something apparently they believed had never been done. Well, it had not been done by Europeans.
Or maybe it had.
The first people Oxley came across were 3 Europeans named Pamphlett, Parsons and Finnigan. They were convicts in Sydney who had been given pardon and sailed off to start a new life, only to be shipwrecked in Moreton Bay.
The three only survived because they managed to make it to one of the islands and were shown kindness by the local Aboriginals. The 3 eventually made their way to the mainland, where they were shown the river by the natives, and decided start their new lives in the area, which was going just fine until Oxley showed up. Oxley took their knowledge of the area, allowed them to guide him around, then named the river after his benefactor, Brisbane. He then named areas around the river after himself. Oxley landing, Oxley memorial library, Oxley landing and so forth. The natives and even the 3 Europeans were completely forgotten save one bridge which is named the Pamphlett Bridge.

There have been 4 devastating floods of the Brisbane River. In 1893, 1974, 2011 and 2022. In 2022, 23,000 homes and businesses were swamped and another 18,000 were damaged by the waters. It was not the highest in terms of amount of water outside the banks, but probably the most devastating in terms of destruction of property.

We passed the Wesley hospital and the “Moorlands” which is on the grounds of the hospital and serves as an administration building. The only reason I mention that is because the Moorlands was the home of the Mayne family I wrote about in the Toowong Cemetery blog, and the Wesley hospital was started and funded by them. Today it is one of Australia’s largest and most iconic hospitals.
We also passed the grounds of the University of Queensland. Established in 1911, the University had outgrown its original location by the 1920s. In 1926, Dr. James Mayne and Mary Amelia Mayne, brother and sister gave a very generous gift to the University for them to expand. Of course, they were children of the doomed Mayne family, so shunned for being generous, but here again, a part of their legacy lives on.
The building of the new campus started in 1937, and was ready to be used by 1941, but that pesky WWII was afoot. The Army established a headquarters at the new location and it became the location of South Pacific Operations for Douglas McArthur until the end of the war.
The new University was not opened as a university until 1945, and today boasts 55,000 students; 5,500 subjects; 3,000 administrators and has a 2 hectare floor area library that is the largest in Australia.

The boat taking us to Lone Pine has been operating for the purpose of taking visitors to the sanctuary since 1934. Miramar, the original boat, ran for 75 years, and was retired in 2009. Today the Miramar II is continuing the river cruise tradition.
Why go up river to get there? Because there were no good roads to travel. Transportation on the river was easier.

Which brings me to what the heck is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary?

Claude Reid, a Queenslander came home from WWI and bought up some 60 acres of land to settle down on. At that time, Koalas were being killed off for the fur trade, and Claude quickly recognized the practice would destroy one of Australia’s most iconic species.
He planted hundreds of eucalyptus trees on this property and in 1927 started a breeding program with just 2 koalas, Jack and Jill. Today Lone Pine is the biggest and oldest sanctuary in the world. So, good on him.

The name Lone Pine comes from a giant hoop pine that still stands by the ticket entrance of the sanctuary. The tree was the marker for those visiting the sanctuary via the Brisbane river, as they knew to moor by the Lone Pine to see the Koalas. The tree was planted in 1867 when the property was a cotton farm, if you were wondering.

I know you were not, and none of this is as interesting as seeing Koalas, so moving on. Today there are over 130 Koala living at the sanctuary, and… here are 2 of them.

Koalas are not bears, which is obvious. They are marsupials, like kangaroos, and as a marsupial, the female has a pouch.
Nature is a smart beast, and as such, the Koala pouch does not face upward, as a kangaroo pouch does. Why? The Kangaroo hops around on the ground and the pouch is upward so things don’t fall out and dirt does not get in. Kind of like natures mudflap. Except entirely not like that.
The Koala in contrast has a downward facing pouch. They are not as worried about mud and dirt and jumping around as they are with climbing trees and sticks and leaves accumulating in their pouch as they climb. So, downward opening.
Pretty darn smart.

Koala exclusively eat eucalyptus leaves, and they are very picky about which eucalyptus leaves they eat.
Contrary to popular belief, the leaves do not drug the Koala and make them lazy. The leaves simply do not contain a lot of energy to sustain the Koala. They eat only the tip, or the regrowth of a plant because there are more nutrients, energy and water in those leaves, as well as them being soft and easy to digest.
There are 600-800 species of eucalyptus, and a lot of eucalyptus trees around Australia and other parts of the world, so the koala should not have a food source issue. Except they do, because they only eat 50-60 of the species. Why? Because eucalyptus is poisonous.
Yeah, bummer. In order to eat the eucalyptus, when they are 6 months old, they come out of mom’s pouch and start ‘pack feeding.’ Not eating with a ‘pack’ of other koalas, but eating ‘pack’ which is a type of fecal matter that the mom passes and feeds them. Eww.

The ‘pack’ passes on microorganisms found in the mom, which she got from her mom and are the key to Koalas being able to break down and process eucalyptus. The microorganism fights off the bad effects of the eucalyptus, and if they do not get the microorganisms passed on, they will not be able to process… and die.
Here is where the selective nature of the Koala diet comes into play. They develop a very specific microorganism based on the species of eucalyptus they feed from, and thus are limited to 5 or less varieties in their lifetime, which depends entirely on the microorganism that is passed down.
Summary: Eucalyptus is common. Varieties that koala can eat are less common.

Deforestation is a threat to koala because of their highly selective and specific food source, but guess what the most dangerous disease is for koala.

Chlamydia.

Slightly different than what humans get, it is known as ‘messy bum,’ which can cause them to lose the microorganism the mom gave them… which allows them to eat eucalyptus… and I think you know where this is going.

Adorable, harmless, and just trying to get by. Sigh.

On to happier things. The hand of the koala has 4 fingers and 2 thumbs which gives them the ability to grip around branches and climb.
Their feet have 3 toes and 1 thumb. The thumb ‘nub’ is used to push off trees and gives them the ability to jump.
Their first toe has 2 fingers grown together, and they use it almost exclusively as a comb to groom themselves. Koala do not bathe or lick themselves clean, so this 2 fingered toe is their only means of staying clean.

Above is a picture of a koala at birth. the only thing fully developed are the two forearms, which it uses to climb into the pouch, where it latches onto a teat, and for the next 5 to 6 months continues to grow.
I already noted the ‘pack feeding’ that takes place from 6 months to about 9 months. By 1 year they are completely weened from the mom.

Koala live for 8-10 years in the wild. 10-15 years at Lone Pine, but they also hold the record of the world’s oldest captive koala, Sarah, who lived to be 23 years old.

Personally, unless they had a baby attached to them, I could not tell a male from a female koala. They did not line up for me to compare the traits, but from what they taught us, the chest is the primary difference. The mail has a brown oily spot due to their scent glands, which they rub on trees when they move up and down them to leave their scent and mark their territory. It is an oily marker, so it does not wash off with water, but because they rub their chests on trees so often, they can develop bald patches. The females have a pouch and their chests are white and fluffy.

They all looked female to me, but again, not side by side to compare. Males are also larger by 1-2 kg.

There are other animals at the Lone Pine Sanctuary. Sheepdogs and sheep for example.

We watched an informative demonstration of how valuable the sheepdog is to the sheep farmer. 1 well trained working dog can do the job of 3-5 humans, and can heard up to 200 sheep.
Fully trained by 2 years of age, they can go for $20,000 per dog because they are so valuable to the farm.

This is an emu, or more specifically dromaius novaehollandiae. Yeah, I looked that up. I wanted to appear smart.
The emu is the worlds 2nd largest bird, weighing in at up to 45 kg and up to 2 meters tall.
The female lays 6-12 eggs each year, but somehow she convinces the male to incubate and raise the chicks. Jealous.
They eat leaves, grasses, seeds, insects and fruit. I was okay with the diet until the insects, which crosses them over into the omnivore category from simple herbivores, but don’t panic, they don’t eat humans.
Although they can outrun humans, reaching speeds of 50km/hour. They had me beat at 5, but kudos to them.

The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) can live up to 100 years.
These birds are recognized by their curved beaks and their showy crests, which they raise in greeting, excitement or alarm.

These guys were very alarmed I was taking their picture.
Cockatoos can imitate all sorts of noises, including human speech. They are very social and habituate around people.
They are also monogamous, with their pair bonding lasting for many years… and sometimes for life. Remember, they can live up to 100 years. Good grief.

Hidden in the foliage above is a Lorikeet. I will not get specific because there are 6 native species and I have no idea what this one is.
All are brightly colored, outgoing, chatty and very dexterous. They have tapered wings, pointed tails and apparently very strong feet, all traits that allow them to be wonderfully dexterous.
They eat mainly nectar and pollen, and can feed from about 5,000 species of plants, including eucalyptus, which is why they hang out here. They also have a hair-tipped tongue which allows them to feed on the pollen and that separates them from many other types of birds.

This is an overfed Kangaroo. I think it is a red Kangaroo, but this one, and his friends obviously were full and in full food coma nap mode.

I love how they ‘sleep.’

And that, aside from the random lizzard thing wandering around, is the Lone Pine Sanctuary. The oldest and largest koala sanctuary in the world, where you can go and pet a koala and see tired kangaroos.