Koalas on Ulupna Island - by Jack McD Farrall

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Jack McD Farrall was instrumental in reinstating koalas on Ulupna Island. 

Here is a diary entry is typical of his efforts:

To meet Frank Tonkin 12 noon for lunch, 414 Collins Street. Rang Forest Commission and made appointment for 11.30. Allan drove me in. Fully co-operative - will give every assistance re: koalas and try to speed up the process of transfer. Impressed with reserve project. Returned to Sewards. Too Jack and Fay to dinner.

Ulupna Island is approximately 150 miles (250km) due north from Melbourne and is a large tract of Crown Land consisting of some seven thousand acres bordered on the North by the Murray River and on the South by the Ulupna Creek. This creek is an anabranch of the river and is now a permanent running stream. In former years its status as a running stream fluctuated with the rise and fall of the river due to rainfall and snowfalls in the upper regions. Flooding often occurred when the river overflowed its banks. There is a pronounced fall of a few inches to the West. It is difficult to describe the shape of the island as it somewhat elliptical (pertaining to an eclipse) with the Western & Eastern ends roughly pointed and the main body about four miles in width and roughly 9 or 10 miles long. The area is roughly 9000 acres and different portions have been nibbled off by various and bought from the Lands Department. The Forest Commission leases about half of the total area and a Flora & Fauna Reserve occupies some 840 acres near the Western end. This is in the care of a Committee of Management.

Throughout my liofe I have always fostered an ambition to reintroduce koalas to their natural habitat where as a small boy I remember seeing some of them in the gum trees along the frontages of the Murray River in the Ulupna Island. I believe that they had been quite numerous in the early days of the white man's entry into this country. They were then known as Native bears and for the value of their skins were shot and snared in large numbers to the point of extinction in this area. As a member of the Numurkah Shire Council for some twenty years, I had the opportunity to meet the right people and further my ambitions. Interviews with officers of the Lands Department & the Fisheries & Wild Life Department were most helpful through Mr J Crosier, and taking advantage of releases of koalas from Phillip Island, I had the opportunity to receive a good number for Ulupna Island. Valuable assistance was given by the late Wally Stebbing and Mr McMarn, Botanical Department to identify plants and flowers, Mal O'Malley on bird life and Jock Adams for general interest. Members of the shire Council were also very helpful. In 1962, two transport loads of koalas arrived and were released into the Flora and Fauna Reserve. In all, about 100 mixed sexes settled along the river, and some may be seen by keen observers of trees which conceal them. It is very gratifying to see that they are breeding as evidence of young ones on their mother's backs. They are of great interest to tourists and campers at holiday times. Along this section of the river, there are 18 sand beaches which attract a great many campers during the holidays. The course of the river is very irregular, consequently sand beaches are numerous as it winds its way through the forest and makes a unique pattern not seen in any other section. ~ Jack McD Farrall