The Power of the Koala

The Results of Koala Smart on show at Panthers, Port Macquarie.

Almost 300 people attended the Koala Smart Schools Display launch at Panthers last week. Students, their families, teachers and supporters compared entries then settled in to hear which schools would take out the honors.

Eight schools, primary and secondary, were included in announcements of projects that would be explored further for inclusion in real-world applications. Kempsey Adventist Secondary School, St Joseph’s Regional College, St Columba Anglican School Secondary, Lake Cathie Public, North Haven Public, Huntingdon Public and Wauchope Public schools.

Hastings-Macleay Koala Recovery Partnership Koala Ecologist, Dr Rebecca Montague-Drake said “in 2020 the Koala Smart Project Team will work with schools across the Hastings-Macleay Region to take some of those fantastic ideas and develop them further ready for launch into the real-world where they can truly make a difference to koala conservation”.

The quality of entries was so high, Koala Smart organisers made a last-minute decision to award more prizes in the form of “behind-the-scenes” visits to the Koala Hospital, Port Macquarie. These went to Hastings Secondary College Westport Campus, St Joseph’s Regional College, Wauchope Public, and Port Macquarie Public.
Herons Creek Public was awarded a special Koala Smart Artwork Prize – an educational book pack for the school library (donated by the Koala Recovery Partnership) – for their koala sculpture painting.