Back

This photo changed everything - the return of Boorubee

WWF-Australia

Rangers feared koalas had disappeared from Minyumai IPA near Evans Head

Stills, video and interviews here: https://dams.wwf.org.au/resourcespace?c=6511&k=b4c9577bbe

Indigenous rangers are celebrating the return of koalas to the Minyumai Indigenous Protected Area south of Evans Head, New South Wales.

It’s a reversal of the grave concerns they held for their resident koalas when 90% of Minyumai IPA burned at the start of the 2019-20 horror bushfire season.

The Minyumai rangers feared koalas – Boorubee in their language – had perished in the flames.

It was an absence Minyumai’s Traditional Owners, the Bandjalang people, felt deeply.

“My great grandfather was a revered Elder who knew many of the old stories handed down. One story was that Boorubee were never to be hunted, but protected,” said Bandjalang Elder Auntie Bonnie Wilson.

Fast forward to 2019 and following Pacific Highway upgrades and the fire, Boorubee were missing. The last sighting was in 2018.

Then in June 2023 a breakthrough. One of the wildlife cameras the rangers set up to look for Boorubee photographed an individual they dubbed “Rubee”.

“We were going through the photos and then we came across the koala and we were freaking out. We had no idea they were here. We were just so stoked. I knew then and there that I wanted to protect them. I wanted them back on Country and to conserve them and give them the feed and habitat trees they needed,” said Senior Minyumai Ranger Maitland Wilson.

It was a huge boost for the Boorubee Monitoring & Recovery Project, led by Minyumai’s women rangers.

The World Wide Fund for Nature Australia is assisting the project with funding support from furniture brand Koala.

WWF has assisted Minyumai to plant 2,500 koala trees to help restore Boorubee. Senior Ranger Maitland Wilson plants a tree.

So far the rangers have planted 2,500 koala food and shelter trees, mapped existing koala habitat, cleared lantana to enable Boorubee to access trees, and conducted cultural burns to reduce fuel loads to minimize wildfire risk and enable Boorubee and other species to move more easily through the landscape.

“It feels really good doing cultural burning on our property. Having that connection to Country and doing it the way our ancestors did it,” said Minyumai Ranger Supervisor Harry Wilson.

A major turning point was commissioning thermal drone surveys. Night flights located six Boorubee in 2024 and 9 in 2025. At first light, rangers went to these locations to collect koala scats and send them off for analysis.

Minyumai’s koalas are chlamydia-free

Those tests revealed something rare: the Minyumai koalas are chlamydia-free. Some northern NSW populations have infection levels of nearly 80%. Not only were Boorubee back on Country, but they were healthy.

“That makes me feel warmhearted and positive about the next generation of koalas living on Minyumai. It’s amazing,” said Maitland Wilson.

Thermal drones located Boorubee on Minyumai. Analysis of their scats collected by rangers showed Minyumai’s koalas are chlamydia-free

Simone Barker, a Bandjalang language teacher and cultural advisor at Minyumai summed up her hopes for Boorubee.

“Boorubee are important to all Aboriginal people. Minyumai is a sanctuary for them. It's a place where we can keep them protected from roads, from people, from dogs. Hopefully they'll thrive here. That's what we want,” she said.

WWF’s Senior Manager of Koala Recovery, Tanya Pritchard, has been working with the Minyumai team.

“Supporting Indigenous-led restoration is critical if we are to pull koalas back from the brink of extinction.

“The Minyumai rangers are combining Traditional Knowledge and methods such as cultural burning with technology such as drone surveys and scat analysis.

“This innovative and holistic approach will help recover koala populations,” Ms Pritchard said.

While rangers jumped for joy seeing a Boorubee on their trail cameras, another image had them doing a double take – a herd of camels.

After an investigation it was discovered they hadn’t walked from the outback but escaped from a nearby property.  It seems there’s never a dull moment on the Minyumai IPA.

Contact details:

Mark Symons

Senior Media Officer, WWF-Australia

[email protected]

m 0400 985 571