The other Queensland Koala Islands - Central Queensland Edition
In addition to St Bees Islands, we have previously visited other islands, surveying for koalas and investigating how they got to these islands, how they use the landscapes and who they might be related to.
The why.....
How did koalas get to the other islands off the Queensland coast? As the resort closed down and access to the islands became more challenging, we were unable to travel there as often as we could previously. Brampton, a once-thriving resort island, has benefited from home to koalas since at least the 1960s, but we have not been able to survey since 2015.
The plan....
Are koalas still present on these islands? Since our last visits, there do not appear to be any reports of koalas remaining on Rabbit Island or Newry Island, and we want to know if they are still on Brampton Island too. Could these islands be refuges of unique genetic information that could hold keys to the future of koalas in Queensland?
What can we learn from these isolated koala populations, what can they tell us about how koalas adapt to a changing climate? We plan to revisit these islands in 2026 and find some answers. Stand by!
