Save the Koalas of Woogaroo Forest…

Good morning everyone – It’s a privilege to be here with you.

I have lived within 500m of Woogaroo Creek for 35 years; first in Camira, where I set up a little vet practice at home when my children were small, and now just up the road from here in Brookwater. I am the owner and director of the local vets.

I would like to let you know that my practice is completely behind the work you are doing to save this precious forest. I, representing my team of 60 animal caring professionals at Greater Springfield Veterinary, will be vocal in advocating for its protection. 

Before my time in this area, people used to come from Brisbane for picnics by the WoogarooCreek. They used to call it the Garden of Eden for its glorious biodiversity. Axehandlewoodand the rare spotted cunjevoi were common.  

In the late 80s we used to ride our horses through what is now Springfield, and wonder at the bird life along the creeks, and see the brumbies and the odd scrubber bull. I have seen koalas, echidna, wonga pigeons and quail and many more. Even the magnificent regent bowerbird. Platypus swim and breed in this creek – my neighbours further downstream have seen them.In fact, a plaque has been erected just over there to highlight their presence.

The world has already lost 70% of its wildlife since I was a 5 yearold girl. 70%. To hear that my very own ‘backyard’, this precious Woogaroo forest, where I love to walk, has been marked to be cleared, makes me weep

Clearing the Woogaroo Forest will absolutely devastate any remaining populations of the 130 species that reside here. When trees are cleared, particularly along rich and valuable creeklines, the animals have nowhere to go. Their social structures and feed areas are destroyed. The complex ecosystems that they have depended on for 100s of 1000s of years are taken away. They are either outcompeted or face aggression, then starve. Those that remain are no longer able to breed once their nesting places have been cleared.

The most priceless of things – that money should not touch – are the wild places, the wildlife, the songs of the bush and the sentinels of the forest. These areas that our indigenous elders cared for, for 60 000 years. That so many precious Australian places have disappeared in just 250 years is beyond my comprehension. We must fight to protect and to grow those areaswhich remain, for the benefit of generations to come.

The world never changes without some disruption; if we want to change things we need to reconsider what we regard as important for the future of our local communities and of our nation. We might need to challenge where the money and the power sits, to ensure that it aligns with what we the people want, and what our children need. My staff and I agree that this includes the beautiful wild places, with rich and diverse wildlife.

In 1803 at the Derwent River in Tasmania the governor issued an edict to say that no one was to kill a black swan. That was the first environmental law in Australia.

Now we wouldn’t dream of shooting a koala, but we are still, somehow, allowed to kill them out by removing their food source. That needs to change. Our animals have a right to exist.

We can no longer regard bushland as dispensable wasteland; it is an invaluable asset to any community and must be protected for the health and welfare of us all. A place to walk together and admire nature, to calm our mental states and to enjoy our precious flora and fauna.

Thank you for organising this protest to wake our community up to the responsibilities we carry for this planet. In wildness is its protection. This precious planet, the only one we know of, in the whole universe, that has love, laughter and intellect, and fairy wrens, platypus and koalas.

I ask you to use every power that you possess to preserve this Woogaroo forest. 

Thank you for being here.

Sign the petition to save Woogaroo…

We need your help.

Please sign the petition to Australia’s Environmental Minister, Tanya Plibersek, which has already garnered over 11,000 signatures, and SAVE WOOGAROO!