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Koala sighting near Lithgow raises hopes of unmapped colony after Blue Mountains bushfire destruction

Koala sighting near Lithgow raises hopes of unmapped colony after Blue Mountains bushfire destruction

Unexpected sightings of koalas near the Blue Mountains have given hope a disease-free colony is recovering after the Black Summer bushfires.

A koala seen this week at Hassans Walls, near Lithgow, is the first time the native species has been reported in the area for five years.

It follows sightings in the past 12 months in the Newnes Plateau, Wollemi National Park, and Kanangra-Boyd National Park.

More than 80 per cent of the World Heritage-listed Greater Blue Mountains Area was burned during the 2019/20 bushfires, sparking fears and unmapped koala populations had been destroyed.

Local Margot McGinnes said she was “extremely surprised” to see a koala while walking in an area “generally not known to have koalas”.

“It was just a magnificent sighting. It really was very, very exciting,” she said.

A women in a pink jacket and another women in a black jacket looking up at some trees
Margot McGinnes (pink jacket) and Kate Smith spotted the koala while walking along Hassans Walls.(Supplied: Margot McGinnes)

Research group Science for Wildlife has been studying koala populations in the Blue Mountains and Lithgow area.

CEO Kellie Lee said it was a promising development for the recovery of the species in the region “because that area was really badly hit” and indicated a possible koala colony near Lithgow.

“We weren’t sure there would be any koalas left,” Dr Lee said.

A satellite map of Lithgow and Blue mountains indicating koala sightings.
The cartoon koala indicates the recent sighting, the first near Lithgow for five years.(Supplied: Science for Wildlife)

“It is suggesting that there could be another colony or perhaps that the Newnes Plateau colony might be connected up with koalas close to Lithgow.

“The fact they are popping up in these areas where they are just not common is a good sign they are out there and expanding.”

Disease-free koalas

Earlier this year, the New South Wales government listed koalas as an endangered species amid fears the animal could become extinct by 2050.

A close up of a koala eating leaves.
Early testing indicates the koala population near Lithgow is free of diseases.(ABC News: Curtis Rodda)

Habitat destruction, bushfires, road accidents, and chlamydia are all reasons behind the decline.

Chlamydia causes blindness, and cysts in koalas’ reproductive tracts lead to infertility or, in some cases, death.

The antibiotics used to treat the disease can destroy the koalas gut, leading some to starve to death even after being cured.

Dr Lee said the koalas they had found were disease-free, making them crucial for the native species survival.

“All of our testing so far has come back negative so we haven’t seen any signs of chlamydia in these populations,” Dr Lee said.

“That is obviously very good news and one less threat that they are facing.”

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Australia

How hiking helped Chelle transform from being a ‘functioning alcoholic’ and climb out of addiction

Person on mountain top

An Albany woman has plumbed the lowest depths and climbed high peaks in a battle with the bottle.

Chelle Fisher spent 23 years struggling with drug and alcohol addiction but has now kicked those habits and this month climbed eight peaks in West Australia’s south to help people escaping domestic violence.

Ms Fisher turned to alcohol and drugs as a child after experiencing family violence.

“I go hiking every year,” the 43-year-old said.

“Part of my sobriety, or how I got sober, was basically instead of drinking that six-pack of an afternoon, I replaced that with going for a hike.”

It is now eight years since Ms Fisher had her last drink and she challenged herself to scale eight mountains in eight days to celebrate.

“I started at the age of 13,” she said.

“I started because that was my coping mechanism. I was going through a lot of family domestic violence.

“My coping was drugs and alcohol. So I battled with that addiction for 23 years.”

Some days it was more than a six-pack.

“It was half a carton and I was functioning. I was a functioning alcoholic; I started a business, I was a mum — I had to run a household,” she said.

But it couldn’t go on forever.

A woman giving peace sign
Chelle Fisher now uses hiking as an alternative to drinking.(Supplied: Chelle Fisher)

Starting new, healthy habits

Tired of waking up feeling like hell, Ms Fisher started to make changes.

“There’s so much that I don’t remember, which is sad. Because I got married, I had two children and I was kind of just on autopilot,” she said.

“I wasn’t really living, I was just kind of surviving.

“It was in my early 20s, probably about eight years later, that I sort of started to realise, ‘Hey, there’s got to be more to life than what I’m doing’.

“Slowly and surely, I began to creep out of the hole that I was in and find my way.”

It was July 2014 and a “mother of all hangovers” got Ms Fisher off the couch and onto the mountains.

“I was so badly hungover. It was very scary. And I just said, ‘No more’. And it was easier when I made that choice,” she said.

“And that’s when I was able to start [to] just get out and hike.”

Ms Fisher said challenging any negative thoughts helped her along her new path.

“I also had to remind myself that this was a pattern,” she said.

“It wasn’t so much that I was weak, it was just a pattern that I was playing over and over because I didn’t know anything else.

“So I had to give myself something else, which was hiking.”

A woman on a mountain
Chelle Fisher has been raising funds to support other family violence survivors.(Supplied: Chelle Fisher)

Peaks raise money and awareness

Over eight days, Ms Fisher climbed eight mountains in the Great Southern. She started with Mt Hallowell near Denmark and finished with Mt Frankland near Walpole.

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