‘I’m a koala matchmaker’: Inside unique Queensland profession

Koala specialist Sarah Eccleston spends her day hugging koalas and describes her job as the ‘best in the world’. Now she wants to use her role to teach kids to care about koalas.

My job is the best in the world. I’m the mammal supervisor at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast so I look after Tasmanian devils, wombats, dingoes, kangaroos, wallabies and tree kangaroos but I specialise in koalas.

It’s a really cool job.

I started at the sanctuary as a gum cutter 22 years ago – collecting all the gum leaves for the koalas to eat – which is the most important job. And I still collect leaves for them now. It was my first real job out of high school (at Nerang State High).

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Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary's Sarah Eccleston gets a snuggle. Picture: Adam Head

Koalas are fascinating. All the problems they face are from human impact so we owe it to them to help them. Humans have taken away their habitat, we’ve put in roads and cars, we’ve introduced domestic animals and disease. The number one issue for koalas in the wild is chlamydia and it came with cattle introduced into Australia.

There are thought to be about 25,000 koalas left in southeast Queensland and there has been more than a 50 per cent decline in numbers from 2011 to now.

When I first started at the sanctuary, we’d be lucky to see two koalas a year in our wildlife hospital, now we see nearly 600 koalas a year.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary's Sarah Eccleston with Merlin. Picture: Adam Head

I was born in Melbourne but have lived on the Gold Coast since I was 11 when my family (with siblings Belinda, now 37, childcare worker, Brendan, 35, marine mammal trainer at Sea World, and Brett, 32, mechanic) moved to the area. Now I only live about half a kilometre away from my childhood home but the change in the urban environment is just phenomenal. Back then, it was pretty bushy and you’d regularly see lace monitors and koalas.

I’ve always absolutely adored animals. I thought I might be a vet but I realised this meant working with animals who were sick but I wanted to work with them when they were happy.

I live with my husband, Simon, who sells investment properties, and our son Jett, 10. Simon and I met at CWS where he used to work as a koala keeper and we got married there seven years ago.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary's Sarah Eccleston. Picture: Adam Head

At home, we have three fish tanks with clown fish, blue tangs and sailfin tangs. There’s a turtle pond out the back with Murray – the Murray River turtle. I’ve got four rescue battery hens (Dorothy, Blanche, Mia and Jane), a four-year-old rescue doberman cross staffy called Blue, two rescue cats called Echo and Delta, and two green-cheeked conures that are a small type parrot native to South America.

I’m trying to convince Simon that our suburban back yard is big enough for a goat but he’s not so sure.

We have about 50 koalas at CWS and one of my favourite things is playing matchmaker. I manage all their breeding, pairing them up and breeding the best genetics that we can.

My job also entails cleaning up poo. Koalas poo up to 200 times a day so that’s a lot of cleaning. Zookeeping is not a glamorous job.

I have also written a picture book about koalas, aimed at kids aged three to 10 years, titled Have You Seen a Tree For Me? (New Holland Publishers, $20) that features Enzo, a real koala that I have raised at CWS since he was a joey.

A new children’s book by Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary’s koala specialist and mammal supervisor Sarah Eccleston who is helping to raise the next generation of koala conservationists. Sarah is pictured with Enzo, the koala, who stars in the book published by New Holland Publishers. Picture: Jerad Williams

It would be devastating to lose koalas. I wrote this book because I was cranky seeing way too many koalas coming to our hospital. It just breaks my heart.

The book promotes an awareness of koalas and a conservation message … little kids can nag their parents to slow down on roads and keep the dog locked up at night.

I want to build the next generation of conservation champions.

The children’s book written by koala specialist Sarah Eccleston who works at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. The book is published by New Holland Publishers.