Wildlife advocate Claire Smith wins top Sunshine Coast honour

A Sunshine Coast wildlife, nature and humanitarian advocate has been honoured for two decades of work with a top community award. 

Claire Smith of Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast won Citizen of the Year. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The work of a Sunshine Coast wildlife, nature and humanitarian advocate has been honoured by her community with a top award.

Claire Smith, 61, has spent decades working to protect the environment, endangered animals and people in need.

In her 25 years living on the Sunshine Coast, Ms Smith has kickstarted multiple conservation initiatives.

She founded Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast, a 24-hour wildlife hospital and rehabilitation service, and co-founded Barefoot on the Ground, an environmental organisation.

During the 2019-2020 bushfires, Ms Smith helped raise more than $600,000 supporting 50 different rescue groups across multiple states.

Ms Smith is fundraising to start a koala conservation centre. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)

In 2022, Ms Smith built Queensland’s first kangaroo hospital and she’s currently fundraising $5m to set up a new koala conservation centre.

“It’ll be somewhere schoolchildren and their teachers can visit and learn about the importance of our environment, get their bare feet on the ground, and get out with our ecologists to see our amazing wildlife, not in a zoo, but in its native environment,” she said.

Ms Smith also writes and donates children’s books to those in need.

For her tireless volunteer efforts, Ms Smith was awarded Citizen of the Year at the Sunshine Coast Biosphere Community Awards 2025.

Named Queensland’s Local Hero in the Australian of the Year Awards 2025, Ms Smith’s efforts have been recognised before, but she says this recent win is especially meaningful.

“It was huge for me,” she said.

“Being there at the awards was something very special.

“It was humbling.”

The winners of the 2025 Sunshine Coast Biosphere Community Awards.

With one of only 300 biospheres in the world, Ms Smith said the Sunshine Coast must be protected and this award could help her do that.

“I’ve been trying to work with Council for years regarding our wildlife and that’s been a battle… so to be recognised as Citizen of the Year was so important to me because, at long last, it meant that they’re listening and they’re open to working with me.

“I can’t thank the judging panel enough for giving me this platform in my home region to be able to talk about the importance of caring for our natural environment.”

Ms Smith said it’s crucial to celebrate the work of volunteers who usually work “quietly”, without expectation of reward.

“There’s an incredible number of people giving back to the community,” she said.

“Some have been doing it for decades, but everybody does it quietly.

“People don’t set out to achieve awards, but to receive one is confirmation and validation that what you’re doing is being seen.

“It stands as a beacon for other communities to see the work that’s being done and being celebrated on the Sunshine Coast.”

Originally published as Wildlife advocate Claire Smith wins top Sunshine Coast honour