Koala Park Sanctuary facts for kids
Koala Park Sanctuary
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| Date opened | October 1930 |
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| Location | 84 Castle Hill Road, West Pennant Hills, Sydney, Australia |
| Land area | 10 acres |
| Coordinates | 33°44′31″S 151°2′42″E / 33.74194°S 151.04500°E |
| No. of species | 24 |
The Koala Park Sanctuary is a special wildlife park in West Pennant Hills, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It's a family-owned park that feels like a natural rainforest. The park's main goal is to teach visitors all about Australia's amazing native animals and birds. It's a popular place, with around 400,000 people visiting every year to see the animals up close.
Contents
The Park's Beginnings
The Koala Park Sanctuary was built in the 1920s and officially opened in October 1930. It was started by a man named Noel Burnet, who was very passionate about protecting the environment.
At that time, many koalas were being hunted for their fur. Most people didn't understand how important it was to protect these animals. Noel Burnet saw how much danger the koalas were in and decided to do something about it. He created the park to give koalas a safe place to live and to teach people why they needed to be protected. He spent the rest of his life working to save koalas and their homes.
Meet the Animals
The park is a walk-through sanctuary where you can see many animals in large, natural-style enclosures. The collection includes famous Australian animals as well as some farm animals.
- Koalas
- Common wombats
- Eastern grey kangaroos
- Red kangaroos
- Swamp wallabies
- (Albino) Bennett's wallabies
- Dingoes
- Golden brushtail possums
- Common ringtail possums
- Short-beaked echidnas
- Spinifex hopping mice
- Australian pelicans
- Emus
- Southern cassowaries
- Wedge-tailed eagles
- Eastern barn owls
- Barking owls
- Eastern grass owls
- Tawny frogmouths
- Laughing kookaburras
- Sulphur-crested cockatoos
- Red-tailed black cockatoos
- Yellow-tailed black cockatoos
- Galahs
- Little corellas
- Eclectus parrots
- Rainbow lorikeets
- Blue peafowls
- Pied currawongs
- Lace monitors
- Frill-necked lizard
- Eastern water dragons
- Central bearded dragons
- Jacky dragons
- Ornate dragons
- Northern blue-tongued lizard
- Cunningham's skink
- Centralian carpet pythons
- Diamond python
- Eastern long-necked turtle
- (Alpacas, Shetland ponies and other farm animals like goats and chickens also at the park)
Fun Things to Do
The park offers more than just seeing animals. In the past, there was a live sheep shearing show called "The Stockman's Camp." This show demonstrated how sheep are sheared for their wool.
Visitors could also listen to Australian bush stories while enjoying billy tea, which is tea made over a campfire. The park also gives people the special chance to hold a koala, following strict rules to make sure the animals are always safe and comfortable.
Helping and Protecting Koalas
From the very beginning, the Koala Park Sanctuary has been focused on conservation. In 1930, it opened a koala hospital to care for sick and injured native animals. After the animals get better, they are released back into the wild. The hospital is open to the public so people can learn about the challenges koalas face living near cities.
The park was one of the first places in the world to successfully breed koalas. In its first 11 years, sixty baby koalas were born there. This was a huge achievement and helped increase the koala population at a time when they were at risk. The park has done all this important work without any money from the government.
See also
- Koala Farm, Adelaide
- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane
