Koala's Story page

Some Koala Stories ...

The Koala Boy

This story was told long ago by the aborigines in Australia. It explains why the koala must always be treated with respect.

T here was once a child whose parents died, and who was left in the charge of cruel relatives who forbade him to drink the water they had collected from the creek. The child was forced to eat eucalyptus leaves, and he was thirsty most of the time.
One day, these relatives went off into the bush for the day to hunt for food. By an oversight, they left their water vessels in a place where the child could reach them. As soon as they were out of sight, he took the opportunity to drink his fill.
Then, thinking of what might happen when they returned, he had the foresight to take some full vessels and hang them among the branches of a small tree. After that, he climbed into the tree himself, and began to sing an ancient and magical song.
At once, the tree began to grow taller and taller until the boy was high above the forest floor.
At dusk, his relatives returned, tired and thirsty. They immediately looked for their water vessels, but they were nowhere to be seen. Then one of them caught sight of the child sitting in the tree, with the water vessels beside him.
The hunters became very angry, for they could not reach the water, and they knew the boy had tricked them. But they were clever people and spoke gently to the child, telling him they were sorry they had treated him badly and that, if he were only to come down and bring the water with him, they would be kind to him. The boy believed them and made his way down to the ground.
But straightway his relatives set about him with sticks and stones, beating him until his body was quite soft. Mad with anger, they continue to beat him until at last a strange thing happened. The boy began to change. He became shorter, stockier, and covered with grey fur. He was a koala!
At once, he turned and ran up the tree again, far out of reach of his tormentors.
They, in turn, began to chop the tree down, hacking away at its truck until it crashed to the ground, spilling the water vessels as it did so. The water poured down, flooding across the forest floor as a mighty creek, and the koala-boy disappeared for ever into the night.
Since that time, it has been forbidden for the Aborigines to break the koala's bones when they kill it. Though they may eat the animal, they may not skin it, and they must always treat its body with respect. If they do not, there is a danger that all the water in the land will dry up, and there will be a terrible drought.

Alex's Scribbles - Koala trouble

Did You Know ... ?

Expensive tastes: It seems that koalas have a taste for money. In 1983, a koala named Clinker was present at a ceremony at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, when the Kimberly Clark industrial group presented a cheque for 50,000 Australian dollars to the World Wildlife Fund. The company made the mistake of using a gimmick: the cheque was printed on a eucalyptus leaf. Clinker could think of better uses for it than banking it. He seized it and ate it. The firm replaced the cheque.
Koala travellers: There is an unlikely story that a koala found its way to Scotland with a sailor in the early 1800s, and was returned to Australia at the end of the visit. The first authenticated instance of a koala leaving its native land was in 1880, when London Zoo in Regent's Park acquired one. It was given very special care, but sadly it lived for only 14 months. One night, it fell into a washstand and sufficated.
Foster-mother: It is illegal to keep koalas as pets, and has been so for many years. But exceptions have been made. In 1937, Mrs. Oswin Roberts of Cowes on Phillip Island, Victoria, reared a young orphan she called Edward. He slept in a cot, and joined the family for meals, sitting in a child's high-chair as he nibbled eucalyptus leaves. As a young koala, he enjoyed sitting on her head as she went about her garden. (Pictures: left, little Edward on the exercise stick; right, Edward sitting on her head.)
Up the pole: Occaionally, koalas are seen to climb up telephone poles. Amusing as this may look, the reasons are rather sad. Koalas become confused if their habitat is destroyed, and may be driven to climb quite unsuitable objects.
A tight fit: Koala twins are rare. There has been only one known instance of them being born. This was in 1965, at West Burleigh Fauna Reserve, in Queensland. They were discovered in their mother's pouch, and were still both very young when they grew too large to remain in there together. Staff say that it would have been impossible for them both to fit in, even with the help of a shoe horn! The little animals were hand-nursed alternately, giving each a chance to spend some time in the pouch while the other was kept warm outside it.
On your bike: In 1980, a koala named Cuthbert from a colony near Melbourne became attracted to the noise of a motorbike and eventually took the occasional ride on it, seated on the pillion and holding firmly on to the machine's owner.
College Nickname: Koalas ---Columbia College (South Carolina).

-- From: Koala Handbook by Simon Hunter --
-- Pictures: The Call of the Koala by Ambrose Pratt --

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