Standing 2.5m high, Hello Koalas’ The Big Koala, sponsored by Regional Australia Bank, is the face of the ground-breaking ‘Guulabaa, Place of Koala’ tourism and educational precinct now open in Cowarra State Forest, alongside adventure park attraction WildNets.
Hello Koalas is a proud partner in the Guulabaa project with NSW Forestry, the Koala Hospital Port Macquarie, Bunyah Local Aboriginal Land Council and WildNets Adventure Park. Guulabaa will include the Hospital’s wild koala breeding centre and Bunyah’s café and gallery, opening in the second half of 2024.
This photograph is the start of The Big Koala’s journey to Guulabaa.
Acclaimed fibreglass specialist, John Belfield, who has made all our Hello Koalas sculptures, first in Sydney and since 2017 in John’s River, built a special mould for The Big Koala and prepared it for painting by Port Macquarie artist Pauline Roods in March 2020.
Artist Pauline Roods, Hello Koalas director Margret Meagher and fibreglass manufacturer say there first official ‘Hello’ to The Big Koala on its reveal day in March 2022. Photo: Lindsay Moller
Mid year, Pauline completed the commission and The Big Koala was moved to Guulabaa to take up residence as an iconic landmark for the Mid North Coast of NSW.
Guulabaa aims to engage and educate visitors about Koalas and conservation, so they leave committed to make a contribution to the sustainability of our planet.
Pauline Roods is one of Hello Koalas’ original and most prolific artists. Followers will know Pauline from Hello Koalas sculptures as diverse as Mack the Surf Lifesaver (at McDonald’s Settlement City) and Koalasaurus Max (at Cascade Pool and Spa Centre on Hastings River Drive) to her two Forestry-sponsored sculptures, Forest (at Port Macquarie Museum) and Woody (at Sealy Lookout Coffs Harbour).
Here is a photo at the launch of The Big Koala on 18 September 2022, attended by Guulabaa project partners including Belinda Gaunt from Regional Australia Bank (far right). You can keep up to date with Guulabaa on Faceboo Instagram
PARTNERSHIP WITH REGIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
We are proud to be collaborating with Hello Koalas partner, Regional Australia Bank.
Regional Australia Bank is a keen supporter of Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail, providing a custom designed home to Kirralee in the front window of the Port Macquarie Branch at 41 to 47 Horton Street.
Behind Kirralee, you will see 4 framed prints of the original submission which local artist Beverley Coleman sent to Hello Koalas for consideration for a sculpture on the Trail. We all agreed it was a wonderful bird’s-eye view of Port Macquarie in a myriad of colourful design like a jigsaw puzzle. Kirralee is one of the most popular Hello Koalas sculptures and she is on view everyday and lit up in the evenings.
Most recently, Regional Australia Bank has shown its continued support through the sponsorship of our ‘Big Koala’ in association with the Guulabaa project. Without the support of partners like Regional Australia Bank, we would be unable to continue providing awareness around the need to protect Koalas, their habitat, and the rest of our unique Australian wildlife in general.
The Regional Australia Bank story
We wanted to work with Regional Australia Bank because the team lives and breathes that characteristic regional Australia spirit. Like Hello Koalas, Regional Australia Bank wants to play an active and influential role in our communities and empower the people and their organisations to achieve great things. Read more about Regional Australia Bank at www.regionalaustraliabank.com.au
Supporting Sponsors of The Big Koala include
Derivan, Australian-made fine art materials used by the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail for 10 years.
Environmental Coatings which supplies the high quality protective coating “Easy On” – another longterm partner of Hello Koalas
Paul Thomson who enhanced The Big Koala sculpture plinth with a variety of timbers sourced from local forests, as an educational conservation display.