Recent sightings in Boonah have driven home the plight of the koala.
Habitat destruction, catastrophic fires, urbanisation, dogs, cars and disease are all threatening the survival of this iconic species.
But according to some experts there is hope for the future of the species in the South East.
And, according to some in the Scenic Rim and Darling Downs, koalas could help put these regions on the map.
Dr Bill Ellis used to tell international visitors who wanted to see koalas to go to the car park at Noosa National Park.
“I’d say wait around until you see some people looking upwards and they'll be looking at a koala,” he said.
But while koalas are declining on the coast due to urban development, Dr Ellis said he drew hope from what he was seeing inland.
On Wednesday, the koala expert returned to Brisbane after a research trip to Oakey, near Toowoomba.
His team was visiting the site of long-running koala research, dating back to the 1970s.
“Some of the landscape up there, virtually the only habitat that is remaining for them other than little patches of woodlands are creek lines and road verges,” he said.
“But it is quite remarkable the number of koalas that are living in those road verges.”
He said the researchers found 14 seemingly healthy koalas, including mothers with joeys, in a small survey area. That included eight in a roadside verge only a kilometre-and-a-half long.
Dr Ellis said those koalas still faced threats. But if they were given a chance, the koalas would prove resilient.
“As they become more and more fragmented we suspect they will disappear,” he said.
“But if we connect up all that habitat, it seems the koalas are pretty good at surviving.”
That wouldn’t just mean a win for the marsupials, Dr Ellis said.
“I look at places like Oakey and think, if they can hang on to that habitat, these are going to be really good places for people to see koalas,” he said.
“Whereas people in the past would have gone to Redlands and patches of bushland around Brisbane, the numbers there seem to be dropping a lot more quickly.”
“But [at Oakey] they can drive up, park on the side of the road and go for a walk and you'll see koalas living in the wild.”
The same opportunity applied to places in the Scenic Rim, he said. And he is not the only one thinking along those lines.
These days, former Boonah Shire Councillor Stephen Smith lives on a property south of town on Ganthorpe Road.
“We see them pretty regularly down here,” he said.
Mr Smith said that there didn’t seem to be as many koalas in the region as decades ago, and was under no illusions about the impacts of the spread of suburbs.
“Urbanisation and koalas don't mix,” he said.
But more people in urban areas would also create opportunities for places that remained rural and forested, he said.
“One of the main economic drivers of the whole region going into the future is going to be tourism,” he said.
“And I would have thought koalas are a pretty prime tourist attraction.”
“Particularly if you can see them in the bush.”
