When the bushfires swept through Victoria’s Yarck region earlier this year, a six-month-old koala named Robyn lost everything — her parents, her home, her safety. She was found alone, seeking refuge in a water trough on a nearby farm, her feet burned, her fur singed, her tiny body dehydrated and underweight.
Someone found her in time.
The long road to recovery
Robyn was taken to a pop-up triage centre before being transferred to Healesville Sanctuary’s wildlife hospital, where the team quickly realised how serious her condition was.
“She had burns to her four feet, nose and singed fur down her back,” said veterinary nurse Hayley Bradshaw. “Her wounds were not very comfortable, and she was underweight.”
The weeks that followed were intensive. Daily bandage changes, pain relief, careful monitoring — and one small but important detail that made all the difference. Koalas become deeply stressed in captivity if they can’t sit in a tree. So the team built Robyn her own miniature fork to perch in, right inside the intensive care unit.
“It’s a real team effort to get these guys through,” Bradshaw said. “Even if Robyn wasn’t a baby, it is very intensive.”
A stroke of luck in difficult times
Robyn’s age, it turned out, worked quietly in her favour. At six months old, she was right on the cusp of weaning — old enough to begin trying leaves, young enough to still need milk. The hospital team could offer both, helping her gain the weight she so desperately needed.
She was also at the age when, in the wild, she would have been learning survival skills from her mother. Those lessons never came. But she had four months of devoted human care instead.
The morning she went home
On a crisp, sunny morning, two veterinary nurses drove Robyn back to the landscape where she was found. Wildlife is always returned close to the original rescue site — familiar territory improves the chances of survival.
The team had chosen carefully: a healthy corridor of trees with fresh new growth for food and shelter, and a creek nearby for fresh water. When they opened the transport crate, Robyn didn’t hesitate.
“She was ready to go as soon as we got her to the base of the tree,” Bradshaw said.
She climbed. She explored the branches. A breeze moved through the trees and she lifted her nose to smell it.
“You could see her smelling the fresh air. She had a wonderful time checking out the different branches. She was looking out on the horizon, watching the birds. It’s so nice to see her not in a hospital situation after she’s been through so much — and finally be free to enjoy the wild.”
A future worth hoping for
The team who cared for Robyn through her darkest months watched her settle into her new home and felt something they don’t always get to feel — pure, uncomplicated joy.
They hope she’ll thrive. They hope, one day, she’ll have joeys of her own.
After everything she survived, it’s the very least she deserves.