A Windy Evening on Mt Whitestone

One evening at Mount Whitestone the wind was blowing through the trees. A baby koala held on really tightly to its mother as the branches swayed back and forth, back and forth.

Finally the branch swayed so much that the baby lost its grip and fell down, down through the branches. One last branch broke its fall and it fell into the long blady grass.

The mother slowly climbed down out of the tree looking for its baby.

A dingo called from higher up the mountain and a second one joined from further around.

Further down the mountain a young girl was looking through her mother's bird watching binoculars to try and see a Barking Owl but when she heard the dingo call she looked for it instead. Through the binoculars she could see a dingo looking down the mountain at two grey blobs on the ground.

CC Flickr image by 'wollombi'

When she focussed on the grey blobs she realised they were Koalas.

"Mum. Come quickly. There are two Koalas on the ground and I think a Dingo is going to eat them!"

When her mother looked through the binoculars she said, "You're right Bella-Anne and I'm worried about that baby Koala. I think there's something wrong with its leg. It might be broken."

"Oh what are we going to do Mum. We can't let the Dingo eat that baby Koala."

"One of the neighbours near the Dry Creek bridge is a wildlife carer. I'll give her a ring."

It wasn't long before Bella-Anne could hear a trail bike come roaring up their dirt drive. Her mother pointed out where the Koalas were on the hillside and they took turns looking through the binoculars as the wildlife carer rode the trailbike up and put both the koalas in a box on the back of the bike.

The neighbour stopped on her careful trip back down the mountain and lifted the top of her rescue box so Bella-Anne could have a look. "Will the baby be allright?"

"Yes, thanks to you, she'll probably make a full recovery. I'll bring them both back and release here on Mt Whitestone."

That's what happened three months later. Bella-Anne watched as the two Koalas climbed back up the same gum tree and started reaching for some leaves to eat.

 CC Koala image from Flickr by ausemade

This time she didn't hear the howl of dingos but the strange barking sound of an owl.

(This story was created by Daryll Bellingham and Bella and Anne, two of the children at the 'Creating Wildlife Adventures' workshop at Fordsdale Hall organised by Land for Wildlife and the Lockyer Valley Regional Council.p.s. No dingos or koalas were hurt in the production of this story.)