11/06/2026
Meet Crusader Koala
Artist : Dale Leach
Sponsor: WildNets Port Macquarie
Location: Guulabaa Way, Corner of Burrawan Forest Drive & Oxley Highway, Lake Innes NSW 2446
WildNets (www.wildnets.com.au) is the sponsor of Crusader Koala. We love the synergy between Crusader Koala's design and WildNets branding - there is even a flying fox on Crusader's chest. It was a friendship meant to be.
Back in 2013, Crusader Koala resulted from a collaboration between Dale Leach, artist illustrator and Sea Acres Rainforest Centre in Port Macquarie.
Crusader Koala was designed to be the champion of threatened species in the endangered littoral (coastal) rainforests of the Macleay-Hastings area on NSW’s Mid North Coast. The masked Crusader Koala protects rainforest animals under the shelter of a living cape of lush subtropical rainforest.
Twelve of the thirty-one threatened species in the area’s littoral rainforests are represented. The Grey-headed Flying Fox and the Common Blossom Bat. The Red-legged Pademelon, the Spotted-tail Quoll, the Long-nosed Potoroo and the Eastern Pygmy Possum. The Powerful Owl, the Wompoo Fruit Dove and the Eastern Osprey. Stephen’s Banded Snake, the Green-thighed Frog and the Pale-headed Snake.
The trees and leaves on the cape and the fruits scattered in the background, represent the diversity of rainforest plants found in Sea Acres National Park. The Black Apple, White Beech, Bangalow Palm and Strangler Fig.
The fruits of the Tuckeroo, Elderberry Panax, Blue Lilly Pilly, Black Apple, Cheese Tree and the Cunjevoi.
Now Crusader Koala lives amongst the trees at WildNets Adventure Park in Guulabaa, Place of Koala in the Cowarra State Forest and joins 'The Big Koala, Spirit of All Koalas' the 2.5 metre sculpture on the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail (www.hellokoalas.com).
