The Koala Hospital is primarily run by volunteers. We have a range of volunteer roles, including visitor guides, souvenir shop volunteers, maintenance workers, donation box collectors, Koala care, business support/administration roles and volunteers to work at our Koala food tree plantations. These are further outlined below.

Working with our organisation in Port Macquarie is very rewarding as no matter what role you undertake you are contributing to the rehabilitation and conservation of wild Koalas.

The Koala Hospital is a wonderful place to work and an ideal place to meet new people and learn new skills. We have several locations, the Koala Hospital in Lord Street Port Macquarie, a Koala food tree plantation at Maria River Road and another at Moripo, West of Wauchope. Some work may also be performed from your home. If we don’t have a vacancy in your preferred area of work on the day(s) when you are available, we can keep your name on our waiting list in readiness for the next opportunity.

We place volunteers subject to available vacancies and people’s interest, skills, experience and availability. Volunteers are usually placed on a roster with shifts being up to half a day, so you will need to live in the area and be available to work regularly. Volunteers must be between the ages of 18 and 84. Younger people can volunteer through our work experience programs.

You are invited to complete an application if you are interested in volunteering with us. You can click the orange Apply Now button below, hand the form in at the Koala Hospital, email it to membership.coord@koalahospital.org.au or post it to Koala Hospital PO Box 236, Port Macquarie NSW 2444. If you have a resume, can you please attach a copy to the form as well.

You will be contacted to advise whether we have opportunities available in your area of interest and available times. An informal interview will be held to talk about the roles and requirements and assess your suitability. If you are accepted as a volunteer at the Koala Hospital you may apply to become a member of our organisation (Koala Conservation Australia Limited).

Every volunteer will need to provide evidence that they have a current tetanus vaccination and are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Volunteers will receive training appropriate to their role.

ROLES

Koala Care

A very rewarding experience providing direct care to our Koala patients. Volunteers should be aware that they are not allowed to touch or handle koalas except where it is necessary for their care.

We have two daily shifts – 8:00am to 11:00am and 2:15pm to 4:45pm. Duties on the morning shift are quite physical and require a good level of mobility and fitness. The work includes preparing fresh leaf for feeding to Koalas, cleaning the Koala enclosures; feeding formula to Koalas when required and washing materials used in Koala care. The afternoon shift is less physical and includes refreshing leaf in the koala yards, feeding formula to koalas when required and thoroughly cleaning all areas of the Koala Hospital.

Souvenir Shop

As a self-funding organisation, the souvenir shop is important in raising funds to help us care for Koalas. We have two daily shifts – 8:00am to 12:30pm and 12:15pm to 4:45pm. Our shop volunteers welcome and engage with visitors to the Hospital, encourage sales, answer questions, provide customer service, keep the shop area clean and stocked and manage the takings of the shop.

Visitor Guides (Education)

An important function of the Koala Hospital is to educate the public about Koalas. Our education volunteers greet visitors and manage their bookings. They act as wandering guides to inform visitors as well as provide tours or presentations to booked groups. The Koala Hospital is open to the public from 8:30am to 4pm every day except 25 December. Currently visitors are required to book and provide contact details for each visitor to meet Covid-19 safety standards. Shifts are 8:30am to 11:15am, 11:15am to 1:15pm and 1:15pm to 4:15pm.

Maintenance

Our maintenance team provides repairs and maintenance in and around the Koala Hospital buildings. Team members also build and maintain the koala enclosures, including the koala climbing structures and keep the grounds clean and well presented. They may also provide general repairs at our other sites including our plantations. The work is generally carried out Monday to Fridays. If you have carpentry, electrical or other trade or general maintenance skills we’d like to hear from you.

Donation Boxes Collectors

The Koala Hospital relies on the generous donations of the public to fund its Koala care and conservation work. We have donation boxes located across the Port Macquarie Hastings area. Donation boxes are collected from those sites each quarter and sometimes our magazines are distributed to them. We seek donation box collectors for 1 to 2 days each March, June, September and December. If you can help us with this role, we would love to hear from you.

Plantation Volunteers

The Koala Hospital has two Koala food tree plantations. One is at Moripo, west of Wauchope and the larger one is on Maria River Road just north of Port Macquarie. Volunteers with good physical fitness are required for these roles. The work includes watering, mowing, pruning and tending to eucalypt trees. At appropriate times of the year volunteers will also be involved in planting Koala food trees - an absolute necessity to keep hungry koalas fed. It is best if you have your own transportation to reach the plantations.

Business Support/Project Work

We also need volunteers to help with administration work. Roles that become available include data entry, telephone based customer service, general administrative tasks or assisting with updating the wild koala adoptions database and preparing packages to meet orders.

We also from time to time are looking for skilled volunteers to work on specific projects, assist with fundraising, marketing or policy development. This work can be partly done from home. If you have skills and experience that can assist the Koala Hospital promote and carry out our work, we would love to hear from you.