Kingbilli Wildlife Refuge + Rehabilitation Centre (Wildlife Sanctuary, Wildlife Care, Wildlife Rehabilitation)

Australia is a broad and generous island. Known often as 'the lucky country', it's not simply our good fortune and cultural diversity which makes us Aussies a truly privileged bunch.

Within our borders exists a wonderland of incredibly diverse natural habitats. Such variety of life is claimed by just 12 nations … Australia being the only one with a 'first-world' economy.

You name it, we've got it: snowfields;

grasslands … heath or mangroves. Four types of rainforest roll down from northern Queensland all the way to Kingbilli's doorstep. Wet and dry 'sclerophll' forests tumble around the ranges. We have aquatic environments of each and every kind.

Add a desert to the middle … a fringe of sandy beaches … one of the most beautiful reefs on the planet … and what else do you need?

These wild and wonderful eco-systems are home to an amazing array of plant and animal species, many of which can be found nowhere else in the world. Some have evolved into fascinating subspecies, adapted to suit each regional climate. Even the great Aussie favourite, the Koala, exists in three distinct sub-forms.

This so-called 'mega-diversity' is our true Australian Heritage. This is the single most spectacular asset of which all Aussies should be proud.

But despite it's breadth of soil and freedom of thought, Australia is a vulnerable island. It's health is jeopardized - not by war or terrorism - but threats from within : logging; mining; water exploitation; the persistant use of dirty energies … just to name a few.

Wide open spaces do not signify unlimited resources. Mismanagement has led to extinction, pollution and salinity. Our mighty Murray is in crisis - whilst rainforests are reduced to woodchips.

Since the year 1600AD, one

third of the world's mammal extinctions have been Australian.

2891 of the complex, fragile ecosystems contained in the aforementioned habitats are on the verge of obliteration.

Sometimes, in this fast-paced society, it's too easy for our values to become

misplaced. We forget the soil on which we stand is paramount. We must protect the habitats which remain; restore

those which have been damaged; and research a sustainable solution beneficial to all Australians ... not just the two-legged kind.

Mainstream public opinion is the key to conservation success. But for folk absorbed in the hustle and bustle of the urban world, it is difficult to make time to consider its natural counterpart.

Perhaps this is a role Kingbilli can play : providing busy individuals with easy opportunities to experience mother nature's beauty first-hand.

It is our hope a little time exposed to that special 'bushland magic' will encourage more Aussies to lend their voices to the conservation movement.

Australia's natural treasures are real and inimitable. They cannot be bought, sold or duplicated. But they need our help.

Before us lies the opportunity to move forward into a new sustainable century of environmental harmony.

Australia IS a lucky country ... let's keep it that way.

Georgina Beach