Wingecarribee Shire Council, Media Release, 16 October 2025
Have you heard of the Koala Karaoke program? Maybe you attended one of our Koala Karaoke Parties or participated in the program by permitting access to your property for monitoring.
The Koala Karaoke program was developed in partnership with the NSW Government to better understand where koalas occur across the shire, which landscape and environmental factors influence koala occurrence and to inform local koala conservation actions.
Each year from 2020 to 2023, we installed little microphones all over the Southern Highlands during the koala breeding season to listen for koala bellows. Male koalas bellow from September to February to attract females and scare off other males.
Council has prepared a report summarising the first four years of the Koala Karaoke program to share the exciting results with the community.
The report provides a background to koala monitoring in the Southern Highlands, an overview of the acoustic survey methods used to monitor koalas, the results (including graphs and maps!) and a discussion of our findings. It also includes recommendations for future monitoring and associated community engagement.
Sneak peek of the results
Koalas were heard at 23 per cent of sites in 2020, 32 per cent of sites in 2021, 17 per cent of sites in 2022 and 47 per cent of sites in 2023. However, a range of factors may influence whether koalas bellow or whether bellows are detected.
Modelling using data from all four years revealed that koalas are predicted to occur across 63 per cent of the survey area in the Wingecarribee Shire and this predicted occurrence is visualised in a map in the report.
The modelling revealed that koalas were more likely to occur in areas of higher annual rainfall and temperature, greater vegetation greenness, and moderate-to-high koala habitat quality. Koalas were less likely to occur in areas with a greater extent of recent high-severity fire (0-2 years). Read the report for a breakdown of these results.
The findings from the Koala Karaoke program build on foundational spotlighting and radio-tracking surveys conducted earlier in the Southern Highlands Koala Conservation Project (established in 2014), enhancing our understanding of the two koala populations. The results highlight the importance of retaining high-quality koala habitat and indicate areas to focus future on-ground conservation efforts.
We’re excited to announce that Koala Karaoke is returning this spring for another season of monitoring, this time led by the NSW Government using new methods under the NSW Koala Priority Population Monitoring Program. The application of this state-wide methodology means our survey results can be compared with those of other koala populations across the state.
This program has been funded by the NSW Koala Strategy, the Koala Monitoring Framework and Wingecarribee Shire Council’s Environment Levy.
For more information about Southern Highlands Koalas and to stay up to date, visit wsc.nsw.gov.au/koalas, facebook.com/SouthernHighlandsKoalas, and Instagram.com/southernhighlandskoalas.
