Greetings, here is a picture of the plush version of my koala self I recently took. It was originally created for a scene in a play about me that was called ‘Plight of the Koalas’, and it’s soft enough to cuddle with. The dress outfit on it was made from an actual dress for a teenager to an adult that was altered with the leaves handcrafted on to it, and the crown on it was also handcrafted and created with leaves and flowers. The leaves and flowers are of course are fake.

However, it’s said if you are tempted and decide to give it a hug, you will find the fur is not only warm and gentle, but impossibly soft like clouds soaked in warmth and made of memory. But it’s more than that, as the hug carries weight. Not physical though, but emotional and grieving, with a wave of sorrow washing over you with images coming into your mind and blooming like memories that are not yours, such as.

• The last eucalyptus tree falling.
• A mother koala curled around her joey as smoke chokes the blue sky.
• Bulldozers rumbling through eucalyptus groves.
• Silent koala cries coming from under them.
• A world that forgot how to care for koalas.

And beneath it all, a deep, aching love that will pull on your heartstrings and have you sobbing directly into its shoulders. Not with the kind of tears which come from a child who is scared or scared, but the kind that come when you finally say, “You don’t have to carry this burden alone anymore”, and are now planning and preparing to do whatever it will take to prevent the loss of more koalas down in Australia.