Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary

Heritage Diggings National Park, Dingo Park Road, Chewton near Castlemaine

Jirrahlinga Dingo Conservation Wildlife & Education Centre is a highly regarded sanctuary for injured wildlife, situated in the Centre of Heritage Diggings National Park, just over an hour from Melbourne.

Jirrahlinga, Aboriginal for "Seek a home for a kangaroo", was established in1975 by Tehree Gordon to be a haven for injured wildlife. Following the Ash Wednesday Bush fires in 1983, Jirrahlinga received national & international media coverage acclaiming the rescue mission launched to seek out and treat shocked & burnt animals.

ABOUT JIRRAHLINGA
Jirrahlinga is not just for distressed native animals. It is primarily about people. Particularly people who have a disability, a special need, the frail or the aged.

What better therapy could there be than to come into a supportive environment to work quietly with animals or just visit and touch a koala or joey that do not place demands on a person's physical or mental capacities

This is the secret of Jirrahlinga:

A place where dementia patients suddenly respond for the first time in months, where people with learning difficulties working on a regular basis find the confidence to talk animatedly about their animal charges, or where disadvantaged youth gain an opportunity to move on through life after discovering that the complexities of life can be managed by giving to creatures with more need than they have and which respond with their own form of gratitude.