Gunnedah koala water drinkers will help, but are not the answer

Years later, more than 60 drinkers in Robert's Frend's design have been installed in the Gunnedah region, with the rest stretching from ACT to the Blue Mountains, North Coast to South East Queensland.

The project is funded by WIRES, which committed $1 million for the production and distribution of 800 drinkers, so landholders can receive them free of charge to provide water for wildlife.

Coined Tree Troffs, the water drinkers were designed in Mr Frend's paddocks, with koalas the initial focus because of dwindling populations in the local area. The marsupial has since been declared endangered.

"It was something I was going to do on my farm but could also see if it was proven to be viable from a scientific point of view, that there would be a public demand for something that works and is safe and is convenient and practical and pragmatic and all those things," Mr Frend said.

"It was just a logical thing to believe from day one - if it can be shown and proven that koalas need water, there would be an ongoing enquiries thereafter."

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The farmer worked with University of Sydney researchers to gauge how often the drinkers were utilised and they were surprised to discover that a myriad of animals, including marsupials, birds and reptiles, took advantage of an easy drink.

"The big surprise was that it wasn't just koalas - it was all the other wildlife, the squirrel gliders, feather gliders, ... bees, owls, and even in one case, a carpet snake. So many other nocturnal species were also wanting to drink during what was the drought," Mr Frend said.

Since 2015, the design had undergone many changes, starting out as half a go-kart tyre tied to a branch, and transitioning to a half-bowl linked to a 200-litre drum on a platform.

The final "universal design" features a bowl fed by a 220L drum attached to an "artificial limb" made of pine. This encourages wildlife to venture out to the drinkers and means they can be installed in a variety of trees.

WIRES' Marty Middlebrook is managing the project and said it had come to a bit of a standstill because COVID-19 restricted deliveries and so many states had been awash with water.

He said the project was birthed in the drought, following horrendous bushfires, but now that many areas were flooding, they needed to rethink the roll-out and look at where the drinkers would be of most use in the future.

"The question is now ... where is going to be the right place for them to go?" he said.

"It really just comes down to the science and what benefits they will bring to those areas. The whole point about them is they are a drought mitigation measure and a bushfire recovery plan.

"We had people applying who had properties in the rainforest. That's not really the point."

Mr Middlebrook said a lot of people were waiting for their drinkers to be delivered and he hopes to get the project moving again in the coming months.

"If we can get them out over autumn, when it's a bit cooler, that would be ideal for us," he said.

Mr Middlebrook is a big fan of Tree Troffs and would like to see a large-scale roll-out in Australia.

"The beauty is they are able to support wildlife for long periods," he said.

However, he says the drinkers must be seen as "part of a much bigger solution" for our wildlife.

"I don't want to sound alarmist but things are only likely to get worse [for wildlife]," he said.

"Long-term, having an artificial water source in a tree, you're still going to need trees surrounding it. There have been got to be other mitigation measures like bushland regeneration and creating predator-safe areas.

"It's going to require a combined effort."

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