Nifty is a young female koala who was found starving by the roadside near Port Stephens, a popular tourist destination three hour’s drive north of Sydney.
“This little girl came into care about two months ago and her mother had pushed her away,” said Ron Land, CEO of the new Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary.
Nifty has chlamydia, a common infection that leads to clinical disease in wild koala populations across Australia. Although she is receiving treatment, the condition is incurable.
“Had we not taken her into care when we did, she most certainly would have passed away. She was in very poor condition,” Mr Land said.
The 69-year-old former mining industry executive has a passion for saving koalas and this week he will achieve a long-cherished goal with the opening of the Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary (PSK) on Saturday 26 September.
Volunteers at Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary help to save sick and injured animals. Source: Supplied
Built at a total cost of $10 million, it will be a mixture of tourism and conservation.
The nine metre high koala skywalk and accomodation complex offers domestic, and eventually international visitors, a chance to see and stay near the animals, while a vetinary clinic will treat koalas that are sick and injured, rescued from the local area.
Some of the current koalas at the sanctury are survivors of the recent Black Summer fires that devastated large areas of their habitat on the New South Wales north coast.
“The first batch we took in had nine very bad burns victims,” Mr Land said.
Ron Land with donated medical equipment. Source: SBS
“Unfortunately, eight of them died. It was it was heartbreaking. A burned koala is a terrible, terrible thing.”
Like many volunteers, Mr Land fell into koala care by accident after rescuing injured koalas from the bushland near his house. He has since campaigned for a facility to treat and house injured animals.
“I am very happy that the scope of work we designed here five years ago has now become a reality. It’s a platform where we mix not only koala care but education and research,” he said.
The Port Stephens Koala and Wildlife Preservation Society has reported a dramatic decline in koala rescues over the past 30 years.
One of the koalas rescued during Australia's Black Summer fires. Source: Supplied
In a submission to the NSW Government on the area's koala population, the society wrote: "scientists have recently estimated the koala population has declined from 800 to less than 100 to 200 today".
The koala is listed as a threatened species, and the society is calling for immediate action to declare the species endangered, fearing wild koalas in NSW will become extinct by 2050.
In the meantime, PSK director and local vet Dr Donald Hudson says the new facility is equipped so they can do everything they can for the animals.
“We've got x-ray machines, ultrasound surgery and intensive care units,” he said.
“We've got everything we could possibly need to treat the koalas and get them back to health, it’s fantastic.”
“We’re also moving into a targeted koala breeding program," Mr Land said. "The goal is to release healthy [koalas] back into selected sites in the wild, bred from the koalas here under permanent care.”
"Then the population will bounce back. They've done it before and they'll do it again," Dr Hudson said.
Environmental activist and Worimi woman Carol Ridgeway-Bissett, who was born in the local area, welcomed the opportunity the sanctuary will bring to teach visitors more about native animals.
Visitors can stay in glamping tents on the eight-hectare site. Source: Supplied
“The koala in our culture is a totem species,” she said. “It is very important to educate people about trying to not only save koalas, but their habitat and the habitat of other wildlife.” 
The NSW Government and local council contributed most of the funding for the sanctury, with Port Stephens Koalas raising $500,000.
Carol Ridgeway-Bissett welcomed the new sanctuary as an important initiative. Source: SBS
It is expected it will attract 40,000 tourists annually by its third year of operation and income from visitors who stay overnight in the glamping tents and motel-style rooms will help pay for the estimated $450,000 cost of koala care each year.
