Giant Koala Tourist Complex Zoo

The Giant Koala has been a landmark on the Western Highway in Victoria's Wimmera for several decades. It is located at Dadswell Bridge, a little south of Horsham. The Giant Koala itself houses a souvenir shop and there is a cafe/diner beside it. The entry to the zoo is between these two buildings and occupies about an acre or a little more behind the Koala. The zoo appears to have been established in the last three or four years.

Entering the zoo there are two backyard style aviaries, one with a sulphur-crested cockatoo, the other with two cockatiels of a lutino based colour mutation. The next enclosure encounted was for a white rabbit. The entry then opens up into a public area surrounded by several enclosures. There are a large number of free range bantam chickens and a couple of domestic ducks also.

Proceeding clockwise is an enclosure for koalas with one koala resident.The next is a large grassed enclosure which occupies about half the zoo. Inside were one fallow deer, one alpaca, one sheep and one emu. Next was a pen with 5 swamp wallabies. Beyond that was another pen with a sheep and a goat. The last enclosure is for a rather friendly pig. Having come right around the "clock face" we now come to the maintenance area and proceed out.

Admission is $5 for adults and free for children and includes a bag of animal food. Inside the Giant Koala is a donation box seeking donations so the proprietors can "buy more animals for the zoo".

 

Thank you for your recent reviews of a couple of very tiny Aussie zoological attractions. I believe that both zoos you wrote about were only an acre in size! Nevertheless, it is interesting to read about them on this great site.

 

This place is surely the ugliest of Australia's Big Things. I've stopped outside but never gone in to view the 'zoo'. By the sounds of it I'm not sure Halls Gap will be losing sleep over the competition.

 

I have photos of both parks if someone would like to set up a gallery for them.

 

I've never stopped there, but always been more intrigued with looking out for the free range turkey farm on the opposite side of the road - a very colourful sight, not often seen in these parts

 

I have stopped there, but just for a couple of snaps of the giant koala, possibly the ugliest "big" thing in regional Australia. Doesn't sound like its worth entering. It was up for sale last time I was there, not sure if that's still the case or not.

 

Photos up in gallery. Look under "The Giant Koala". Did not see any indications it was for sale.