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A refuge for koalas
Claude Reid founded Lone Pine in 1927 at Fig Tree Pocket, beside the Brisbane River, at a time when koalas were being killed for their fur. It was a refuge for sick, injured and orphaned koalas, and it began with two of them, Jack and Jill.


A lone hoop pine
The sanctuary takes its name from a single hoop pine planted by the Clarksons, the first owners of the riverside site. Since 1934 a river cruise, now Koala & River Cruises and formerly Mirimar, has carried visitors upstream to the sanctuary.
A sanctuary today
During the Second World War, American visitors helped make Lone Pine known abroad. In 2009 it was named one of Queensland’s Q150 Icons, and in 2018 the Brisbane Koala Science Institute opened there with Brisbane City Council. Lone Pine describes itself as the world’s oldest and largest koala sanctuary.

