14/08/2025
Introducing our Special Guest Speaker for Sunday 17th August:
2025 Australian of the Year, Local Hero - Queensland - Claire Smith
We will introduce Claire at
12 noon at Kilburnie,
followed by the Art Auction,
At 1pm Claire presents her full talk in Kilburnie Homestead's Media Room.
If you can't get to Kilburnie but still would like an opportunity to meet Claire and hear her presentation, she will also be speaking at The Red Steer, Thangool on Monday 18th! (Event link attached at bottom of this post)
Claire Smith is a fierce protector of all living things, but especially native Australian wildlife.
She is the founder of Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast, the first dedicated, volunteer-run, 24-hour wildlife rescue service in Queensland. The group’s purpose is threefold: education, rescue and rehabilitation.
Over decades of advocacy and conservation, Claire has actively forged vital relationships within the community, educating people about wildlife management through online resources and speaking on radio and in person.
Claire raised over $600,000 to directly assist those caring for injured animals after the 2019 bushfires. She also fundraised to establish Queensland’s first dedicated kangaroo hospital and purchase two wildlife ambulances to facilitate more animal rescues.
Her current goal - the Barefoot Project is to raise awareness of the plight of Koalas in Queensland, and her Central Qld speaking tour includes talking at Kilburnie this Sunday 17th August. She is also fundraising to establish a very special safe haven for Queensland's most vulnerable species on 402 acres of land at Bryden, the beautiful mapped core koala habitat bordering D'Aguilar National Park. "Barefoot on the Ground" is an Australian Registered Charity with deductible gift recipient status.
If you would like more info about the Project, or to donate directly to Barefoot, see their website here: https://www.barefootontheground.org/
When I was first introduced to Claire I couldn't help thinking that Ruby Campbell would have liked her a lot! Ruby had, as a child, seen much of the native bushland around Kilburnie cleared, as the Campbell family had to clear and fence a large proportion of their leased land in order to keep the lease (such were the government regulations of the day). Ruby in her later years became a protector of that bushland and had a great love for all fauna & flora.
Link for Claire's Mon 18th Aug talk at The Red Steer:
https://www.facebook.com/share/175hdeDZob/
