Chicagoans were fascinated with the Land Down Under during the 1980s.
AC/DC and Men at Work dominated album sales. Rugged Australian actor Paul Hogan blew audiences away with his naive charm and backwoods virility in the 1986 film “Crocodile Dundee.” Then in 1988, Olivia Newton-John’s Koala Blue boutique opened at Northbrook Court and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra embarked on a tour of Oz.
“I think it’s our turn, really,” Men at Work lead singer Colin Hay told the Tribune in 1983. “On an international level, people are now accepting the fact that Australia exists.”
Koalas introduced for the first time at Brookfield Zoo Chicago
And it didn’t hurt that the continent’s creatures were adorable too — as visitors to the Brookfield Zoo are now discovering with the introduction of males Brumby and Willum. (Though the zoo purchased 16,000 acres in South Australia in 1971 and Australia House opened on its grounds here in 1974, koalas haven’t previously been in the care of the organization.)
But it’s not the first time koalas have called Chicago home — Lincoln Park Zoo welcomed a pair of these marsupials (not bears) 36 years ago. At the time, koalas were at the risk of extinction in their homeland and zoologists were interested in furthering the species. It wasn’t an easy relationship, but it was a boon of visitors and merchandise sales.
Sept. 6, 1988: From California to Canada
After a 10-week stay at the Toronto Zoo, almost 9-year-old Point Blank and 5-year-old Nutsy (who would be renamed Dinkum and Cobber) prepared to fly to their new permanent home — Chicago. The two female koalas were originally based at the San Diego Zoo.
Sept. 14, 1988: Chicago says ‘G’Day!’ to two female koalas
After a five-year effort to get koalas to Lincoln Park and to secure enough eucalyptus for them to eat, almost 9-year-old Point Blank and 5-year-old Nutsy (renamed Dinkum and Cobber) arrived from the San Diego Zoo after a layover at the Toronto Zoo. Their new habitat was atop the Crown-Field Education Center (where the Endangered Species Carousel is today). Their lack of antics, however, left some visitors disappointed.
Oct. 10, 1989: Male koala from California arrives at Lincoln Park Zoo
R.T., named in honor of philanthropist Reuben Thorson, was introduced as a potential mate for one or both of the female koalas.
He was sent to the Toledo Zoo in 1993, however, after the older pair rejected him — by screaming and swatting at him.
May 23, 1997: Into the wild
The Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House, the first new animal facility at Lincoln Park Zoo in a decade, became the koalas’ new home.
Aug. 20, 2002: Koalas quietly leave the zoo after two snakes are s-s-s-swiped
Sally, a boa constrictor, and Teddy, a bull snake, were snatched from their habitats inside the Children’s Zoo building.
Sally turned up days later in the hands of a 17-year-old boy who was showing it off to his girlfriend in a West Side beauty parlor. She was flexed before 10 television cameras and more than a dozen local reporters in a conference room at Lincoln Park Zoo upon her return.
A 10-year-old North Side boy was charged with the theft.
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