Summary

Koala Sam is a book written by Heather Freeman and illustrated by Peter Townsend. It is an 'adapted' story about Sam the Koala in picture book form. The book was released prior to Sam passing away and ends with what everyone had hoped would be the final chapter in Sam's story, her release back into the wild.

Physical Description

Soft covered, brightly coloured book.

Significance

In the days and weeks that followed Black Saturday a wave of shocking and horrifying stories were reported daily. One story touched people with its simple humanity and compassion, the story of a CFA fire fighter saving a koala with a drink from his water bottle. The truth though is much more complex, In it's simplest form the story inspired and continues to inspire people all over the world and this book expresses the hopeful ending Sam the Koala represented, healed and renewed she is released back into her beloved Australian Bush, free to live life as she always had.

The story of the real Sam the Koala was not so happy: after slowly recovering from her burns, she was euthanized in August 2009 due to inoperable Chlamydia, a disease that is widespread in koalas and which is exacerbated by loss of habitat. The day after her much publicised death the state premier announced that Museum Victoria would collect and display her.

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