Nationality Australian Name Noel Burnet | Children 3 sons and 1 daughter Spouse(s) Emily (nee Lucas) | |
Occupation Wildlife park proprietor Parent(s) Charles Alfred Burnet and Kathleen (nee Bradley) Died 1953, West Pennant Hills, Australia | ||
Noel Burnet (4 March 1904 – 24 June 1953) was an Australian environmentalist and founder of the Koala Park Sanctuary, a privately owned and run wildlife park located at West Pennant Hills, New South Wales, Australia. He was a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
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Biography
Burnet was born in Sydney, the first of three children of Kathleen (née Bradley) and Charles Alfred Burnet. He attended Newington College, commencing in 1916, under the headmastership of the Rev Dr Charles Prescott. In the early 1920s, Burnet was living in Brisbane when he first came into contact with koalas. He was a resident of a boarding-house when he was given his first pair of koalas and he placed them on a tree in the garden. Fortunately, the tree was of the right species upon which the koalas thrived. After moving back to Sydney he established Koala Park later in the decade and in 1929 he married Emily Lucas. In 1930 he opened the Koala Park Sanctuary to the public. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester visited the park in 1934 and was "intensely interested in the bears". His photograph, with Burnet and a koala, appeared in the 8 December edition of the Sydney Morning Herald. On his death he was survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter, who carried on the management of the Koala Park Sanctuary.