Decades ago, in the 1940s, the Creswick Koala Park was established as a breeding ground for koalas by members of the School of Forestry.

Fencing was built in an effort to contain them, however, most escaped over the fences and into the surrounding forest, now known as Creswick Regional Park.

While more trees - Manna and Blue Gums - were planted by forestry students in the 1980s, today the park, which is about eight hectares in size, has been long abandoned by koalas and only small numbers of the animals have been observed in the general vicinity.

Craig Barrett, a Creswick resident, regularly walks in the bushland surrounding the town.

"As a keen bushwalker, in the three and a half years I have lived in Creswick, I am yet to see a koala in the wild," he said.

Viewing the devastation on the bushfires on the news, Mr Barrett and other residents, including Hepburn Shire Council's Creswick councillor Don Henderson, believed it to be the perfect opportunity to re-populate the town's koala park, which is still signposted.

"I thought this would be a perfect place to reintroduce them once they are well enough to leave their carers in the koala hospitals," Mr Barrett said. "The animals would be reintroduced to an area they have been previously with the perfect food source - Manna Gums - and a water source with Creswick creek."

Mr Barrett believes that further to using the park as a short term solution, it could also be a perfect opportunity to start re-populating the area with koalas.

"We all watch these things on our TVs and feel really helpless so we donate money as we can but this is something we can do locally to help these animals, that would have ongoing benefits not just for the animals but for tourism in the shire."

Most eucalypt habitat remaining in Victoria is in the east of the state, given that a lot of traditional habitat in the central and western regions has been cleared.

While there was once a koala population in Creswick, it is understood that development in the area interrupted the wildlife corridor. While the grunts of koalas in the trees can sometimes be heard, they are not often sighted.

Cr Henderson said the council was looking at the proposal. He has already written to the Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio, asking if the Koala Park could be used in the short term as a safe place for koalas affected by the bushfires to recuperate.

However, he said funding would need to be allocated to build infrastructure such as toilets, an office for koala carers and new fencing.

Mayor, Cr Licia Kokocinski, said it was a "great idea" and one with merit.

While she said there was a need for further consultation with council officers, the various government authorities and the community, on the surface it was a "terrific" idea to not only provide a refuge for injured animals, but also to revitalise a part of Creswick that not many people would know about.

"It could be another string to the shire's bow in tourist facilities," Cr Kokocinksi said.

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A government spokesperson said the impacts of fires on the koala population were still being assessed and koalas being taken into care would be released back into the wild when suitable habitat was identified.

A full environmental assessment and feasibility study would be required before the park could be considered as suitable habitat for koalas.

The Australian Koala Foundation's Deborah Tabart OAM said the foundation was keeping a close eye on the situation as right now, every koala was precious.

Ms Tabart said koala populations required "large contiguous forests" with at least seven species of trees within them to thrive in the long term in the wild.

What many people do not realise is that koalas require extensive habitat. Depending on the density of the habitat, Ms Tabart said the ratio is usually one koala per five to 10 hectares but in some cases with sparse habitat, a koala may require about 100 hectares.

For a koala to survive in as little as one hectare of land is very rare and the forest would need to be very good quality habitat.

For koalas to survive going forward, Ms Tabart said it was important that logging does not continue and all existing forests are protected from any disturbance.

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