The call to help animals in need has always been deeply ingrained in me. As a young child I set up my bedroom as a vet clinic and always managed to find critters around the place who I felt needed help. At that stage my dream was to become a vet.

After doing a very brief stint of vet nursing when I was fairly young, I didn’t know it but I was already being pulled in the direction of rescue.

In 2000, I volunteered on weekends at my local animal shelter, while I worked full time. It was there that the vision of Gunyah began to form in my head. A place where animals in need could come and live in a peaceful, natural environment whilst receiving all the help and care they needed in order to recover from past trauma. A place where they felt comfortable to be themselves and there was no clock ticking to move them on. Back then there were far fewer foster carers and rescue groups working alongside shelters.

I began fostering for the shelter, and I also adopted dogs and cats who were proving difficult to rehome and whose time was running out. I probably still didn’t know that I’d just begun on the path of my true calling.

Several years later I moved to a 10 acre property, with the aim of being able to offer a home to larger animals in need. Some of the original rescues were still here at Gunyah until fairly recently. Jemelda, Sasha, and Mishka were all original 2000 rescues, and Suki puss was rescued not long after.

In 2010, everything changed in the blink of an eye. I took in Midget (now known as Monkey). A tiny pony with a huge personality and a cleft palate. Without cutting edge and very expensive surgery, her condition could prove fatal at any moment.

At that time social media was a whole new world that was yet to grow into the force it is today. We relied on TV, newspapers and magazines to keep up. Thankfully for Midget, her story and fight for life is one that they embraced. She appeared in media all over the country and people from everywhere wanted to help her.

In what seemed like one very fast unbelievable dream, the media whirlwind left in its path enough funding for Midgets’ life saving surgery, with extra to continue my rescue work. I immediately set up a charity with its own bank account, which thanks to the media coverage had a good head start. On the 8th July 2010, Gunyah Animal Healing Sanctuary Inc. was officially “born”.

The next big milestone came in 2014. Gunyah had well and truly outgrown my 10 acre property, as sadly the demand to help animals in need did not stop. Over what was a pretty long, stressful period, I took a huge leap of faith in selling my property I loved and had lived at for nearly a decade, so that the Charity could expand. After 2 years of scouring the entire state, I found this current 130 acre safe haven and I secured it as a new home for the Charity. Then came the even more stressful process of relocating every single resident hours away to Gunyah’s new haven.

The events that transpired over all those years still literally blows my mind. It’s been an incredible journey, with some real highs and a few very deep chasms. This most recent financial challenge is hopefully just a hiccup that can be eliminated with enough extra regular support.

So that’s a very condensed version of the past 23 years here in animal rescue. If you’re still with me, thank you!