Healesville Sanctuary

Escape into the Australian bushland at Healesville Sanctuary. Just an hour from Melbourne, see an array of amazing Australian animals in their native habitat.

With over 200 species to see, the sanctuary is the perfect place to get up close to some of Australia’s most famous animals. From dingo to koala, kangaroos to platypus, the sanctuary is a bush escape you won’t forget.

Animal Activities

Book into an animal encounter or head to one of the many free shows on offer. Come face-to-face with incredible Victorian raptors in the Spirits of the Sky show. See how clever these talented birds are and watch as they interact with their keepers. Or, head to Tales from Platypus Creek to observe as they play and interact with their keepers. If you’re lucky you may even be able to book into the world’s only interactive platypus experience!

Throughout the day there are plenty of free keeper talks for you to watch too. Often these talks will line up with feeding or enrichment times for animals so you’ll get to see them more active than at other times of the day! Plus, there are some free feeds you can enjoy. Head to the emus mid-morning and you might be lucky enough to catch a free feeding time where you can feed them some of their favourite leafy greens. Or, walk through Land of Parrots to meet the birds up close and personal. Volunteers will lead a cockatoo onto your arm for the perfect photo or grab a nectar plate and wait for the friendly parrots to come for a snack.

A visit to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre may see you lucky enough to watch one of the sanctuary’s residents having a health check. The centre is a fully operational wildlife hospital with specially set cameras so you can see what the veterinarians are seeing during procedures.

Protecting Australian Species

Every cent raised by Healesville Sanctuary goes directly into preventing wildlife extinction. Head to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre and watch as their team of dedicated vets work tirelessly to help injured or sick animals. The hospital takes in animals from around the state and nurses them back to health to release them back into the wild. In the unfortunate situation that an animal can’t be re-released, the sanctuary continues to care for them, bringing them into their state-of-the-art exhibits.

Healesville Sanctuary is dedicated to breeding native endangered animals as part of their broader Fighting Extinction campaigns. Visit the bunker and learn about their work to breed Southern Corroboree Frogs or meet the hundreds of Tasmanian Devils the sanctuary has bred in the burrow. The sanctuary has dedicated itself to the protection of the local helmeted honeyeater and is one of just two places in the world that has successfully bred platypus.

Healesville Sanctuary is the perfect wildlife escape just an hour from Melbourne city. There’s nowhere better to meet Australia’s incredible native wildlife and know that your visit is helping support this organisation as they fight wildlife extinction in Australia.