Kobe Steele: From Music TV Pioneer to Wildlife Champion

This week on The Big 6-Oh, we welcome the trailblazing Kobe Steele (OAM). In the 1970s, Kobe made history as the first woman in Australia to host her own TV music show. Today, she’s channeling that pioneering spirit into a new passion: conservation.

Kobe is a tireless campaigner and advocate for orangutans, fighting to protect Borneo’s ancient rainforests and the critically endangered species that depend on them.

In this episode, Kobe takes us through her extraordinary journey — from breaking barriers in television to her inspiring efforts to save some of our planet’s most vulnerable wildlife. Don’t miss this conversation with a true force for change!

For more information about Orangutan Foundation International Australia go to https://orangutanfoundation.org.au/

Transcript

00:00
If you're old enough to remember when phones had cords and the only thing that went viral was a cold, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Big Six-O with Kaylee Harris and Guy Rawlison. Because who better to discuss life's second act than two people who still think mature is a type of cheese?

00:36
Well, welcome to The Big Sixo. I'm Kayleigh Harris and my co-host and the bloke who does all the work on the podcast every week is my childhood friend, Guy Rolso. G'day. Thanks, Kayleigh. Look, if by work you mean showing up, pretending you know what I'm doing, except for the talking and the thinking and the bits where your kidney interrupts, yeah, I'll take that.

00:55
Oh no, you're hilarious. He keeps sending me links going, Oh, look, we're on this other platform and I've done this and I'm like, I've got no idea what you're talking about. So thank you for what it, whatever it is you do for making this happen every week. Now there's a couple of good things about having your own podcast. And as you know, my career has been in commercial radio and I love talking to people, I love finding out about their life and their life journey, but often in commercial radio, at least when we did interview people.

01:23
It was never for more than five minutes because we had ads to play and songs to play. But with a podcast, we can talk for longer and really dive into people's stories a little bit more, which is what I love about this. And the other good thing about having a podcast is talking to people who have had an impact on your life. I first met our guest this week more than 40 years ago. Yes, I was too. When we worked together in a radio station in Sydney, but she was famous long before that.

01:52
I can't believe this and I'm so blown away by this. Coby Steel had her own music show on television at 18 or 19, like just incredible. Hi Coby, how are you? Hello Guy, hello Kayleigh. It's so nice to be on the radio with you again. Oh my God. Hey Coby, I've got a little bit of an admission. Like I must have been, I reckon I must have been 15 or 16 and a couple of mates.

02:22
who would normally go out and play footy in the afternoon, would just grab me and say, oh, we need to go and watch right on. Like because it was on like four o'clock or something in the afternoon, wasn't it? Yeah. And like that would be sotted. I'm sure it was the music videos or whatever. Or maybe it was maybe it was the Bugs Bunny cartoons. It was sort of a sequence in between. Oh John Waits, who was it? How did you get that hosting gig? How did it all come about?

02:48
Well, I was actually 17 when I started, but write-on started when I was 18. But before write-on, I was working as a PR promotions girl in record companies in Sydney.

03:01
And so part of my job, as Kayleigh would well know, and you would, is that part of your job was to go into radio stations and television shows and spruik your bands, right? So I heard there was a new TV show starting on Channel 10. And so my job was to go in there with my videos and get them played. And so I went in and I met with the producer and a guy at the time who probably now I'll remember now, but a guy called John Collins was one of the big wigs in TV back then, and he owned the production.

03:31
company and he discovered John Lane. Not that that was, that's a very long time ago. But so he just happened to be there. So he was sitting in, the producer was there and a whole bunch of other people and I was there to push music videos that I was promoting and

03:49
It went on and on and on and on. It just was the longest time ever. Normally they give you 10 minutes and you're out, but they kept asking question after question. And they kept asking me about bands that I had nothing to do with. But I answered because I was being polite and I was very young and quite nervous obviously. And then at the end, they said to me, okay, it's yours, you've got the job. He went, pardon me? I thought, what, say what? And I wasn't going for a job. I was there to promote.

04:17
the bands that I was doing the PR for. But they had thought I was there for the interview as the host of the show, which I wasn't. And so that's how I got my first TV show. It's extraordinary. Wow, you didn't pull them up and say, oh look, by the way. I know, I just, I think I was just bobsmacked. I don't think I knew what to say. I did say, what are you talking about? And like I did actually explain it to them and everyone just laughed.

04:41
And then I was absolutely confident and bubbly and talked and blah, blah, blah, while I thought that I was spruiking these bands. But once they said that, I couldn't speak, I was gobsmacked. So I think they thought they'd made a bad decision. But anyway, that's how I got MTV, how weird. Coby, where does that bubbly, I mean, you've got such an amazing personality. You're so amazing to be around, you're bubbly and.

05:09
and your energy is you can feel your energy. You know, it's incredible. Where does that come from? Oh, Kayleigh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know, I've always been like that. I guess maybe from my parents, I don't know, maybe from my parents. My mum's pretty outgoing, so is my dad, but yeah, I actually don't know. I mean, to be hosting. That's all right, to host a TV show at 18.

05:35
and a music show, I mean, I remember watching you in the afternoons going, wow, look at that girl. You know, you had this amazing fringe and this amazing hair. And I mean, people can, if you Google it, you can Google right on on channel 10. And it was just must-see TV for us kids in the afternoon. What happened after that? Where did you go after that?

05:55
After TV? Well, while I was still doing TV, we used to tape, it was Monday to Friday in the afternoon on Channel 10, but you'd go in on Thursday nights and you would tape the five shows in a row, right? So, and I was working also during production on the show, just so that I, you know, did something during the week. But then a job came up doing, because I'd already been doing publicity at record companies.

06:23
One of my favourite jobs ever came up and that was doing the publicity for international bands that toured Australia. And so I was doing the TV show on Thursday nights, taking the five shows, but during the week I was doing the publicity for amazing, amazing bands. I mean...

06:43
that they let me do it. Again I was like eighteen, nineteen years old but there was probably three or four main publishers in Sydney at that time. One was Patty Moston who everybody knows. Um then there are then there was David Douglas who was absolutely the most divine human being and he was my boss and um and there was a couple of others but um at David's company there was three of us. So he would do Middle of the Road. Pammy who is still a dear friend to this day would do like the jazz and the classical and they gave me all the rock stuff. So who are we talking about? What are

07:13
bands are we talking about? Oh my god there were so many. Um my biggest my biggest claim to fame and the only thing that still gives me cred um when I'm talking to young people is like they'll be looking at me like I'm a boring old fart and then I can drop into the conversation that I talked with Bob Marley and so then they pay attention to me. So so yeah Bob Marley's probably like

07:39
For me, the pinnacle, that was amazing. He had 56 people on the road with him, a handful of course with a band and the backing singers, his wife. But because he was Rastafarian, a little bit hypocritical, I've got to say, but there was all these things like, certain people had to cook their food. So they had all the cooks on the road and then all the wives and the children and the...

08:05
etc. But yeah that was just fantastic. Do you want me to tell you a story about being on the radio? Yes please. I love to hear it. I've told this story so many times to so many people but anyway so as you know at that time because we're talking probably about 1980, 1981, customs was very very very different to the border patrol you see now. In those days you'd

08:34
and then I don't know if you recall but they would go from

08:38
from immigration and then you take them straight into the press conference room at the airport. And so these poor people would have just come off a plane and be sitting there and then every Australian journalist would be saying, and what do you think about Australia, right? When they hadn't actually walked out the door and seen it yet. So we did this deal because Bob Marley is known, as you know, for what he's known for, then it was going to be a problem. Because you know, if they searched him and

09:08
and everybody else and anything was found, then we would never get into that press conference room. And then in those days, people like Joe Cocker and other people had been thrown out of the country, right? Because they had dope found on them. So we did a deal which you could, I wonder if I'm allowed to say this. But you could do a deal with customs where we promised absolutely faithfully that Bob Marley would hold absolutely no drugs on him whatsoever. Like.

09:33
in a promise and if they would let him, if we promised, if they would let him through to the press conference room so that could start, then the other 55 people on the road with him could be searched from top to toe, like body search.

09:49
case searches, every search. So that's what happened. So Kevin Jacobson, who I was working with, who was a promoter, Kevin took Bob Marley into the press conference and then I stayed out and we had two big buses out the front because their first gig was going to be Melbourne. So I had to get all of these people through immigration and then get them onto the buses and then they would drive to domestic terminal off to Melbourne and the tour would start. So honestly, I can't tell

10:19
one of those people from head to toe went through every one of their cases, every bag, every everything. They searched them and the last person got through clean.

10:30
We couldn't believe it. Could not believe it. Now also remember in those days, there weren't dogs at the airport. So then I got them onto the bus and I got on the first bus in the front seat. And then half were on that bus, half were on the second bus. And they all had their musical instruments with them and they all had their big like, you know, rasta hats and dreadies. And so I said to the driver, okay, let's go and the bus like door closed. And as the bus door closed, they all started like playing instruments and singing, which was very cool.

11:00
but the whole of the bus filled up with dope smoke. Is this Cheech and Chong in real life? They had all just been searched like fully and I turned around, honestly it was a different time, I turned around and they were all pulling joints out of their dreadies. Oh no. And their dreadies hadn't been searched and there was no dogs and they were all covered in joints.

11:28
I thought you were going to say you and Kevin offered to carry the bags so you just took them all outside and everyone was clean. So they were all stoned before they left Sydney Airport. Oh wow, what a great bus tour.

11:51
Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? SMTM

11:59
Hey listen, going back to Rod, and while you, you must have met a whole raft of stars and celebrities. I mean. So many, it was like a dream because I was, you know.

12:11
growing up and as a teen actor, music was my entire reason for living. And then all of a sudden I was interviewing all these people and meeting them and going to parties with them. And it was just, I just, I was, I couldn't believe that I was the luckiest luckiest girl. Were you starstruck by anyone? Oh, often, often. But you know, you kind of acted like it was all okay, but inside you were like, you couldn't believe what was going on. But you're so, so many people. I mean, I wouldn't even know where to start. I did, I did a big TV special with Flipwood.

12:41
I did the Ava movie. 10cc were my favourite band and I got to do an hour special with 10cc. But so, so many, if you tell me names I'll just say yes, yes, no, yes, no. Okay, Leif Garrett. Yes, yes. Leif Garret. Leif Garrett. Leif Garrett was a guest on my TV show and as you know.

13:03
which he was at the time. So it was just we did a special like you know Lave Garret show and so he came on and we did a competition to must have been to meet Lave Garret or something to do with him I can't remember it was too long ago but but yeah there was literally sacks and sacks and sacks and sacks of mail and I remember we we emptied them all onto the Channel 10 studio floor and we sat on them for publicity photos and yeah so it was and he was he was you know I was

13:33
So I was much. How old was he? He was Stine or something. He was Stine and he had this, look I don't remember her name, but if you saw her you'd know it. She was quite a famous Australian model at the time and she was absolutely gorgeous. She must. Maggie Tabra?

13:51
I actually stayed at her house with her daughter, Brooke Tabbert. Oh wow! But yeah, she was just this gorgeous girl and she must have been, I think, close to 30, so she was his date. And so he came to this video, so he was doing okay at 16.

14:26
Okay, so even after even more so than Leif, I used to practice my passion and stuff on my Sean Cassidy pictures in my room. And like he was my absolute idol at the time. Everyone else was into basically rollers and David Cassidy and stuff. But did you interview Sean Cassidy? I did. Oh God, stop it. I got to be in his hotel room with him. What? Kayleigh, stop salivating, stop salivating, will you? Did you do the humpy grumpy with him?

14:54
Hi! Oh, what up? But, Kali, I've got to tell you that he was gorgeous. I mean, for me, he was much better looking than Lady Garro. Yeah. And he was a much... Not that, like, I'm not saying for a minute that Lady Garro wasn't a nice person. I mean, he was totally pleasant and fine. But Sean Cassidy was just lovely. Oh, God. Why didn't you do that? It'd be pumpy, I would have. I'm more into his brother, David. Oh, for goodness sake!

15:22
I could have double-dited if only I'd known you then. No, God, no. He just used to get, well, you know what it's like. You get put into the hotel room with him, you do your interview and you leave, and the next one goes in. But yeah, he was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Oh. Well, I was 16 and sick of school.

16:18
And how old, 19, 20, 18, 19, 20? I started when I was 17. That's... And then right on when I was 18, 19, probably about two and a half. See, that's, I mean, that probably seems like so long ago, but only yesterday, really. I mean... Of course. I wish. It's a thousand lifetimes ago. But it was so fun. And I remember it so fondly. I didn't love television work. I mean, I loved the work I did, don't get me wrong, but I...

16:44
The television executives were pretty full on and that whole, unfortunately, like being a young girl in those days, which, you know, the Me Too movement has covered it all now. But in those days, there really was an awful lot of like sexual harassment constantly, constantly, constantly. But we didn't like, it wasn't something that you went, oh, poor me and complained about. It was just, as Carly would tell you, it was just part of life. You just, it was just, and you dealt with it and you didn't complain because, you know, you were lucky to have your job, you were told. And...

17:13
And so, you know, I was under a lot of pressure a lot of the time in television, but then I moved to radio. And I just, my very first job when I left school was in radio in the record library at 6pm in Perth. And I loved that job, but I was only there for about three months and then I moved back to Sydney. But I always loved that job. And so, our gorgeous Ronnie Sparks, who Kayleigh knows very, very well and...

17:42
and was a dear friend of mine. When he went from 2SM to 2UW, he rang me, because I'd been going into him for quite a few years with bands and whatever, and we'd become friends as well. And so when he went to 2UW, he rang me and asked me to come and work for him. So that's when I went from doing publicity to working in radio. And I loved working in radio. I thought the people were beautiful. It was just a community and everyone had each other's backs.

18:11
and there wasn't the giant egos of television. And when I say that, I'm not talking about the on camera people because they were normally great, but some of the executives in television, you know, thought they were pretty special. But radio was gorgeous. I loved it and I did it for years. Tell us about, we missed a section of your life here. Tell us about your husband. How did you meet and how did that happen? Because he's quite famous in himself, right? That was a lifetime ago. I bet, yeah.

18:38
We were good friends for a long time before we got married or started kind of, you know, being romantically involved. So again, just through television, through interviewing, my ex-husband, and we're still in touch, we still talk now, was the bass player in ACDC. And so... The other way you're just like, what's the bass player in ACDC? I'm sorry, that could be. But, you know, again, you know, when we got married, I was 20 and he was 23. So I mean, it's a very, very...

19:07
But we were just mates because you know I would interview bands and in those days all the Australian bands used to hang out together socially and you know anyone in radio or television as well it was just it was a lovely time and so I knew Mark super well ACVC were living in London and and coming back to Australia they were living in Wimbledon it was before they broke big in America.

19:31
and so we would just you know hang out when he came back to Australia and then. What was that like? I mean one of the biggest rock bands if not the biggest rock band in the world ACDC. What was that like for you being a part of that environment and that were you was like it just seems such like a different life and and. Because that was that was all part of the Bon Scott era wasn't it too? Yes it was it was the Bon Scott era and you know it's weird what I'm going to say but you know when you're young you just kind of

20:01
not that you take everything for granted, it's not that you're complacent but you just go with things, you don't know any better and you don't know that it's pretty well. I mean you do but you don't. ACDC then weren't the huge band they were now but they were huge in Australia and they also were then huge in Europe and the UK but not yet in America but I guess because and you know it was amazing but I guess because I also was on the road with

20:30
many famous bands and also when I in the TV time I was also I guess interviewing lots of people. I think I did kind of take it in my stride a bit and it's when I look back now I think oh my god but then I just kind of went with it and um and you know 20 years old and just having fun and partying and um

20:52
And everyone hung out together. You go to parties and I saw this John Paul Young and Sherbert and Shirley and this guy, always had Ted Mulberry and all those, everyone hung together. And it was just a lot of fun. And a lot of- Have you still got some phone numbers? Cause we'd like to interview some of those. Yes, because for garden variety people like me, that just rolls off your tongue. But for garden variety people like me and everyone listening, that's surreal. You know, just to rattle off those names. Yeah.

21:22
Really it was. It was. Um it was incredible now I look back. Incredible and you know you watch an episode of Countdown now you know they do the replace of Countdown and you think I know like you knew everybody. It was just how it was in those days. And so I was a very very very lucky girl and and I was always aware. I want to talk to you about uh you and I met in the eighties at at the then two UW. Classic

21:51
You had a beautiful girl, Kristen. You had a daughter and I babysat Kristen a couple of times. And I can remember you were going somewhere and it's like I said, oh, babysit, you know, and you said, okay, I like, what are you? I came over to your house and I remember you said to me, look sometimes when she doesn't get her own way, she like holds a breath. Oh, that's right. She did. Yes. And if she does that, just shove her in the shower and put cold water on. She'll come around. I was like,

22:18
I was terrified. I was like, oh my god, please don't hold your breath while I'm here. You know, she probably only did that twice, but I would have just been warning you. I know. And she was beautiful. Now tell us about Kristin, your lovely girl. Gorgeous girl. Yeah. Tell us about Kristin. Well, Kristin was, you know, the result of my marriage to Mark. And unfortunately, once I fell pregnant, then Mark and I split up. So I was a single mum from day dot. And I was...

22:44
when I had Kristen and so you know we grew up together and she was my mum I was her mum and and just you know we're about as close as any mum and daughter could be I just absolutely she was my reason for living I just absolutely like every parent I absolutely just adored her and she was a really easygoing kid and she came everywhere with me and and yeah she was lovely so all through those radio days yeah she was she was a little girl

23:13
and then and then do you want me to fast forward onto yeah tell us about her tell us her story on the journey um christin and i after i left radio eventually i left radio and um and i got your job by the way you were producing baz and pilko right at tw and and you left and i remember going oh god i love a bit as good as kobe

23:35
and you were so cool and everything and then I got, I couldn't believe I got the job. I know, it's weird as you took over my job with Ronnie as well, do you remember? Yes. So I went off to have Kristen. I couldn't believe that. Do I need to be here later? Oh, sorry. So, okay, so then, you know, there was a few years where I got out of radio. Kristen was starting school and so I, and you know, as you well know, getting up at four in the morning is no fun and when you have...

24:04
a little, little, you know, three-year-old. I wanted to be able to take her to school and kindy and pick her up and so I stupidly thought that would happen if I open restaurants and so I had two restaurants in Palm Beach and Sydney for probably about 10 or 11 years. So Kristen and I grew up together and and then we moved to the Gold Coast and I opened a couple of restaurants here.

24:32
and I mean I live in the Gold Coast now. And so Kristen went through high school and she went through university, she finished uni and off she went travelling like all our kids do these days. They go off around the world, which is fabulous and it kills you, but at the same time you're thrilled that they're spreading their wings, so it's a bit bittersweet. So anyway, Kristen finished uni and she went off travelling around the States, Japan, and then she ended up settling in the UK. And then she met the love of her life.

25:02
and now she's 25 years old, we're up to, and she and he, he was Norwegian and they moved to Amsterdam. And she was just the happiest it's possible to be. You know, when you see your kids and they're just, oh, they're just beaming. They're so in love. And you know, you remember when you were in love, when you were in your 20s, oh my God, it was the whole world. And so that's where she was at. And she was on her way to work.

25:29
on a bicycle because in Amsterdam everyone uses bicycles and she was actually stopped at a red light, she wasn't actually bicycling and she was waiting for the red light to go green. She was one block from work and this big huge concrete truck, the guy was obviously having a bad day and he was speeding really severely in a place where he couldn't. He came around the corner screeching and went straight into the bike lane.

25:58
and then the lights went green and Kristen went forward and he went turned right and he didn't look and he crushed her and so she um so she was killed and um and so I got that phone call that nobody nobody like you know wants to get and it's just not real it's just not real um so um so yeah I just um

26:24
my world stopped completely because everyone has a purpose in life and my purpose at that time was to be Kristen's mom. I didn't have another purpose, that was my whole reason for being. And I mean, I had a life, but that was my reason for getting up in the mornings. And I was missing her like crazy. She was about to get married to Chris, who she'd met in London.

26:47
The morning that I got the news, or the knock on the door from the police, that she had been killed, I actually had her wedding bands in an envelope with a stamp song ready to post to her that day, and she was so excited. And so, yeah, it was a really, really needless to say, very, very tough time, and took me a long time to get over. I just, yeah, I was just a basket case for years.

27:13
It's something that it's every parent's nightmare and it's something that you don't get over. I mean, it's something that you live with and you endure, but you don't get over it. If I can just move forward a little bit to the work you're doing now, you're a founder, president, is that right? Of the World Aranitan Foundation in Australia? Aranitan Foundation International. And that's to rehabilitate and rescue orphans. Tell us about that.

27:41
Well, you know, it carries on from losing Kristen. That's kind of, I guess, part of the story of losing Kristen. When Kristen was killed, I went from, you know, being fairly outgoing and confident and to completely agoraphobic, completely like I just didn't leave the house. I just I just wasn't me anymore. I just cried and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried 24 7. I actually tried to commit suicide twice, but luckily I was not successful.

28:09
And so I think Kristen was looking over me and making sure I was all right. So yeah, I was just a mess. So this is moving on to orangutans. So I had a dear friend who at the time lived in Perth. His name is Stephen Van Mill, Dr. Stephen Van Mill. And at the time he was working on Channel Nine with the 60 Minutes crew. And he was also I think on the Channel Nine Today show doing all the animal stories. And he used to set up all the animal stories for 60 Minutes. And so he had just come back from Borneo

28:39
and the lady that I now work with, Dr. Birutai Gautikas. So Stephen flew over from Perth to have dinner with me here in the Gold Coast and he just, you know, took one look at me and could see that I really wasn't, you know, at my greatest. And the one thing I'll just say as an aside is when you lose a child, I think more than even a partner or, and of course parents or whoever, when you lose a child, people do not know what to say.

29:09
And I would have probably been the same before, but people just, they're so awkward, they're so uncomfortable, they just wanna run screaming from the room to avoid you, right? They just can't cope. And you never see people more uncomfortable. And so I got used to having most people run screaming from the room, but the people that stayed, I was so grateful to, and you could tell how uncomfortable they were. And so people would say really weird things to me because they just didn't know what to say. And so I learned that rather than

29:38
scared him off as well. I would agree with anything they said. So I'd smile and agree and whatever they said, I would say, yes, that's absolutely right. And so that's Stephen. So I had dinner with Stephen and he said, look, Coby, I'm going to take you to Borneo and the orangutans are gonna heal you. Now that was the weirdest thing that anybody had said to date. Like an orangutan was gonna heal me. And first of all, I'd never had orangutans in my life. I've always been a big animal person, but not orangutans.

30:08
And so, yeah, so it was just a very, very strange thing for him to say. So I agreed with him and said, yep, that'll be great, like I did with everybody, and then completely forgot about it and basically ignored it. So God loves Stephen, and he's still a really dear friend now. I will be forever grateful to him because he was like a dog with a bone, and he would ring me and say, okay, we're going, and I'd make a pathetic excuse about why I couldn't go.

30:32
And then he just kept going until I had nothing left. I had no more excuses. And so I agreed to go to Borneo. And at that time it was my 50th birthday or just after, so I thought that was a good present. And I thought that being in the jungle would be absolutely good for me. I'd be absolutely away from everything here in Australia. And I thought it might be healing to be in the forest. And let me tell you that.

30:59
it is so correct. You know, the Japanese have a word that means forest bathing. And when you spend time in the jungle, in Borneo, or in, I imagine, the Amazon, or any of these really amazing places, it actually does, it heals your heart. So I went with Stephen, and it was amazing.

31:19
And we spent a week in the, or nearly a week in the jungle with wild orangutans that have been rehabilitated. And then the last couple of days, we went to the Orangutan Foundation International Orphan Care Center. So that's where we actually rescue and rehabilitate orphaned, injured and displaced orangutans, mainly from palm oil plantations. Then they are given a surrogate mum because they've been orphaned.

31:48
and they start a rehabilitation process back to the wild, which takes on average about 10 to 12 years per orangutan. So I got to go and visit the Orphan Care Center, which no one gets to do, it's close to the general public. And so then you go and you see all the different stages of rehabilitation and I was...

32:08
in kindy class if you want to call it that um you know four five year olds or like they drank 10 bottles of red cordial just crazy and at that stage i was still in terrible grief and so i'd loved loved the time in the wild with in the jungle um but at the same time my heart was just kind of a bit dead and i couldn't feel real happiness i would just kind of fake it and um

32:31
And I don't think I've felt happiness since the day I heard about Kristen. So anyway, I was at Kindi and there was a little orangutan who had just been brought in. His mother had been killed and his name was Faisal. And he was three or four years old. And what I know now that I didn't know then is he was bald as a badger, right? And orangutans have hair, not fur. So all his hair was gone. And now I know that that was from trauma and malnutrition and depression because he was absolutely...

33:00
in the same state that I had been in. And he'd just come in and there's all these human beings everywhere and he didn't know what he was doing so he was sitting out in the corner and he was looking at me and I was looking at him and every bit of my maternal instinct was crying out to him. They told me he was simple, that he couldn't climb a tree, that they were working on him, but he was just he wasn't playing with the other orangutans and this...

33:24
little boy. Um what I know now about orangutans is when and Kaylie's going to come with me to Borneo later in the year. So what we're also going to discover is that when you meet an orangutan um yes they see your physical being of course they see you but when an orangutan looks at you they look straight into your eyes and I swear they look into your soul and they read your heart and it doesn't matter what age they are and um and so they kind of they see

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or Caley or Guy, but they're actually looking at what they feel is your intrinsic person inside. So here was I looking at little Faisal in the corner in the playground while everyone else went literally apeshit. And Faisal was there in the corner and I was going, oh that poor little boy. Now I know that Faisal was looking over at me going, oh look at that.

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poor, sad woman. I need to help her. And so he came over and I swear this isn't made up, this really happened. He came up to me and he climbed up, because he's only a little boy, and he climbed up and I held him and his little face came right next to my face and looked right into my eyes. And guys, I tell you...

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I just had like lightning bolts of happiness just shoot through my heart and it was the first time I felt happy since Kristen had passed. I didn't think it was possible. I never thought I'd feel joy again and this gorgeous little boy, this tiny little face just looking at me just actually just in a matter of seconds brought me back.

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And he gave me so much joy and I spent the next two days with him and another orangutan who I was very close to called Krista who was just a little girl at the time, she was three. And yeah they're still my friends now all these years later. And so they just they gave me back myself, they gave me so much happiness, they just, I can't explain what they gave me but they gave me everything,

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to help them because I'll never be able to explain properly what they did for me. And so then I looked into ecotourists, I've done an ecotourist and realized that the only people making money out of ecotourists was everyone but the orangutans. They were getting nothing. And so yeah, I started looking into ecotourists, which I've now been doing for many years and then eventually, which is another story, I founded Orangutan Foundation International

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And that is, so all those orangutans now, my children, we've got 300 or over at the care center, orphans. And of course I don't know every single one, but I'm very close to many, many of them. And what's wonderful and how amazing is it that they only see me once every few months, but just like if you're with a human and you've had a friendship, you know, when you go back, they're so happy to see you. I mean, there's so much like us.

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So I get that gift many times a year going to Borneo and the foundation has been a huge success and I've raised nearly $5 million now for them. Where does the money go to, Coby? That $5 million, what's it go towards? Well, all the money I send direct to Borneo, so it doesn't go through admins and wagers and all of that stuff. But look, Kelly, it goes to different areas. What I do is, Dr. Bureta Gaudekas, who I'd love to tell you about,

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is the lady that is the Jane Goodall of Oranitans if you like and so I work with Birrite and so we discuss projects. So the money that I raise here goes not to just general care, it goes to particular projects and it's split in half. Half of it would go to the care centre whether it be for new enclosures for things like ha-has which I'd have to explain but it's a really

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process when you're getting ready to release back into the wild. Of course, all the medical, I support and buy all the equipment for the hospital there. We've got a full hospital, three vets, two vet nurses. I've been able to actually build a hospital. So we've got a whole x-ray room, we've got an operating theatre, we've got theatre lights, we've got tables, we've got the ultrasound machines, the blood testing machines. We've got everything that a vet free hospital has. And I also pay for all the medical.

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and the vitamins and all of that stuff. So that's really exciting. In fact, I've just had Larry Vogelnest, who's the head vet at Taronga Zoo, and he and Chantelle Wission, who is one of the head vets at Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, just went up for me. I fundraised and sent them up as volunteers because they're gorgeous people, and bought all the dental equipment. Because no orangutan or any great ape that I'm aware of has ever had dental work.

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me, Sarah. Yeah. No, they do. They hate me. They'll spit at me when I go back. But can, you know, I'm sending them to the dentist. But, but as you know, dental.

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health is so important because it can you know it spreads disease if we've got infected gums and whatever it goes in and causes terrible things through our whole body. So now all our orangutans are having dental work and some of them that have been grumpy for quite some time once they've had a couple of teeth out they're happy as Larry again so it's working and so stuff like that Carly I mean there's all kinds of things along. But you talked about you talked about um I heard you in

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the people who kill the mothers and take the babies, how little they get for them but then what they're sold for on the international market. Can you tell us about that? Oh absolutely, yeah.

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Just like rewinding a bit to why, these days, I mean, in the old days, there was a lot of illegal logging in Borneo and in Indonesia. But these days, the main way that orangutans are orphaned and the reason they're critically endangered is because of palm oil and the palm oil plantations. So at the moment, as we speak, 90% of the Borneo rainforest has been deforested in the last 20 years,

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staggering considering it's the oldest rainforest in the world. So what happens is without getting too detailed, but you know the orangutan mothers and the adult males are considered agricultural pests because their land is deforested, they've got no home, they've got nowhere to go and so they will wander into palm oil plantations because they're desperate, they're starving and an orangutan mother will always have a baby with it and so that they will go into a palm oil plantation and

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they will, there's no nutrition at all in a palm oil tree but when they're new, their saplings, there's a little white shoot that comes out of the centre when it's still a little little plant and so the orangutan mothers take that little piece of white out of the centre and eat it. There's almost no nutrition in it but it's the only thing on the plant but unfortunately that kills the plant and and so then they're considered agricultural pests plus most locals are

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And they're very, very gentle. But I mean, if you went to attack one, they would defend themselves and they would win because they're much stronger. So then what happens, unfortunately, and it's just, it makes me cry talking about it, is they'll come in and they will kill the mothers. And it's for two reasons. One, to get rid of them as an agricultural pest, but also orangutan babies are the cutest thing on the planet. They're just divine. And unfortunately,

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detriment that makes them the most desired exotic illegal wildlife pet in the world and and and because they're smart and they're funny and you know they they have personalities orangutans have the closest EQ emotional quotient to humans which means they have 90% 98% sorry the same emotions as us so when you're with an orangutan like they have a sense of humor they laugh they're fun

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to have if you're an entitled rich person that thinks they can have anything. So what happens in a lot of cases is the mum's murdered and then the person in that palm or plantation or in that situation where they are looking at a baby, they literally in a lot of cases they rip the baby off the dead mother. Often they break their wrists and their ankles with the force. So we have a lot of babies come in that need a lot of intensive care.

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say that worker might get $50. In the old days, it would have been 20, but nowadays it might be $50 for that. They'll sell that baby orangutan on. And the exotic, illegal wildlife trade is the third biggest money spinner in the world after drugs and weapons. It's huge, it's huge, huge, huge. So then those people sell into their legal wildlife trade for next to nothing, they get nothing, but to them it's a lot of money and they've got their family to feed.

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time that poor little baby, most of them don't make it, they die, but that poor little baby ..

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arrives in Saudi Arabia or America or the UK or wherever it happens to be, you know, they can be $250,000. So the money is huge and the worst thing is, and I'm not saying this happens every time, but I'm going to give you an example of these people have absolutely no compassion or empathy for animals, of course, or they wouldn't be doing it, but they'll do things like, you know, it's a numbers game. So they might actually have seven or eight tiny little traumatized baby orangutans.

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they will drug them, then they'll put them into a suitcase and cover them with clothing and then just send them off right so the majority of them die they suffocate some of them will have a an oxygen mask but most won't and so you know they just figure if one makes it on the other side

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that they make money. So it's really awful. It's all I mean, it's awful what they do to orangutans at the risk of being horrifying. I mean, we've rescued, we rescue orangutans, not just babies, but you know, a lot of animals from a lot of orangutans from the entertainment business. So whether it be the boxing matches or the wrestling matches or just, you know, in zoos, photos with the orangutans, Singapore Zoo is better than most but most like things like Bali Zoo and

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a lot of the entertainment touristy areas where you will get your photo with an orangutan, it's not a good thing the way those orangutans are treated, just like with elephants, to be able to sit still, a lot of them are drugged, they're put back into tiny cramped little things, they're beaten if they misbehave, they become so traumatised they'll just do whatever they're told to do. We've even rescued, and it still occurs, orangutans from brothels.

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Thailand. They shave them and they put lipstick and bikinis and things on them and we won't go further. But they're drunk. So I mean orangutans just they're the most gentle, kind, sweet, beautiful, beautiful animals and they need us. They need our voice and so that's why I do what I do.

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if they need to read more or find out more about the foundation. Is there a website? What? Absolutely, absolutely. There's our.

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website. It's the name is Orangutan Foundation International Australia. Please remember the Australia or you will end up on an American website which is is separate. We all raise money for the same place but it is separate and will be different information. It's if you yeah just type in Australia, google it and and it'll all come up. You can donate. One of the wonderful wonderful things that you can do that is lovely especially as gifts for children is to foster an orphan

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a hundred dollars a year it's 100% tax deductible so you can claim it all back and then and then you choose you go onto our website you choose one of our orphan orangutans you read their story look at their pictures you see which one you kind of you know relate to and then and then every six months you get new photos and you get the progress how they're going with their rehabilitation and they're just divine so so you can foster you can buy merchandise and one of the other things I didn't quite finish

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rattle on. I didn't quite finish what Cady was asking me before. So like a lot of the money, like I'd say half, maybe a little bit more of that goes to the orphan care centre, but the rest of the money and absolutely vitally important, just as important as the rehabilitation is, once an orangutan is rehabilitated, which takes a very long time, we have to have the land, the safe, protected land to release them back into because we can't just put them back where they were taken

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OFI, Orangutan Foundation International, we have to buy land and we are in competition with palm oil plantations and filthy rich zillionaires but so you know we have bought a lot of land like thousands of hectares and we have created what is called the Orangutan legacy forest so I'm constantly raising money to buy more land to extend the Orangutan legacy forest and it's a

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which is a little bit fragmented moment. So the land we buy is like a jigsaw puzzle, right? So with each piece we buy, we're adding another bit to the jigsaw. So we will have a corridor between national parks. So that's really, really important too is the money that we raise to buy land. We'll put a link on to the site where people can go to. Whether it's the work you're doing with the foundation, which I thank you for, I think...

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globally people should be thanking you for. Or going back way back in the distance past with right on. Like it, I can't believe you still got that bubbly, energetic personality. And look, thank you so much for joining us on the Big Six Awards. Thank you so much for letting me prattle on and for listening and for helping the orangutans. And it's just lovely to talk to you. Thanks, Coby. Thank you.

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The views and opinions expressed on the Big 6O are personal and reflect those of the hosts and guests.

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They do not represent the views or positions of any affiliated organisations or companies. This podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional for guidance on any personal matters. Ah, and before we go, let's give credit where credit is due. Kayleigh Harris and I came up with all the genius content for this week's episode. Our producer, Nick Aboud, well he keeps the lights on and makes sure we don't accidentally

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cat video instead of a podcast. So thanks for keeping us on track Nick. Nick. Nick.