在2009年2月黑色星期六大火中，向消防員要水喝的無尾熊Sam，在2009年8月因癌症過世，不過他是這場導致173人死亡的森林大火之精神象徵，所以對澳洲人的意義格外重大。現在他已經變成標本，豎立在墨爾本博物館(Melbourne Museum)中。

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1243136/Australian-museum-displays-Sam-koala--symbol-hope-following-bushfires.html

Museum stuffs Sam the Koala and puts her on display as symbol of hope after Australian wildfires

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:15 PM on 14th January 2010

A koala who became a symbol of hope following Australia’s Black Saturday bushfires has been stuffed and put on display in a museum, following her death.

Sam shot to fame after being pictured drinking from fireman David Tree’s water bottle during the 2008 Melbourne fires, which claimed 173 lives.

Sam herself was badly burnt in the blaze but recovered from the third-degree burns on her paws after being cared for by a volunteer at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter, where 100 fire-injured koalas recuperated after the inferno.

※PIC--Immortalised: Sam the koala has been stuffed and exhibited at the Melbourne Museum .

※PIC--The marsupial shows off her bandages following the bushfires of 2008. 

Sadly, Sam died in August last year, after being stricken with Chlamydia, which affects around 50 per cent of Australia’s koala population.

Now Sam, who was even publicly grieved by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has been stuffed and is on display at the Melbourne Museum.

The exhibit shows Sam in her recovery phase, complete with pink bandages covering her burns.

Mr Tree said of the exhibit: ‘I think this will give people a chance to get up close and personal with what happened.’

※PIC--Hope: Sam shot to fame after being pictured taking a drink from fireman David Tree's water bottle during the fires

He told the Herald Sun newspaper: ‘It just shows you not only humans suffer in bushfires, but so do our native wildlife.’

Patrick Greene, who is chief executive of the Museum Victoria, said he hoped the exhibit would educate the public about the tragic fires.

He said: ‘Sam became a symbol of the enormous loss felt by so many in the aftermath of last year’s terrible bushfires, and for this reason I believe it’s important that visitors from Victoria, across Australia and from overseas can see Sam and be reminded of her story and the events of Black Saturday.’

The fires destroyed more than 2,000 dwellings, leaving 7,500 people homeless in Victoria.