Crofters Tartan Weavers at Spring Ridge officially register The Koala Tartan in tribute to national icon

Add a touch of pink, white, brown and black and you have the colour sequence for The Koala Tartan, delicately woven by Fred and Marie Lawson at their Spring Ridge farm.

The brother and sister duo are hobby crofters who successfully run a weaving mill under the banner Crofters Tartan Weavers.

Crofting is derived from a traditional social system in Scotland defined by small-scale production.

Representing the much-loved Australian icon, the new koala tartan is the first of its kind worldwide, and has undergone the rigorous process of gaining official registration through The Scottish Register of Tartans.

The colours intertwine to tell the story of an animal iconic to Gunnedah, 'The Koala Capital of the World', and it's hoped the unique piece will help the region promote the title on an international stage.

Cutting the first weave on Tuesday at Spring Ridge, Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey said he could envisage heartwarming images of koalas wrapped in the tartan at the town's planned Koala Sanctuary and Hospital.

"No koalas were injured in making this tartan," he joked.

"We're very pleased that Fred and Marie have not only made this tartan but also had it registered in Scotland, so it's out there on the world market to celebrate not only the unique skill that they have, but also to talk all about the koala.

"Gunnedah is all about the koala."

With Australia's koala population in decline, Cr Chaffey said anything to help raise the profile of the marsupial on the international marketplace will assist conservation efforts and encourage tourism.

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Learning to weave more than 20 years ago at Gunnedah TAFE, the Lawsons have since designed and created more than 10 registered tartans from their Liverpool Plains property including the Australian Heritage Tartan and the Australian Heavy Horse Tartan.

Their journey has even seen Fred commissioned to weave a Victorian State tartan for the Queen as a gift after the Victorian bushfires.

Asked what he loves about weaving, Mr Lawson said it's the mixture and vibrancy of colours.

"In any tartan, you can get up to 100 different prisms of colour when you put it out the sun," he said.

"Our grandparents are Scottish origin, so naturally it had to come out in the blood didn't it."

The Koala Tartan has already received international attention, particularly in Scotland, something that has "stunned" but nonetheless pleased the Lawsons who run a small-scale operation.

"We've got to work out the volume they're going to want, and that's what scares us a bit because we've always kept it nice and low," Mr Lawson said.

The international attention koalas received after the 2019-20 Australian bushfire season means demand for products dedicated to the iconic animal is at an all-time high.

"We've always stayed with what we could produce for the every day Australian person, but this is just going ballistic, it's outside our mental capacity to think about it," Ms Lawson added.

"But there are a lot of things in the pipeline and it is going to go very big, we've had that international connection and we've had advice from other people in the tartan industry and they're offering help and guidance."

A range of products including scarves, shawls, rugs and ties will now be individually hand-woven by the Lawsons in the distinctive koala tartan design.

Early works on Gunnedah's Koala Sanctuary and Hospital have already started, and construction is set to begin next year, with the council still on the hunt for a future operator.

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