Adventure Kokoda Blog

Todays article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald regading the theft of war relics from the Kokoda Trail http://www.smh.com.au/national/trekkers-steal-kokoda-track-war-relics-20120120-1qa7n.html was addressed in our newsletter at almost 5 years ago and is repeated below:

‘There is a need for the Australian Government to work in partnership with the PNG Government to protect war relics along the track.  These relics have been rusting in the jungle for the past 65 years and are now being rearranged and removed as souvenirs.

‘According to some research conducted by one of our trekkers the recent announcement of Kokoda as a place of significant historical interest is virtually meaningless.

‘It seems that a section (390K) was inserted in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act in February 2007 as part of the most recent amendments to the EPBC Act (and further amendments are planned) to establish a list of important heritage sites overseas. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Charlie

I’m not quite sure how to start this except to say thank you.

I recently completed the track starting at Owers Corner on ANZAC Day with John Nalder, and I am proud to say that the track was so much more than i ever expected. It was an experience so very difficult to put into words, and as John explained to us it is impossible to give a three word answer when someone asks “how was it?”.  I can’t manage to answer that question without at least talking for ten minutes. 

Firstly I’d like to say a huge thank you for the professionalism of your company and the thoroughness with which you prepare.  I was quite suprised to receive a phone call from John on Good Friday seeking more information on my gluten intolerance.  I expect that gluten free foods are not that easy to shop for in PNG. Aside from my dietary requirements I was also impressed with the description that John gave of the trekkers he meets a the airport.  I think that I was wearing the apprehension tinged with nerves and alot of excitiemnt quite well, and i t was not a look I was trying to achieve, it was exactly how I was feeling.  I was also impressed with the quality of information provided on equipment such as boots and clothing for the trek.  I know that if I ever do it again there will be a few small changes that I will make in the equipment that I bring. Read the rest of this entry »

BY JOHN ANDERSON
13 Dec, 2011 04:00 AM

ON day two of a 10-day Adventure Kokoda trek, Noel (Lucky) Cameron, 64, was wishing he was back in Gol Gol on his fruit block.

“Lucky” as he’s been called since he “was old enough to remember”, has just returned from an “eye-opening” trek through the hot, wet, humid and mountainous jungle of Papua New Guinea as one of a 25- member mixed group of Aussie adventurers.

Lucky can’t recall how he came to be given the “Lucky” tag, but after listening to his story leading up to the “surprise” Kokoda trek birthday gift from his wife Midge – the name is appropriate.

Had it not been for the pre-Kokoda medical examination, Lucky may not be telling his story after a serious heart artery blockage was discovered two and a half years after his first heart attack. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Kokoda70′ is an initiative of Air Niugini and Network Kokoda.  The commemorative period was lanunched by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill at Parliament House in Port Moresby on the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbour.  The occassion was attended by The  Hon Sir Mekere Morauta MP, Minister for Public Enterprise; the Hon Benjamin Philipp MP, Minster for Tourism, Culture and Arts; Governor of Eastern Highland Province, Mal Smith CMG, MBE, DFC, MP; Dame Carol Kidu MP; H.E. Ian Kemish, Australian High Commissiner, representatives of the PNG RSL, the Kokoda Track Authority and the Kokoda Initiative (AusAID).

The Prime Minister’s speech was delivered by Governor Mal Smith:

‘Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen,

‘Seventy years ago today Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour, Honolulu.

‘The attack triggered a military tsunami that spread across the Pacific and reached our shores in Rabaul six weeks later.

‘Papua New Guinea would never be the same again.

‘Although our Melanesian Island had been colonised by the Dutch, the British, the Germans and the Australians, few Papua New Guineans knew much about the world beyond our tribal borders in 1942.

‘We were not equipped for a war with modern weapons. We didn’t know anything about the new ‘invaders’ with guns, warships and planes from Japan, America and Australia.

‘It was not our war but we were quickly engulfed by it. Read the rest of this entry »

Major Matthew Vine, Second-in-Command of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, was guest speaker at the official Remembrance Day Service held at the Cenotaph in Martin Place, Sydney.  The service was attended by the Governor, Her Excellency, Marie Bashir; the Premier of New South Wales, The Hon Barry O’Farrell, the President of the RSL, Mr Don Rowe AM and representatives from the armed services, ex-service organisations, the consular corps and schools.

Major Vine:

The 19^th Century poet Tennyson wrote: ’Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die’.

When the call for volunteers went out a nation answered.

The nation was new and the nation was bold.

The people were toughened by the unforgiving land and forged in a bond of nationality.

The threat was not to them directly and indeed the call came from a land far away. Read the rest of this entry »

UNVEILING OF THE BRONZE STATUE HONOURING THE NEW GUINEA WARTIME CARRIERS by THE HON VICTOR DOMINELLO MP

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is no doubt that Kokoda is a pinnacle on that Anzac line of courage and fortitude that runs through our nation’s history from Gallipoli to Kapyong, from Long Tan to Tarin Kot.

Now almost seventy years has passed, but the name Kokoda continues to echo in the annals of Australia’s military narrative.

Early in 1942, Australians had mobilised in the face of a unique threat on its doorstep… Read the rest of this entry »

KOKODA DAY SPEECH BY BRIGADIER PHIL McNAMARA CSC ESM (Retired)
Chairman, Network Kokoda  www.networkkokoda.org

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are gathered here today to commemorate the raising of the Australian Flag at Kokoda Village on 3^rd  November 1942, 69 years ago today by Major General George Vasey, the Commander of the Australian 7^th Division.  This event symbolised the turning of the tide in the war against Japan and was warmly acclaimed by both the Australian soldiers present and the group of PNG carriers and Kokoda villagers in attendance.

Japanese plans for a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby had been thwarted bu Australian and American naval forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942 and the battle of Midway in early June 1942.  This left them with the only option of a land assault over the Owen Stanley Ranges via the Kokoda Trail.  Their infantry forces started landing on the beach at Gona on 21^st July 1942. Read the rest of this entry »

Kokoda Day will be commemorated at a special ceremony at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway, Rhodes Park, Concord, at 10.30 AM on 3rd of November 2011.

The commemoration will include a re-enactment of the flag raising ceremony which took place on the Kokoda plateau on the 3rd November 1942.  Kokoda Day symbolises the turning of the tide in the war against Japan.

Japanese plans for a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby were thwarted by Australian and American naval forces in the battle of the Coral Sea (4 – 8 May 1942) and the battle of Midway (4 – 6 June 1942).  This left them with the only option of a land assault over the Owen Stanley Ranges via the Kokoda Trail. Read the rest of this entry »

Seventy years after the war in the Pacific the Kokoda Trail has become a gateway for a wartime tourism industry in Papua New Guinea.

Over the past decade 30,000 Australians from all walks of life have taken up the challenge of trekking across the arduous trail that connects remote mountain villages between the north and south coast of the island nation.  Their reasons for trekking are varied. Most have an interest in the wartime history of the Kokoda campaign, some want to experience the rawness of village cultures and the pristine jungle environment while others do it simply ‘because it’s there’!

Whatever the reason the journey dispels many of the myths of travel to Papua New Guinea and opens eyes to opportunities for adventure travel within the land of the last adventure.  Over the years various writers have tried to caption the essence of the ‘PNG experience’. It has been referred to as the ‘land of a thousand cultures’ with a ‘Parliament  of a thousand tribes’. Others refer to it as the ‘land of the unexpected’. Read the rest of this entry »

Lynette Silver is Australia’s most authoritive historian on the Sandakan Death March.  She is the author of the acclaimed book ‘Sandakan – a conspiracy of silence’ and numerous papers on the Death March.  Her investigative research exposed two of the most outrageous imposters in recent years, Rex Crane and Marcel Caux.

She is now investigating claims made by Wayne Wetherall, owner of Kokoda Spirit and Sandakan Spirit. She has recently filed this report:

‘In 2010, Wayne Wetherall, an Australian tour operator, undertook a trek along the 1945 POW death march track in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, with TYK Adventure Tours, a small company owned by a local man Tham Yau Kong. After recording the route on a GPS, Wetherall announced that he intended to conduct his own treks. In order to promote and attract business he then registered, as his internet domain name, a name that was identical (apart from a hyphen) to that used by TYK since 2005. He also downloaded, without permission, historical material copyrighted exclusively to me, onto his own website. Read the rest of this entry »