There are not the words in Koiari to ask about Kokoda’s spirit. That is an Australian construct, and a reasonably modern one: the sort that made Paul Keating bend down and kiss the earth at Kokoda in 1992, that wrote the word ”mateship” on the memorial built there a decade later, and sends almost 6000 Australians down the track each year.

After six days on the track I sit in front of one of the last Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, Ovuru Ndiki, and attempt to ask the question anyway; to understand why it is everyone but the Australians must be paid to walk what was, 100 years ago, a simple mail route. Why four years ago we started doing it in such numbers, at such cost, to such risk.

”It’s something to remark on what happened,” Ndiki tries to explain the idea of spirituality, 105 years closing in around his eyes and emptying his mouth of teeth. ”There is some of us left behind. Walking the track, you can pick up pieces of that.”

In the past decade, the number of people picking up those pieces has increased 74 times. It is now Papua New Guinea’s most popular land-based attraction – a band of wealth in the jungle, worth as much as $50 million a year, supported entirely by Australians.

Sports teams come here to bond. Kevin Rudd and Joe Hockey made it one of the first legs of 2007′s Sunrise election. Bags at the airport must now be X-rayed for souvenired grenades. Where two years ago there were five trekking companies, now there are 30. ”If you can get yourself a business card, you can take people up the track,” says John Nalder, who guides me through the 133 kilometres. ”It’s really exploded since 2005.”

At night, you can hear the sound of sobbing coming from tents. The track is, without question, the most difficult thing I have done. The climbs are ceaseless and painfully steep. At one point, doubled over with food poisoning that will last six days, I black out from vomiting.

”Amazing” is the most common description of the trek. Then gruelling. In 10 days, I lose 13 kilograms. ”Everything is a search for something, a search for identity, for who they are,” Nalder says. ”Australians have had a cringe about who they are, and that’s changing. I do get people who want to brandish the flag, but it’s a love thing, it’s a patriotic thing. It’s not the redneck, white supremacist one.”

The track itself is almost an extension of Australia. It was, until 1975, part of an Australian territory. Even now, villagers along the track wear jerseys from the National Rugby League. There is a discarded Vegemite jar on the climb out of Isurava and dull triplets of ”Aussies” and ”Ois” ring through the Owen Stanley Ranges.

Many more Japanese soldiers died here than the 625 Australians killed. But Japanese almost never walk Kokoda. Those that come are usually flown in and out by helicopter. They are there not to experience some national myth but to farewell ancestors. Of the two Japanese memorials on the track, one has had the muzzle of its gun set into the ground – a mark of submission lobbied for by the RSL. The other has been destroyed by trekkers.

”We get so much exposure to American culture that’s so strong and so steeped in history. Perhaps we’re trying to get on to some of that,” says Andrew Skehan, a 30-year-old history teacher who won a 2GB competition to walk the track. ”The new national curriculum – Australian history is the first thing on there. Perhaps Australia’s push towards a place on the international stage makes us see we have to define ourselves so we can say we stand for something.” For the most part, however, trekkers struggle to explain why they have come; what made them spend up to $6000 on a journey through heat, mud and steep climbs, with heavy packs and sickness. For those without relatives who fought in the 1942 campaign, there is vague mention of achievement. A walk that would buy them a beer back home, with something about national history on the side.

But the words of Nathaniel Ryan, a 17-year-old preparing to join either the police or the army, are more common: ”Mate, I’m just concentrating on where to put my feet.”

The place of Kokoda in Australia’s psyche is a vestige of Keating’s cosmopolitan prime ministership. This was his region. In 1995, wearing a hornbill headdress, he was inducted as an Orokaivan chief in Kokoda. But it was only after a decade of John Howard’s narrowed patriotism that Australians started walking the track in any great numbers – and the story of Australians defending Australia really set in. A book from Peter FitzSimons helped, too.

Three years before Keating’s chiefly induction, he and his entourage flew three RAAF Caribou transport planes to the Kokoda airstrip. It is a cleared piece of jungle, below the razorback country where the fighting took place, with a palm oil plantation on one side and grassland on the other.

At the expense of Gallipoli, he described this earth as the essence of Australia’s nationhood. Standing a day’s walk from that spot, on the hillside where the monument Keating wanted was finally built, two girls start crying. My trek leader cries also. A 17-year-old youth announces he will join the army.

”There can be no deeper spiritual basis for the meaning of the Australian nation than the blood that was spilled on this very knoll, this very plateau, in defence of Australia,” Keating said here the year that youth was born. ”This was the place where I believe the depth and soul of the Australian nation was confirmed … The lesson of this place is that those young men believed in Australia and we need to give Australians – all Australians, particularly young Australians – an Australia to believe in.”

By 2004, as Howard began in earnest his flag-pole assault on Australia’s ”values neutral” schools, the Kokoda walking had already begun. Records, which only start in 2001, show 76 trekkers in a year. By 2005, that number had grown to 2374 and has continued to almost double each year since.

That there are both a 96-kilometre tourist track and the 133-kilometre wartime version says a lot about what Kokoda has become. ”I was moved, more so than I expected to be,” says Bec Walsh, a 21-year-old medical science student, part-way down the track. ”It’s hard not to be affected.” Walsh is there as part of an RSL program to educate young leaders. It is the same program that was used, more or less, for the national rehabilitation of Ali Ammar after he desecrated the Australian flag in the Cronulla Riots reprisals. ClubsNSW also fund a group.

”I don’t know if I feel more Australian,” says Clair Edwards, who was chosen to walk the track because her grandfather fought there. ”But I feel more deeply in touch with my heritage. I have this deep attachment, it’s not just knowledge; now, it’s emotional. I know my country on a more personal level.”

The people walking the track have changed in the past two or so years. There are fewer trophy trekkers, fewer people walking simply to say they did it. They are now more likely to be middle-aged than young adventurers – men with to-do lists, who carry pictures of fathers who fought on the track. But while their fathers had an average age of 18 when they fought here, these men have an average age of 50. ”My dad told the larrikin story, the fun stories,” says Martin Stuart, a 48-year-old engineer whose father was in the 39th Battalion. ”But I’m here to find out the rest, to piece it together.”

A day earlier, a trekker in Mr Stuart’s group died after less than two hours on the track. Four others have died in the past 12 months.

They are joined by the 13 who died on a Twin Otter flying to Kokoda to begin the trek in August. The deaths are, in some ways, understandable – the trekkers are older, there are more of them, unscrupulous providers are walking without satellite phones or medical supplies – but the effects on the market are unknown. Some suggest the deaths make the myth more real, that memorials to modern dead have been seen up and down the track for years.

”It’s not helpful,” the chief executive of the Kokoda Track Authority, Rod Hillman, says. ”It’s difficult to move forward until we find the cause of death. The newspaper here is reporting [the most recent death] as an aneurysm. That could happen watching TV. But the growth’s been quite exponential. I think it’s unlikely to get that growth again.”

Erik Jensen trekked with the Kokoda Youth Challenge – a leadership program for young people developed by Adventure Kokoda and supported by the RSL Services Clubs Associaition and Clubs NSW.  Eriks’s trek was led by John Nalder and Jo Roberts of Adventure Kokoda.

While the Airlines PNG crash is still under investigation, some of the funding will go towards enhancing safety at six of the nation’s airstrips, including new windsocks, cones and markers and a safety audit by PNG and Australian authorities.

The funds will also be used for urgent gravelling and drainage work on the busy Owers Corner Road. at the track’s southern end, upgrading nearby Sogeri Bridge Road, building footbridges at key points and identifying areas which may conceal explosives along the track.

Communications systems will also be improved, with a second radio channel for emergencies to be installed and an enhanced radio maintenance radio program for villages near the track.

In April two Australians died while trekking Kokoda, propting calls to upgrade emergency communications and more tightly regulate tour operators.

The Heritage Minister, Peter Garrett, said the spending which is in addition to the $14.9 million committed by the Federal Government, would be in partnership with the people and Government of PNG.

“This is an iconic, historically significant place for Australians,” he said.

Ari Sharp
Sydney Morning Herald

The Government of Papua New Guinea will crack down on rogue tour operators on the Kokoda Track who are not paying taxes or taking proper safety percautions.

PNG’s Investment Promotion Authority has developed a code of conduct for foreign operators and is talking with them about increasing oversight and a licensing system.

Under PNG law, companies operating for more than 31 days are required to resister with the authority and pay taxes to the Government.

But the authority’s managing director, Ivan Pomelau, told the Herald that monitoring foreign companies to ensure they obtained proper work permits “is quited difficult to enforce given that PNG’s tourism industry is at its infant stage”.

He said a “lot of work needs to be done in terms of regulation and enforcement … [We have] been focusing our effort on marketing and promoting the destination rather than regulating the industry”.

The executive director of the Kokdoa Track Authority, Rod Hillman, said his body was considering a licensing system to help improve safety procedures and standards on the track.

“We’ve gone from 100 people walking along the track a year to a situation where we’ve got around 5000 people walking the track a year. As an industry grows, you want to increase the standard and make the experience for the trekker more reliable and safer experience. A way of doing that is coming in and start licensing operators.”

Mr Hillman said companies and trekking groups sign a code of conduct, but a licensing systems would give authorities the teeth to enforce standards.

“The main problems we’ve had is with independents – people walking without a tour operator. That’s where I’ve had the most troublesome weekends, waiting beside the radio trying to get people out of the track to safety.”

Jonathon Dart
Journalist, SMH

EXCRUCIATING, gruelling, torturous, gut-wrenching …

Trekking the Kokoda Trail is all of the above – and more.

The cloying jungle seeps into you, radiating waves of body heat. The air is fetid, the dense canopy enveloping – at night ink-black.

The track is truly `the devil’s design’.

It shoots up the almighty ridges of the saw-tooth spine of the Owen Stanley Range, plummets down the deepest ravines, crosses the longest spurs. In parts it’s but a foothold wide, flanked only by air and ferns.

You teeter across, not daring to look down, cling to tree roots in cliffs as the pathway vanishes and inch across improvised log bridges with raging white water below.

There are false crests after false crests on a seemingly never-ending journey that’s equivalent in altitude from base camp to the top of Everest.

You battle exhaustion, dehydration, mire, heat, leeches, mosquitoes, lactic acid build-up, blisters, mental angst and self-doubt.

You’re way out of your comfort zone on a track that’s a gut-puncher of an equaliser. It brings out the best – and definitely the worst – in you.

That said, tackling the Kokoda Trail can also be unbelievably exhilarating.

My first foray in 1992 was a far cry from trekking Kokoda today. Few had made the challenge before, there were no commemorative plaques or cairns, no campsites and no other trekkers.

This was a special sortie commemorating the 50th anniversary of the recapture of Kokoda by the Aussies, put together by NSW politician Charlie Lynn – former Army major, Viet vet and ultra-marathoner.

It was a motley group – a handful of journalists, a cluster of seasoned bushwalkers and the amazing Kokoda vet, Les Cook then 70, who as a raw 17-year-old volunteer in the 2/14th Battalion fought across “the hellhole” with gun and bayonet.

Scared but fuelled by adrenalin, we set out from Owers Corner out from Port Moresby and up the skewed, intimidating devil’s ladder that is the 4,000 `step’ Golden Staircase to the razorback spur of Imita Ridge.

It’s a crippling stairway to hell that saw the novices collapse vomiting, seriously questioning our ability to make it past the first day’s agonising 16-hour slog.

Thanks to Charlie – a wicked taskmaster but awesome motivator – our Kioara guides, and Les – who while exhausted and overcome with emotion at times, never wavered – most of us made it in to Kokoda Village nine days later, mightily exhilarated.

My feet were so swollen I couldn’t wear any footwear on the plane home, I had a tropical ulcer and was on a double whammy of antibiotics. No worries. The euphoria overrode all.

I jumped at the chance of joining a second trek with Charlie in 1997, taking a group of Sydney street kids across in a challenge also involving some young Lib movement members and a young corporate team.

We carry everything in on our own shoulders – food, clothes, sleeping bags and tents and divvy up cooking implements along with books, medicines and sports gear for the villagers.

Again we slog from Owers to Kokoda. Again agonising. Again most of us made s made it to our Kokoda Village goal. And again we were exhilarated.

A third shorter foray in 1998 was an emotional pilgrimmage to honour the Battle of Isurava with surviving veterans choppered in for the `Big Parade’ also attended by fellow surviving Fuzzy Wuzzies and hundreds of their children and grandchildren.

Many had walked for days to pay homage to the men who helped save their country.

The veterans and those of us there in commemoration were brought to tears.

People choose to tackle the Kokoda Trail for many reasons – some in remembrance, some fundraising, others as a personal challenge. Many, many don’t make it – for physical and mental reasons.
But for those who do, the track becomes a watershed.

It makes you mine deep your reserves of guts and determination. It makes you confront fears and overcome them. It makes you work as a team.

It makes you comprehend the almighty courage, sacrifice, starvation, agony and mateship of the ill-trained, overwhelmingly outnumbered and outgunned Diggers who battled far, far worse horrors than you can ever confront on the track today.

It makes you aware of the heroics of the Koiara people, their remote village culture and the tribulations of their life that continues today.

If you do make it to the end, you return home with new pride in self and utter respect and awe for those who went before.

Sally Macmillan
Roving Writer
The Sunday Telegraph
2 Holt Street
Surry Hills
2010
(02) 9288 3347

The construction of conventional buildings at Owers Corner and steel wire rope swing bridges across creeks at significant battlesites is akin to desecration of the most significant symbol of our involvement in New Guinea during the Pacific War.

Whilst Australia’s assistance for the Owen Stanley Ranges to be listed as a World Heritage Area is a noble cause our commitment to the preservation of the military heritage of the Kokoda campaign is misguided. It is therefore urgent that responsibility for the development of Kokoda as a military interpretive trail be re-allocated to the Office of Australian War Graves.

This will allow the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to focus on its area of expertise in assisting the PNG Government to achieve a world heritage listing for the Owen Stanley Range.

In the meantime the Australian Government should immediately withdraw from any planned projects between Owers Corner and Kokoda.  Any assistance should be limited to training local communities in appropriate social and community development in partnership with the PNG Department of Community Services.

Australian assistance in the short term should be restricted to the upgrade of the road between Sogeri and Owers Corner to all-weather capability and the upgrade of the Kokoda Airfield to accommodate a Dash-8 aircraft.

Owers Corner Road

The road between Sogeri and Owers Corner is a disgrace and unsafe in the wet – which is most of the time. The recent expenditure of trekkers’ fees on urgent maintenance was a waste of money and akin to a misappropriation of these funds. If anybody is half-serious about sustainable tourism in PNG then the upgrade of this road should be an urgent priority.

Kokoda Airfield

At the other end of the trail the airfield at Kokoda is also a disgrace. The terminal consists of a concrete slab with a metal roof without walls. There is virtually no seating and no toilets. The paying customer, i.e. trekkers, deserve better.

Since 2001 more than 20 thousand Australians have invested around $100 million to trek across the Kokoda Trail. The GST element of these funds would be sufficient to upgrade the road between Sogeri and Owers Corner and the airfield at Kokoda to safe and respectable standard.

The villagers between Owers Corner and Kokoda are now earning more income than ever before. More than $1 million a year is received in wages and campsite fees. The next important step is to teach them how to work together for the greater benefit of their local communities. The proper PNG agency for this work is the PNG Department of Community Services but thus far they have never been consulted or approached.

There is scope for the villagers to increase their earning potential through the maintenance of the trail in preparation for each trekking season. Such maintenance should not be contracted out, as currently planned, because local people along the trail are more than capable of completing this type of work on their land.

In the last budget the Australian Government allocated $10 million to the Office of Australian War Graves for the development of an interpretative trail in France and Belgium to honour the sacrifice of our World War 1 veterans. The work will be completed in time for the centenary of our ANZAC landings on the Gallipoli peninsula.

The Office of Australian War Graves has a proud record in regard to the development and maintenance of our war graves in foreign lands. The expertise they have, and will further attain as a result of the latest budget allocation, should be applied to the Kokoda Trail which is our World War 11 equivalent.

Conclusion

More detail is available in the following submissions which have been largely ignored this far:
http://niusleta.kokodatreks.com/documents/StrategicPlanfortheKokodaTrailNoPics_000.pdf
http://niusleta.kokodatreks.com/documents/ADiscussionPaperontheKokodaEcoTrekkingIndustryNoPics.pdf
http://niusleta.kokodatreks.com/documents/KTAReportbyPaulMitchell17November2006.pdf
http://niusleta.kokodatreks.com/documents/ManagementFramework-KokodaTrackbyPaulMitchell.pdf
http://niusleta.kokodatreks.com/documents/KTADiscussionPaperbyWarrenBartlettNovember2007.pdf

Action Required

PNG Tourism should commission a research agency to determine why people trek Kokoda and what they would like to see in regard to the future development of the Kokoda Trail.

The PNG Kokoda Track Authority should be required to develop a proper management plan for trekking operations across the Kokoda Trail. This includes the certification of trek operators and campsites, the issue of trek permits, a medical insurance plan for PNG guides and carriers, the identification of landowners, a dispute resolution system, a website that allows for trekkers to provide comment on their experience, etc.

The PNG Central and Northern Provincial Governments should provide a plan for the upgrade of the road between Sogeri and Owers Corner and the Kokoda airfield.

The PNG Department of Community Services should prepare a plan for the development of Community Learning Development Centres in villages along the trail.

The Office of Australian War Graves should commission an interpretative memorial plan for the Kokoda Trail.

The impending LNG project in PNG, together with ongoing mining operations, will create heavy demands for airlines and hotels in Port Moresby. These are already at a premium during the trekking season. Kokoda trekkers (and other adventure tourism) needs should be addressed by PNG Tourism if they wish to develop the industry on a sustainable basis.

Recommendations

1. The Office of Australian War Graves be allocated responsibility for the development of an interpretative trail between Owers Corner and Kokoda.

2. The Australian Department of Environment, Heritage, Water and the Arts continue to work in partnership with the PNG Department of Environment and Conservation to achieve a World Heritage listing for the wider Owen Stanley Ranges.

3. PNG Tourism commission a study into the capacity of local airlines and hotels to meet the demand of eco-tourism.

4. The PNG Department of Community Services develop plans for the development of Community Learning Development Centres in villages along the trail.

5. The PNG Kokoda Track Authority developing a proper management plan for the Kokoda trekking industry.

6. PNG Tourism and the PNG Department of Community Services facilitate workshops in selected villagers in Central and Northern Province to determine village community needs and develop short and long term plans.

I do not know where these ‘plans’ are coming from but I do know they are being done without any consultation at all with the paying customer i.e. the trekker.

The research we have conducted with a significant number of people who have trekked with Adventure Kokoda over the past 18 years indicates that they want the track left alone. They want to trek in the footsteps of our diggers as they did it. They do not want boardwalks and bridges.

The construction of bridges at Eora Creek will desecrate one of the most significant battlesites along the Kokoda Trail. It must not be allowed to proceed in the vicinity of the battlesite. If a bridge has to be constructed because of the wish of some bureaucratic zealot it should be located at least 500 metres to the east of the current wartime crossing. It would be a relatively easy task to cut a track to a suitable crossing downstream from the battlesite to allow locals to use it if they wish.

The same principle should apply to the Goldie River, Ofi Creek and Dump 1 Crossing (I have not heard this name before but I assume they are talking about Templeton’s Crossing No 1), i.e. any permanent swing bridges should not be constructed any closer that 500 metres to the wartime track.

It beggars belief that we would want to replace the substantial log bridge that the local people have built between Efogi 2 and Naduri with a permanent swing bridge paid for by the Australian taxpayer. The crossing is not on the wartime track so it is not an issue as far as the protection of our military heritage is concerned – but it is an absolute waste of time, money and effort.

The same applies to the proposed bridge across Elome Creek between Efogi 1 and 2.

The plan for the proposed permanent swing bridges is ill-conceived and should be halted until a proper interpretative memorial plan aimed at protecting the military heritage of the Kokoda Trail is commissioned.

Owers Corner is a significant site.  It is here that the road ends and the pilgrimage for thousands of Australians begins.  It is where our diggers manhandled massive 25-pounder guns into position to provide heavy fire support to our troops on Imita Ridge for the first time in the Kokoda campaign.

In years to come, when an all-weather road is completed, thousands more will make the journey to see where Australian diggers began their march towards the advancing Japanese army.

The site is ideal for the development of a replica 1942 army depot built from bush materials with a battery of 25-pounders in position.   The buildings could be easily designed for functional use as a police post, an administrative centre, a Koiari tree house, a store/café/picnic area, a diorama that tells the story of the Kokoda campaign and a local arts and crafts area.

The area should also have an interpretative gateway that reminds trekkers of the significance of the ground they are about to trek through.

The recent buildings and structures at Owers Corner are akin to desecration of the site.  They have been built without consulting veterans’ organisations or trekkers.  The buildings are straight off a standard Department of Works plan and the giant iron structure that purports to be a gateway is totally out of character with the surrounding environment.

Trekkers and visitors travel to Owers Corner because of the military significance of the site.  If the site was planned to reflect the military and cultural heritage of the area it would generate economic activity that would maximise the benefit the local communities.

The historical significance and economic potential of the Owers Corner site deserves better.  The Australian government must commission an interpretative memorial plan for the Kokoda Trail without delay and before any more money is wasted.

I appreciate the work that has been done along the Kokoda Trail in regard to providing educational and health support for villagers. Whilst nobody can argue about meeting these important needs I have serious reservations about the process used in determining who should be responsible for the work; the priorities/partnerships associated with it; and the ongoing lack of effective management for trekking operations across the Kokoda Trail.

I believe much of the work carried out thus far is a Provincial Government responsibility and is not conducive to a longer term sustainable trekking industry.

Over the past decade I have met with the PNG Secretary of the Department of Education, AusAID staff responsible for education, and Provincial Government representatives to try and identify government and community schools along the track; the numbers of teachers and students in each one; the grades being taught; and a list of the books and supplies they need. Nobody has been able to provide me with this information. We therefore go to Theodist Stationary Suppliers in Port Moresby and make an educated guess for the village school supplies we provide under our ‘Yumi Helpim Pikannini’ program.

 If AusAID, the PNG Education Department and the Central and Oro Provincial Governments could somehow work together I believe most trek operators would cooperate in ensuring the education needs of all schools along the Kokoda Trail were satisfied. This would allow our AusAID money to assist more remote villages off the track in both Provinces.

The same logic applies to health support. 

I would also like to correct the perception that the previous KTA was largely ineffective. This is an unfair slight against the Executive Officer, Warren Bartlett, who was engaged on a salary of around $12,500 p.a. During his tenure he had to manage a Board of Directors who were unqualified for their Board responsibilities and who engaged in corrupt activities. He had no staff; no office; and received no support from either the Australian or PNG Governments. He had to micro-manage all finances; personally process all applications for trek permits; personally supervise all evacuations from along the track; manage grievances from a daily queue of landowners and others seeking help. In spite of this he delivered the following community projects along the track (reference is KTA Newsletter of January 2006):

Central Province

1. Track clearing and log bridge replacement contracts – Owers’ Corner to Templeton Crossing;

2. Part re-decking bridge (Sal Army) on Owers’ Corner Road;

3. Maintenance Owers’ Corner Memorial Park;

4. Maintenance McDonalds’ Corner Memorial;

5. Maintenance Depo Memorial;

6. Supply of Lawnmowers, tools and initial 20 litres petrol to Girinumu (Owers’ Corner), Depo, Bisiatabu, Maninumu, Kagi Airstrip, Efogi Airstrip, Manari Airstrip, Naduri Airstrip;

7. Supply poultry projects (wire mesh, nails, feed, feeders, drinkers, lamp & initial kerosene and box day old chickens x 50) to Vesulogo, Launumu, Efogi (x2), Kagi, Girinumu, Manari (x3), Naduri, Kavovo School;

8. Supply medical kits to Naoro, Manari, Kagi (KTF main funding K1,000 each);

9. School sponsorships – 26 students Grades 9, 10, 11, 12 ( funded 30% KTF, 70% KTA);

10. Repair Kokoda Track VHF radios – Manari, Kagi, Manumu;

11. School supplies – Manari, Kavovo, Efogi, Naoro (KTF main funding K4000 each);

12. Water Supply materials extension of Manari and Lone water reticulation;

13. Supply sporting equipment to youth Manari and Sogeri;

14. Welfare assistance Kagi community;

15. Upgrading camp ground toilets with fibreglass or plastic toilet trunks (ongoing);

16. Supply VHF radio equipment to Owers Corner (Girinumu),and Ioribaiwa (AusAid Homdap + KTA installation costs);

17. Conduct awareness and project inspection patrols;

18. Conduct Sustainable Tourism Workshop at Efogi (funded KTF); and

19. New Signboard for Kokoda National Walking Track at Owers Corner.

Oro Province

1. Clearing and maintenance for upgrading Kokoda Airstrip for Dash 8 aircraft;

2. Kokoda Town clean up;

3. Supply of Lawnmowers, tools and initial 20 litres petrol to Kokoda Memorial Hospital, Kokoda LLG, Kovelo, Gorari Anglican Parish, Kabara Anglican Parish, Sago Anglican Parish, SDA Kokoda;

4. Repairs to Kokoda Town GenSet and supply diesel fuel;

5. Supply Drum Ovens – Isurava and Alola;

6. Supply Coffee Pulpers – Abuari, Kaele, Hagutava;

7. Supply medical kit to Alola (KTF main funding K1000 each);

8. School Supplies – Kokoda, Alola, Kovelo;

9. School sponsorships – 26 students Grades 9, 10, 11, 12 ( funded 30% KTF, 70% KTA);

10. Track Clearing and log bridge replacement contracts – Kovelo to Templeton Crossing;

11. Repair of Kokoda Track VHF radios – Kokoda, Kovelo, Felai, Abuari;

12. Assist with materials and logistics Rotary project Abuari double classroom and aidpost;

13. Supply sports equipment and shields Kokoda Urban Soccer (donated by Adventure Kokoda);

14. Water, showers and toilets improvements – Isurava Memorial Park;

15. Commence set up of Kokoda KTA office;

16. Supply poultry projects (wire mesh, nails, feed, feeders, drinkers, lamp & initial kerosene and box day old chickens x 50) to Hoi, Amanda, Aso, Savaea, Sengi, Kele Dogua, Komo, Manua;

17. Welfare assistance – Biage Community Group, Emo River Village (Malagas Foundation);

18. Supply sewing machines and materials to Mothers Groups at Fala, Dorcas, Felai Lolo, Kebara;

19. Conduct Sustainable Tourism Workshop at Kokoda in July 2005;

20. Upgrade camp ground toilets with fibreglass or plastic toilet trunks (ongoing);

21. Supply new VHF radio equipment – Hoi, Templeton Crossing (Maraba), wind turbine at Mt Fala repeater (AusAid Homdap funded + KTA installation costs);

22. Supply filing cabinet, typewrirter, office stationery to Kokoda LLG;

23. Conduct awareness and project inspection patrols;

24. Conduct Sustainable Tourism Workshop at Kokoda (funded KTA/KTF); and

25. New signboards Kokoda National Walking Track (double sided) at Kokoda Hospital gate.

This is a remarkable achievement in view of the apathy displayed by both the PNG and Australian governments during his tenure; the difficulties of working with a Board of Directors engaged in corrupt activities; a paltry salary; and a lack of qualified staff.

The Kokoda Track Plan for Sustainable Tourism

During this period a Kokoda Track Plan for Sustainable Tourism was developed by Kelvin Templeton of Templeton-Galt and Colonel David Knaggs of Davendish Management Consulting on behalf of the Kokoda Track Foundation. I commissioned the study in my capacity as Chairman of the Kokoda Track Foundation at the time. Templeton-Galt enlisted the support of Dr Stephen Wearing of the University of Technology Sydney and Paul Chatterton of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Papua New Guinea.

The process used in developing the strategic plan involved workshops with former trekkers in Sydney; villagers in Efogi and Kokoda; and government/community stakeholders in Port Moresby.

The following goals and strategies were identified as part of that process:

1. Identify, preserve and promote the military heritage values of the track, to include the development of interpretive memorials at significant locations

2. Preserve the cultural heritage of the people living along the Kokoda Track

3. Provide protection for the Kokoda Track and the Owen Stanley Range as an area of outstanding biodiversity and universal natural heritage value

4. Build capacity in local communities to empower them to effectively participate in, and support, sustainable tourism

5. Develop an integrated approach to land use management and trekking based on sustainable practices

6. Protect and sustainably manage the areas surrounding the Kokoda Track for the benefit of local communities and visitors

7. Introduce effective governance, accountability and transparency to the KTA Committee of Management

8. Implement effective management systems for LLGs and communities

9. Implement and enforce standards and codes of conduct for tour operators, employees, trekkers and host communities

10. Develop and implement training programs for people engaged in tourism-related activities

11. Adapt the Kokoda model for sustainable tourism to other areas of military historical significance in PNG

12. Build the image of the Kokoda Track as a recognised world-class eco-trekking destination

13. Ensure the financial viability of tourism along the track

14. Provide for the safety and security of visitors to the Kokoda Track.

Proposed Strategies

Implementation

Goal 1

Establish a joint AS/PNG Govt organisation to direct and manage the implementation of the plan.

Socio-Economic Development

Goal 2.1

Build capacity in local communities to empower them to effectively participate in, and support, sustainable tourism

• Educate KTA, tour operators, guides, porters and communities in sound ecotourism practices (IES Principles)

• Conduct workshops and education programs in the basic skills needed to support tourism

• Set up a leadership development program for local communities

• Diversify economic activities in communities in order to reduce dependency on tourism

• Conduct research and prepare a report on the social, environmental and recreational carrying capacity of the Track

Goal 2.2:

Develop an integrated approach to land use management and trekking based on sustainable practices

• Sponsor community representatives to participate in training courses that provide the skills necessary to manage community development projects

• Establish community operated nature reserves to show-case local flora and fauna nage community development projects

Environmental Protection

Goal 3.1

Provide protection for the Kokoda Track and the Owen Stanley Range as an area of outstanding biodiversity and universal natural heritage value

• Obtain listing for the Kokoda track and parts of the Owen Stanley Range as a World Heritage site

• Establish a research program to identify and document natural heritage values of the Owen Stanley range

• Produce interpretive materials of the natural environment for trekkers

• Conduct an environmental impact assessment of tourism on the Kokoda Track

Goal 3.2

Minimise the negative impacts of tourism

• Apply to have contiguous areas adjacent to the Track declared as Wildlife Management Areas

• Implement a ranger training and development program for local communities

• Publish guidelines for ecologically sustainable practices to be adopted by tour operators, guides, porters, local communities and trekkers

• Develop an action plan to eradicate invasive exotic plant species on the track

• Introduce a construction code to ensure new buildings, camp sites and facilities are functionally and environmentally appropriate

Cultural Heritage

Goal 4

Preserve the cultural heritage of the people living along the Kokoda Track

• Introduce community programs which nurture and promote cultural heritage

• Publish culturally sensitive design and construction principles for site developments and buildings

• Establish a monitoring and reporting system for the preservation of cultural heritage

Military Heritage

Goal 5

Identify, preserve and promote the military heritage values of the track, to include the development of interpretive memorials at significant locations

• Establish a body to oversee the preservation and promotion of the military heritage values of the Kokoda Track

• Enact appropriate legislation to protect and honour the military heritage of the Kokoda Track (e.g. World Heritage listing)

• Develop a plan for the listing, preservation and commemoration of all significant military sites along the track

• Have the track recognised as a “National Memorial Park”, owned and managed by the customary landowners

• Incorporate military history education into a porter’s/guide’s vocational training program

• Improve the standard of interpretive and commemorative facilities at appropriate sites

• Incorporate WWII re-enactments into community cultural heritage presentations

Government and Management

Goal 6

Introduce effective governance, accountability and transparency to the KTA Committee of Management

• Provide training in good governance and management for the KTA Committee of Management

• Implement effective business systems and standing operating procedures for the KTA Committee of Management

• Conduct regular external audits of accounts and reviews of procedures for the KTA

• KTA to budget for, monitor and regularly report to PNG Govt on operating costs

• Establish effective communications between KTA, LLGs, landowners and tour operators

Goal 6

Implement effective management systems for LLGs and communities

• Develop a leadership and management training program

• Prepare and implement operating procedures

Operational

Goal 7.1

Implement and enforce standards and codes of conduct for tour operators, employees, trekkers and host communities

• A Code of Conduct be developed and enforced outlining appropriate behaviour and protocols for language, litter, cultural and religious observance

• Ensure host communities compliance with guest house standards, protocols and procedures

• Implement an accreditation scheme for tour operators

• Develop and enact minimum conditions of employment for trek leaders, guides, medics and porters

• Legislate to enforce compliance with KTA requirements such as payment of trek fees, appropriate behaviour and adherence to published trek itineraries

Goal 7.2

Develop and implement training programs for people engaged in tourism-related activities

• Appoint or employ a Registered Training Authority (RTA) to establish competencies and qualifications required of KTA approved trek leaders, medics, guides and porters

• Develop and implement training programs and an accreditation scheme for leaders, medics, guides and porters

Goal 7.3

Adapt the Kokoda model for sustainable tourism to other areas in of military historical significance in PNG

• Document the Kokoda Track model

• Apply the model in other locations in the region

Promotion

Goal 8.1

Build the image of the Kokoda Track as a recognised world-class eco-trekking destination

• Develop and implement a marketing plan which identifies potential and existing markets for ecotourism

• TPA to invest 10% of its budget to promote Kokoda and spin-off destinations

• Provide a facility for trekkers and trekking operators to provide feedback on their experience

• Coordinate the marketing efforts of local trekking operators

Goal 8.2

Ensure the financial viability of tourism along the track

• Establish community cooperatives to facilitate the collection and distribution of revenues

• Introduce regional centres for micro-financing and community banking systems

• Obtain commitment from potential donors for recurrent funding to cover the costs of authorised positions on the KTA

• Secure funding for education and community development programs

Financial

Goal 9

Ensure the financial viability of tourism along the track

• Establish community cooperatives to facilitate the collection and distribution of revenues

• Introduce regional centres for micro-financing and community banking systems

• Obtain commitment from potential donors for recurrent funding to cover the costs of authorised positions on the KTA

• Secure funding for education and community development programs

Law and Order

Goal 10

Provide for the safety and security of visitors to the Kokoda Track

• Develop standards of qualifications and competencies for trek leaders, medics, guides and porters

• Implement a community policing system to provide a secure environment for trekkers

I presented a final copy of the report to the Minister for Veterans Affairs and the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, The Hon Sir Michael Somare, in April 2006. I can provide a copy of the report, together with a complete recording of all workshops conducted as part of the process to anybody interested in examining it in more detail.

Current Status

We seem to be engaging a reactive shot-gun approach to meeting community needs along the Kokoda Trail. This will undoubtedly make us – and them – feel good in the short term but it will not contribute to a sustainable trekking industry for the future.

The needs of the paying customer i.e. the trekker continue to be ignored. For example, as of 30 June 2009:

• There is no credible Trek Permit system – anybody can apply and receive a permit without any thought going into their medical preparedness to undertake such a grueling physical challenge or into their trek itinerary;

• There is no trek operator accreditation system;

• There is no campsite accreditation system;

• There is no system for trekker/villager feedback;

• There is no training and development system for village clans to ‘work together for good tourism’;

• There is no co-ordinated system for trek operators to provide educational and health support to villagers along the track; and

• There is no interpretative memorial plan;

The two major infrastructure requirements for the development of a sustainable trekking industry along the Kokoda Trail are:

• The upgrading of the gravel road between Sogeri and Owers Corner to an all-weather road; and

• The upgrading of the Kokoda airfield to enable it to accept Dash-8 aircraft.

The current expenditure of $250,000 for studies along the track (Village Livelihood Study, Track Analysis, Social Mapping, Transport Study) is an absolute waste of of time and money at this stage of the process.

The allocation of cash payments to Ward Committees will result in the money ending up in the pockets of a few. A fairer system of distribution would be to throw it out the back of a plane as it flew across a village!  Untied aid has been an abject failure in PNG.

The expenditure of A$33,000 trek fees to repair the road between Sogeri and Owers Corner is wrong. This is a Provincial Government responsibility. The Australian government should work in partnership with the PNG Government and Central Province to ensure it is capable of providing safe passage for trekkers. The amount of repair work that will be achieved with this small amount of money will not last for more than one week after completion – or less if it rains.

The Australian and PNG Governments are receiving a windfall from trekking across Kokoda. Since 2002 more than 20,000 people have trekked Kokoda. Their total expenditure would be in excess of A$100 million. This translates to a GST payment of more than $10 million. In return for this the paying customer, i.e. the trekker, has to negotiate a dangerous road to get to the start of the track; they do not have a single environmental toilet to poop into during their trek; and the condition of the Kokoda airfield does not inspire confidence.

At the moment there is a joint bureaucratic industry developing around the Kokoda Trail but the needs of the trekker, and the landowners across the track, continue to be ignored.  These issues were addressed in a Discussion Paper distributed in September 2007.  It can be viewed at:

http://niusleta.kokodatreks.com/documents/ADiscussionPaperontheKokodaEcoTrekkingIndustryNoPics.pdf

Recommendations

1. Adopt the Kokoda Track Strategic Plan as a blueprint for engaging villages communities, establishing future partnerships, developing a co-ordinated plan for sustainable trekking operations, and monitoring progress.

2. Restrict  Australian funding for the Kokoda Development Program to the upgrading of the road between Sogeri – Owers Corner and the upgrading of the Kokoda airfield to Dash-8 aircraft standard;

2. Conduct village workshops in the Koiari and Orokaiva sections of the Kokoda Trail at the beginning and end of each trekking season to determine needs, set objectives, develop partnerships and conduct reviews;

3. Conduct stakeholder workshops in Port Moresby;

4. Commission a Master Interpretative Memorial Plan for the entire Kokoda Trail;

5. Develop and implement a proper Management Plan for Kokoda trekking operations;

6. Develop a plan to co-ordinate assistance from Kokoda Trek Operators in regard to the delivery of health and education support to villages across the Kokoda Trail; and

7. Develop a plan in partnership with local landowners to construct bridges from bush materials and safety hand-rails from bush materials where requried.  Other than that leave the track alone as trekkers – the paying customers – have a strong desire to trek it as it is.

Further information on trekkers and landowners can be viewed at:

http://blog.kokodatreks.com/2009/05/14/the-kokoda-trekker/

http://blog.kokodatreks.com/2009/05/14/the-kokoda-trail-villager/

Australia will spend $12,000 to refurbish part of the Kokoda Track and build two memorials to Australian service in Papua New Guinea.

More than 600 Australians were killed and 1,000 wounded in battles with Japanese forces along the Track during World War Two.

“This funding will help restore and repaint the Memorial Archway, a nearby 25-pounder gun at Owers’ Corner and the 39th Infantry Battalion Memorial,” Veterans’ Affairs Minister Alan Griffin said in a statement.

“Thousands of trekkers retrace the steps of Australian soldiers each year; passing through the archway as they begin their journey on the Kokoda Track.

“The 39th Battalion was the first Australian battalion to face the Japanese on the Track, and the memorial at McDonald’s Corner honours their service.”

The announcement comes one month before Papua New Guinea’s annual Remembrance Day, which commemorates the first engagement on the Kokoda Track between the Australian military forces (39th Battalion and the Papuan Infantry Battalions) and the Japanese.

- AAP

Dear Charlie,

As a trekker who walked the Kokoda Track with you in 2007, and now as the Head of the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts I would like to respond to the concerns you have recently raised publicly in relation to Australia’s efforts to assist PNG to protect the Kokoda Track. I note that some of these points have already been outlined in other correspondence to you from this department.

Military Heritage

The Australian Government is committed to protecting the Kokoda Track because of its special place in our history and the incredible sacrifices made by our troops. As an example, in 2007 in recognition of the Track’s military significance, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs received $0.9 million to upgrade its Kokoda Track website, and we have commissioned a study (soon to be made public) by the Australian War Memorial to investigate the location of the wartime routes of the Kokoda Track.

Assisting PNG to protect the Track

In addition to protecting the historic value of the Track, we are mindful that the Track is PNG territory and is home to thousands of local people. As such we have agreed with the PNG Government that we will pursue a number of associated objectives including: improving the livelihoods of local communities along the track; building PNG management capacity; and protecting an important potential power and water source for Port Moresby.

We are actively working to assist the PNG Government to: establish and roll out the Kokoda Development Program (KDP) to improve basic services for local people living along the Track (including healthcare, education, water, sanitation, radio networks and transport); reform the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) to improve administration and track management arrangements; develop a Code of Conduct for tour operators working along the Kokoda Track; and build PNG Government capacity to manage this special area.

Supporting sustainable development of local communities

In relation to the KDP, as a result of our efforts, the program has: refurbished the Efogi health centre; vaccinated more than 150 children; trained 23 village health volunteers; distributed health supplies to clinics; completed the first health patrol of the catchment area for more than a decade, with five more patrols planned for 2009; flown teachers to villages for the start of the 2009 school year; distributed curriculum materials to 22 schools; upgraded the radio network in three villages; and completed a water supply system in Efogi. Additional activities scheduled to commence in mid-2009 include: classroom and toilet construction in a number of villages; installation of water supply systems in Naoro 1 and 2; and the trial of a subsidised air transport program.

Sustainable Livelihoods Project

This project, aimed at developing income-generating options for local communities, was agreed by both the PNG and Australian Governments as a key element of the Joint Understanding, and quotes to undertake this work were sought from organisations and individuals identified by both Governments to have professional expertise in similar work in PNG or elsewhere in the Pacific.

While trek operators will be consulted as a key element of the project, it would be a clear conflict of interest to directly engage an operator with associated commercial interests to undertake this work. We also need to ensure that we include the full range of perspectives in such a study, and not only those of tour operators.

The supplier was selected through a competitive evaluation process undertaken jointly by the PNG and Australian Governments. The selected tender team includes Mr Sandy Lawson, who you have highly recommended to the Government for work in this area, and Associate Professor Stephen Wearing, an expert in tourism at the University of Technology Sydney, with whom you have previously worked. The proposed approach, including selecting the villages to be visited, was discussed with and endorsed by the PNG Government.

Improving management of the Track itself

As you are aware, the former KTA was largely ineffective. We have therefore devoted considerable time and money to assist the PNG Government to put in place improved management arrangements. While there is obviously much more work to be done, the KTA and the new KTA Management Committee, with the assistance of the Australian Government funded experts, has focused its initial efforts on establishing effective trek fee collection and permit issuing processes and putting in place agreed arrangements for distributing benefits to land owners and local communities. I am sure you will be pleased to learn that, as a result of these efforts, the first direct payments to local communities have now been made. On 5 June 2009, the KTA deposited K45, 000 into five separate Kokoda Track Ward Development Committee accounts, and has an additional K35, 000 ready to be distributed to the other nine Wards as soon as they register their Committees and open a bank account. A further K70, 000 will be distributed at the end of June and another K70, 000 by the end of September. This is the first time since the KTA was established that funding from trek fees has gone directly to local communities.

Application of Australian Track Standards

In response to your concerns about the potential application of the Australian Walking Track Standards to the Kokoda Track, the KTA (the organisation with responsibility for the management of the Track) has confirmed that it has only considered using these guidelines in relation to track works, and has no plans to use the guidelines in relation to wider issues such as campsites, facilities and publicity. I can assure you that your concerns regarding any intention to close down trekking operators are unfounded – in fact, our efforts are focused on keeping the Track open.

World Heritage

As outlined in the Joint Understanding, the Australian Government is committed to assisting PNG to undertake a feasibility study for a possible World Heritage nomination of the Owen Stanley Ranges and the Track, if and when the PNG Government chooses to do so. Australia has no role in nominating any part of PNG for World Heritage listing – this is solely the responsibility of the PNG Government. Following a request from PNG in 2007, Australia agreed to provide expertise and resources to assist PNG develop a World Heritage Nomination.

The Department’s Heritage Division has a team dedicated to this program. I invite you to contact the Division Head, Catherine Skippington, or the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to Kokoda, Mr Sandy Hollway, if you have any concerns regarding the Australian Government’s involvement. In this way we can continue to provide you with up to date and accurate information in relation to the Kokoda program.

Yours sincerely,

Robyn Kruk AM
Secretary
18 June 2009