These papers, submissions and articles in the following blogs encapsulate my 32-year involvement with the Kokoda Trail in particular, and PNG in general.
During this time, I was able to lead 101 expeditions across the Trail and share the experience with more than 2,000 wonderful Australians from all walks of life.
I have a long-held belief that the 138 km Kokoda Trail has the potential to be a world-class pilgrimage tourism destination capable of providing a sustainable economic future for the traditional communities who own the land sacred to our shared military heritage.
My opinions have been shaped by my military service in Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia where I visited WW2 battle sites and the United States where I visited every Civil War battlefield during my two-year assignment with the American army as an exchange instructor at Fort Lee in Virginia.
The blogs reflect my views at the time I wrote them – these obviously changed over time as I became more familiar with the Melanesian culture, PNG politics, and the needs of subsistence villagers with whom I spent most of my time with over the past 32 years – our guides, porters, and their wonderful families across the Trail.
Table of Contents
- The Rise, Fall, and Future of Kokoda Tourism: 1991 – 2023
- Adventure Kokoda
- Australian Kokoda Tour Operators Association
- Kokoda Politics
- Kokoda Stakeholders
- Kokoda Trail Villagers
- Management issues
- Military Heritage
- Our Media
- Our Treks
- Our Charity
- Pilgrimage
- Papua New Guinea
- Publicity
- Training & Preparation Videos for Kokoda
- Testimonials
- The Kokoda Trail
The Rise, Fall, and Future of Kokoda Tourism: 1991 – 2023
Adventure Kokoda
Our Adventure Kokoda Initiatives:
Our Adventure Kokoda Reviews & Submissions:
- DFAT in ‘Kokodaland’
- Legisltaion for new entity to manage Kokoda Underway
- Environment Bill – A Suicide Note for Kokoda Tourism
- Call for PNG to take back their Kokoda Trail
- Review of Kokoda Initiative Master Plan
- Response to the Mid-Term Review of the Kokoda Initiative 2nd Joint Understanding
- KTA Strategic Plan: 2012-2015 – Fail!
- Funding proposal for a Military Heritage Master Plan for the Kokoda Trail
- Marketing Strategy for Kokoda Pilgrimage Tourism
- Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels deserve a medal
- Marketing Kokoda – Wartime Tourism
- Owers Corner: How to convert a memorial junkyard into PNGs No 1 tourism asset
- Kokoda: Time for a Rethink
- Kokoda: A neglected jungle shrine
- Kokoda: More than a Jungle Track!
Australian Kokoda Tour Operators Association
- A shameless Australian lobby group
- Spectator Magazine: The Battle for Kokoda
- Spectator Magazine: Losing Kokoda
Kokoda Politics
- Kokoda Tourism – The Cost of Anarchy
- Time for PNG to take back Kokoda
- Kokoda Track/Trail Debate
- Kokoda: A tale of bureaucratic woe 80 years on!
- Owers Corner – The road to nowhere 80 years on!
- Call to cancel Kokoda Track Authority Junket to Brisbane
- Fallacy of a ‘Lost Battlefield’ on Kokoda
- The Fallacy of World Heritage for the Kokoda Trail
- Kokoda – A Sorry Tale of Apathy by the Coalition Government
- Kokoda: A Trail of Woe by Rashmii Bell
- Consultants Killing Kokoda
- Government desecration of Kokoda battlesite condemned
- Owers Corner – Neglected Gateway to the Kokoda Trail
- Kokoda: The enemy within!
- Yes Minister – Alive on Kokoda
- Legislation for new entity to manage Kokoda by stealth underway
- Shameless hijack of Kokoda trek permit fees
Kokoda Stakeholders
Kokoda Trail Villagers
- Apology to Kokoda Trail Villagers
- Let’s not forget the villagers along Kokoda
- Kokoda villagers need charity too!
- Kokoda Comes to Sydney
Management issues
- Environment Vs Tourism
- A new battle for control of sacred Australian battlefield erupts, 81 years later
- Envirocrats hijack Kokoda
- Bridges – Prefabricated or Traditional?
- Database Evaluation of Kokoda Tourism: 2003-2019
- Kokoda Trail Chronology of Mismanagement: 2009-2019
- Time for Women to take the lead in Kokoda Tourism
- Kokoda: A World Class Pilgrimage run by a 3rd World Cabal
Military Heritage
- Funding Proposal for a Military Heritage Master Plan
- Military Heritage off track on Kokoda
- Confilict in Command: General Sir Thomas Blamey
- Call for a Visitors Centre at Owers Corner
- Kokoda gazetted as a place of historic significance to Australia
- Military History Articles by Charlie Lynn
Our Media
- A Hard Slog to Kokoda – Canberra Times
- Kokoda News and Mazazine Articles
- Book Review: 100 Treks Across Kokoda
- Walking Among Ghosts – Australian Geographic
- A Walk on the Wild Side – Bulletin with Newsweek
- Stars Rise and fFall on Kokoda – TV Review
- Is this the World’s Meansest Tour Guide? – Sydney Morning Herald
- Sydney Swans conquer Kokoda
- Trekking to Hell and Back – Geo Magazine
- EXCRUCIATING, gruelling, torturous, gut-wrenching – Sunday Telegraph
Television Programs:
- Angry Anderson Kokoda Challenge Special – Channel 9, A Current Affair
- Getaway – Channel 9
- Sydney Swans on Kokoda – Channel 7
- Dareing Kokoda – Channel 7 ‘Today Tonight’
Our Treks
- Kokoda Leadership for Kings
- Kings School: Kokoda Mateship, Resilience, Reflection, Gratitude
- A Mothers Perspective our of Kokoda Youth Leadership Program
- Adventure Kokoda Pilgrimages for Schools
Our Charity
- Our Adventure Kokoda Philanthropy
- Kokoda Track Foundation: 2003-2006
- Adventure Kokoda Charity
- Australia’s ‘PNG Angels’ prove the philanthropic potential of Kokoda Tourism
- Angels still exist in PNG
- Official Opening of the Sirinumu Womens Association
Our ‘Network Kokoda’ Charity:
- 2019 Anzac ‘For Valour’ Speech for Network Kokoda
- Network Kokoda: A Humble Start
- Network Kokoda – Making Things Happen
- Network Kokoda – Helping to Make PNG Hep B Free
- Our Network Kokoda Reunion Dinners
Pilgrimage
- Papua New Guinea: A Place of Pilgrimage
- Our Kokoda Pilgrimage Treks
- Pilgrimages for Schools
- Our Strategy for the development of Pilgrimate Tourism Across the Kokoda Trail
Papua New Guinea
- Need for Empathy with the Melanesian Way
- PNG – A difficult place to help!
- Papua New Guinea: Wouldn’t if be great if . . .
Publicity
Training & Preparation Videos for Kokoda
- Training and Physical Preparation
- 10 Hot Tips for Kokoda
- 10 Hot Tips for Female Trekkers
- Our Emergency Evacuation Plan
- Gear Guide for Trekkers
- Should you hire a personal porter?
- Trekking Poles: Yes or No?
- Your trekking equipment
- Your Adventure Kokoda Tent
- Our Charter flights to and from Kokoda
- Bomana War Cemetery
Testimonials
- Kokoda Trestimonials: Veterans, Celebrities, Trekkers, Influencers
- Sharing Kokoda with Great Australians – Dick Smith and Dr Charlie Teo
- Trip Advisor Winner – The Kokoda Trail
- Kokoda Guides: What Teenage Girls Really Think
- Kokoda – A Life Changing Experience
- Tour Operator Rankings & Reviews
- Renee Kennedy’s Kokoda Story
- Reflections: Beverly Partridge
