On October 9, 2026, I was honoured to be invited by Angry’s daughter. Roxy, to deliver the Eulogy at his funeral at St Andrew Cathedral, Sydney. Following an abridged version of the eulogy that related to our shared Kokoda experience journey.
‘Angry, your sudden death rocked us all. But we take heart in knowing you have reunited with Liam and that you have found peace in your own sacred place.
‘You will never be forgotten by those who had the good fortune to know you. To those who loved your performances, and to those you have inspired to conquer their own personal adversities.Rest in peace, Angry.
‘And as a Digger, I can proudly say, ‘Your duty has been nobly done’. ‘Rest easy old mate.’
Thirty years ago I was one of millions of Australians who had heard of Angry Anderson, but who had never met him.
At that stage of my life, I had retired from the army after 21 years and was organising the annual Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon made famous by another Australian legend, Cliff Young. I was also involved in running some outback survival programs in the Kimberly, had more recently begun organising adventure treks in Papua New Guinea, and had just entered Parliament here in New South Wales..
Early in 1996, I received a call from Channel 9 asking if I would be interested in leading a group of celebrities across the Kokoda Trail for an upcoming ‘Angry Anderson Special’ to be screened on Anzac Day.
They planned to include Angry along with Collette Mann, Daryl Braithwaite, Dermot Brereton, Grant Kenney and Shelley Taylor-Smith. They would arrange for Dr Kerry Phelps to look after any medical issues and for Tim Owen, nephew of the legendary wartime photographer Damien Parer, to add a link to the campaign’s history.
I obviously agreed to lead them. I warned they all needed to be physically fit, as it was the toughest physical task I had ever undertaken.
What I didn’t tell them was that the wartime trail was still relatively unknown, that the jungle had reclaimed areas that made it difficult to navigate at times, and that there were few established campsites.
I thought we would handle these issues as they arose.
What I didn’t count on was how physically unprepared some of them would be for the ordeal.
Our first challenge arose when we had to evacuate Tim just two hours into the trek.
The delay meant that Angry and Colette didn’t make it into our first campsite until 2 AM the following morning. During that long dark night, I would often hear a scream whenever Colette took a tumble off the track. Her porter, Donald Siga, would instinctively throw himself on top of her to stop her tumbling any further down and pull her back up to the track.
The boys up the front got in a bit earlier and made a rough campsite at Va Ule Creek and waited. And waited. Until Angry and Collette finally arrived. I obviously began to have serious doubts, as I knew what lay ahead.
However, I was surprised how good their spirits were the next morning.
I remember Collette, still with mud splattered over her clothes, recalling her falls during the night and saying she didn’t think there was any part of her body that Donald had not grabbed during that long night.
I also noted that the boys had cut Angry a walking pole that was almost the size of a small tree. I suggested that perhaps he could get by with a smaller stick as his backpack also seemed to be oversized. I got my first hint of the nature of the man when he refused to surrender it because his porter had taken the time to cut it for him and he had become emotionally attached to it.
The next day was just as bad, with a midnight arrival in camp for Angry, Collette and Shelley.
My estimates of afternoon arrivals had gone out the window.
The next day took it to a new level with another 2 AM arrival in Menari village. I could only allow them a couple of hours’ sleep, as we had the toughest climb on the Trail ahead of us.
When I tried to wake Angry at dawn, he was virtually unresponsive. All I could see were the whites of his eyes, and there was a flash of panic until he stirred. I thought ‘strewth, we’ve lost the star of the show’!
It was obvious I would have to arrange a helicopter to lift Angry, Collette, and Shelley to the next campsite.
Then came the most emotional moment of the trek when Angry hugged me, sobbed, and apologised to the Diggers. At his lowest moment, he wasn’t thinking about himself; he was thinking about the diggers he felt he had let down.
We reassured him that this was not the case, then left them for the chopper to lift them over Brigade Hill to Efogi Village.
The team reunion later that day was a high point of the trek for everyone. Angry, Collette and Shelley had rested up and were in high spirits. By this stage, the villagers had learned they were all celebrities and provided one of the warmest receptions I ever experienced on the Trail.
One of the porters unpacked Darryl’s guitar, and he, Angry and Collette joined in some of their popular songs. I could only wonder what the villagers in Efogi thought of being entertained by three of our most popular celebrities in such a remote place.
We all slept well that night, knowing the hardest yards were behind us. They had all acclimatised, and their muscles had hardened.
Angry hadn’t surrendered his small tree, and his porter had bonded closely with him.
It was now time for interpretation, and I learned more about Angry’s respect for our Anzacs, his commitment to the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, his love of our Australian way of life and his love for his family, his wife Lindy and their children, Roxy, Galen, Blaine, and Liam.
The banter between him, Dermott and Grant was vintage Australian.
Dr Kerryn kept them all patched up, and Collette’s wit was a constant source of amusement for the group, including our guides and porters.
A few days later, we arrived in Alola village, where they met baby Kennedy, whose both feet were deformed. Angry and Collette’s compassion came to the fore, and they arranged to return and bring Kennedy back to Melbourne for corrective surgery, which they did soon after they returned from their trek.
By this stage, I had spent hours trekking alongside Angry, sharing our stories along the way.
He was no longer a rock star celebrity. He was Angry, the proud husband and father who idolised his kids. He idolised veterans. He loved Australians. And I learned that he would never walk past anybody who needed a hand.
His television special, hosted by Ray Martin, went to air on Anzac Day 1996. Millions tuned in. And the reviews revealed they stayed tuned in. I was told it was the highest rating Channel 9 had achieved for it ‘Current Affair’. And I can tell you it wasn’t because it was a group of celebrities trekking across the Kokoda Trail. It was because of Angry!
His character had been stripped raw. His compassion was on full public display. People related to his struggle and what it represented.
The success of the show put Kokoda on the map and led to a surge in interest in trekking across it.
This led to a pilgrimage tourism industry which has since generated millions of dollars and benefits for subsistence villagers across the Trail. They now have jobs, better schools, better health centres, and better opportunities.
I regard this as Angry’s legacy for our military heritage and for the people he came to love so much across the Trail!
Click on the video below to view Angry’s epci Kokoda Challenge that put Kokoda on the map:
Rest easy Angry.
Your duty has been nobly done.
You will never be forgotten.
