Our submission to the PNG Government to proclaim ‘Kokoda Day’ as a National Day of Commemoration to honour the service of their wartime carriers in 2008 was amended by the National Executive Council to ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel Day‘ – the reason, according to one MP at the meeting, was because a group of MPs from another Province thought ‘Kokoda’ was already getting too much attention!
12 years later we now know that eliminating ‘Kokoda’ from the proposal also eliminated the wartime tourism potential of the concept.
‘Kokoda Day’ could be a source of intense pride for all Papua New Guineans. It has the potential to emulate the commemorative status of Anzac Day in Australia. It will also provide a strong incentive for Australians to visit PNG for the commemoration and all it represents. But more importantly it provides a status of recognition for the Papua and New Guinea wartime carriers – the unsung heroes of the campaigns they supported throughout Papua and New Guinea.
The review of the Kokoda Trail for a World Heritage listing by the late Mr Peter Hitchcock, Dr Jennifer Gabriel and Dr Matthew Leavesley has exposed the myth of its relevance to our shared wartime heritage associated with the Kokoda campaign. The authors of the 2nd Joint Understanding should be called upon to explain why they were not aware of the review – or why they chose to ignore it.
The 2019 ‘Annual Review’ of the ‘Kokoda Initiative’ is largely irrelevant to the Kokoda trekking industry.
The review does not address the dysfunction of the management systems put in place by Port Moresby based Kokoda Initiative officials since they assumed control of the Kokoda Trail 2009 – and the lack of governance within their surrogate PNG organisation – the Kokoda Track Authority. This is evident in their failure to ever publish an annual financial report which is in breach of both Australian and PNG legal requirements.
The review also fails to address the issue of ‘commemoration’ which is evident in their ongoing refusal to engage an accredited Australian military heritage architect to develop a Master Heritage Interpretation Plan for the trail.
A KTA Strategic Plan: 2012-2015 was developed by Australian environmental officials in the seclusion of their Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) offices in Port Moresby in 2011.
The plan was put together without any consultation with military history specialists or local village communities.
As a result not a single one of the 5 strategies or 33 objectives was achieved!
It has since been quietly shelved and there has been no attempt to develop a replacement plan since it expired in 2015.
DVA Funds allocated for commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the end of the War in the Pacific should be restricted to honouring and interpreting the sacrifice of our troops in Papua and New Guinea from 1942-45.
Commemorative projects must remain separate from DFAT aid-funded activities relating to capacity building, mentoring, social mapping, community development etc along the trail. Programs initiated by Australian environmental officials in these areas, under the guise of a ‘Kokoda Initiative’ over the past decade, have been less than successful.
In the lead-up to the 70th Anniversary of the Kokoda campaign in 2012 Network Kokoda invested $70,000 in the development of a ‘Funding Proposal for a Heritage Interpretation Plan and Implementation Strategy for the Kokoda Trail’. Michael Pender of HPA Projects was engaged to develop the report which can be viewed on this link.
The report concluded:
There is little
interpretation of ‘Kokoda Trail’ Heritage; Natural. Cultural or Military on the
site itself.
Most of the
current interpretation is by private donors, is in poor condition and presents
an ad hoc, incoherent approach to the stories, events, actions and environment.
An overall plan
for interpretation on the Trail is warranted as one of the key means of
safeguarding and protecting the sites heritage.
An interpretive
strategy focused on the trail’s history, its heritage and its special nature is
the first step to enshrining the Kokoda Trail for future generations of both
Australians and Papua New Guineans.
Deploying
permanent interpretation (consistent with an overall plan) will enhance the
visitor experience whilst enshrining the environments core values and heritage.
Deploying
permanent interpretation (consistent with an overall plan) provides
(demonstrably) opportunities of sustainable long-term development for the
traditional landowners.
The Pender report remains valid in the lead up to the 75th
Anniversary of the War in the Pacific in 2020.
Recent Comments