Charlie, Author at Adventure Kokoda Blog

CHAPTER 13: Australia takes control of Kokoda Tourism

Posted by Charlie | May 8, 2009 | ADVENTURE KOKODA, OUR VIEWPOINT | 0

The Rise, Fall and Future of Kokoda Tourism

It takes awhile to get to know Papua New Guinea – in the early 1990s it was not the place to be.

The nation’s capital was encased in razor-wire. Nightly curfews were imposed. Political observers were writing it off as a failed state – part of an arc of instability to our immediate north. Australia made it difficult for Papua New Guineans to obtain visitor’s visas and it was almost impossible for them to be involved in our seasonal work program.

CHAPTER 14: Official Naming Rights – ‘Kokoda Trail’ or ‘Kokoda Track’

Posted by Charlie | Jan 14, 2009 | ADVENTURE KOKODA, OUR VIEWPOINT | 0

The term ‘Kokoda Trail’ was recommended by the PNG Place Names Committee in the lead-up to Independence in 1972.

The recommendation was accepted and gazetted by the PNG Government on 12 October 1972.

For reasons unknown, the Australian Government refuses to recognise PNGs sovereign right to name their own geographic features – they prefer to use their own politically correct term, ‘Kokoda Track’.

This is a rejection of PNGs sovereign right to name their geographic features’.