The Kokoda Trail – 10 Essential Facts
The Kokoda Trail: 10 Essential Facts
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Author: Charlie
Funding Proposal for a Kokoda Trail Military Heritage Master Plan
Michael Pender, an accredited Military Heritage Architect from HPA Projects was commissioned by Network Kokoda to develop a Master Plan for the Kokoda Trail for the 70th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign in 2012.
The plan has been ignored by the DFAT Kokoda Initiative in PNG as they regarded the development of a World Heritage Listing for the Owen Stanley Ranges as a priority.
Since then, a 2015 report from an Australian expert on World Heritage listings, Dr Peter Hitchcock AM and Dr Jennifer Gabriel concluded that the Kokoda Trail does not meet the criteria for a World Heritage listing.
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Conflict in command during the Kokoda campaign of 1942: did General Blamey deserve the blame?
General Sir Thomas Blamey was commander-in-chief of the Australian Military Forces during World War II. Tough and decisive, he did not resile from sacking ineffective senior commanders when the situation demanded. He has been widely criticised by more recent historians for his role in the sackings of Lieutenant-General S. F. Rowell, Major-General A. S. Allen and Brigadier A. W. Potts during the Kokoda Campaign of 1942. Lieutenant Colonel Rowan Tracey, a Trek Leader with Adventure Kokoda examines each sacking and concludes that Blamey’s actions in each case were justified in a paper published by the Royal United Services Institute, Volume 61, 2010.
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Kokoda Historical – Trekker Alert!
‘Kokoda Historical’ is a Business Name masquerading as a company in PNG. The owner, David Howell, is a subrban salesman, masquerading as a historian – his transformation to a self-proclaimed ‘Kokoda expert’ without any previous military service credentials or any association with the veteran community is a compelling tale.
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DFAT in Kokodaland
The Kokoda Track Authority International Tour Operators Forum conducted at a 5-Star hotel at Southbank in Brisbane on 22-23 November 2023 is a far cry from remote villagers eking out a subsistence lifestyle across the Kokoda Trail – about as far as one could possibly get!
The Minutes of the forum indicate the clique of government officials, consultants, and rent-seeking eco-tour operators operate in a parallel universe to the two key stakeholders in Kokoda tourism i.e., those who invest in the pilgrimage and generate the income for the industry and those who own the land sacred to our shared military history.
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