Papua New Guinea – A Place of Pilgrimage
The Kokoda Trail ‘Just a day’s travel from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and you can be on the...
Read MoreThe Kokoda Trail ‘Just a day’s travel from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and you can be on the...
Read More‘Covid exposed the failure of DFAT-Kokoda Initiative environment officials to establish a...
Read MoreWhy? Because we are expert on the military history of the Kokoda campaign – and because we engage professional expedition leaders for our treks. This is why we have been rated No.1 on Trip Advisor for the past nine years.
Read MoreThe Kokoda Trail: 10 Essential Facts
Read MoreThis paper is based on my experiences leading 101 expeditions across the Kokoda Trail over a 32 year period between 1991-2023.
Prior to this there was no Kokoda tourism industry and subsistence villagers earned zero income.
During my time in PNG I spent 95 percent of my time on the Kokoda Trail working with our guides and carriers on the Trail and either living in their villagers or with them on the Sogeri plateau.
My purpose is to summarize the situation which led to the rise of Kokoda tourism under PNG management from 2004 – 2008; its demise under the management of Australian environment officials from 2009 – 2023; and its potential it as a world-class pilgrimage tourism destination.
Read MoreMichael 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.
Read MoreGeneral 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.
Read MoreUnder Australian management since 2009 trekker numbers have declined by 42% resulting in a direct annual loss of $1.2 million (K3.1 million) for village communities across the Trail.
Read More‘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.
Read MoreTime for PNG to reclaim ownership of the Kokoda Trail
Read MoreThe DFAT-PNG strategy to shield Prime Ministers’ Albanese and Marape from their failures to manage Kokoda tourism over the past 15 years was evident in their choice of a reinvented ‘military history advisor’ to accompany them and the route they chose.
Read MoreFor the past 32 years I have attended the annual Anzac Dawn Service at Bomana War Cemetery in...
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