‘Olgeta,
‘We met 31 years ago when you welcomed me into your villages on my first trek with Alex Rama in 1991. At the time you told me that few people trekked across the Trail – less than 100 each year – and you only made a few kina selling your vegetables at markets. . . .
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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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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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The Kokoda Trail: 10 Essential Facts
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Under 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.
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‘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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Time for PNG to reclaim ownership of the Kokoda Trail
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Nobody could ever accuse me of being a partisan Albo supporter, however I believe his decision to spend a couple of days on the Kokoda Trail with his PNG counterpart, Prime Minister James Marape, has been a diplomatic masterstroke.
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Anthony Albanese is the latest Prime Minister after Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Scott Morrison to link himself with Kokoda.
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This 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.
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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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Charlie Lynn, who trekked Kokoda 101 times over a 32 year period, has come face-to-face with both emergency needs of villagers and their ongoing development needs.
During this period he established the Kokoda Track Foundation and Network Kokoda as philanthropic bodies to support their needs in education, health and agriculture.
In additions to this his company, Adventure Kokoda, has funded emergency evacuations and hospital treatment for village children in need of urgent care.
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