A Breath of Fresh Air

The Prime Minister of our nearest neighbour, the Hon Peter O'Neill, Chief Minister of Papua New Guinea, spoke in Sydney yesterday at the Lowy Institute, with a refreshing candour, an admirable holistic overview of his country's needs and opportunities and a plan for its future.

The theme of Mr O'Neill's speech was 'PNG in the Asian Century' but he ranged much wider in his address and during the following question time. 

We are not accustomed to a political leader willing to concede mistakes and admit problems. PM O'Neill was a breath of fresh air as he spoke of his desire to unite his diverse nation and to provide them with desperately-needed infrastructure so his people can find their share of the region's prosperity. 

He is a quietly spoken man, with an understated strength of character and sense of purpose who has already impressed many with his negotiating ability: he has managed to secure a commitment from his parliament that there will be no motions of no confidence for the next two and half years. Something our PM can only dream about.

In his quiet way, PM O'Neill is seeking a change in the relationship between our countries: he wants an equal partnership and he wants a far greater say in the way our international aid is delievered to his country. In particular, he wants more of the aid spent to improve PNG's roads, ports and other transport infrastructure. There is method in his approach.

Around 80% of PNG's seven million people live in rural areas, with little or no infrastructure. Their future is severely hamstrung by the difficulties in getting their crops to markets or getting all manner of improvements (schools, hospitals, supplies) into their regions.

All those who work in PNG and who wish her well will be looking with interest at the Australian Government's response to PM O'Neill's entreaties.

The Professor changes his tune

Despite what the revisionist historians try to tell us, the men of Kokoda safeguarded our nation’s freedom during our darkest hours. Indeed, if Gallipoli was the birthplace of the Anzac spirit in World War One, then Kokoda was surely its Second World War equivalent.

Recently, a group of experts met at a talkfest at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. It was called ‘Kokoda ... Beyond the Legend’. News reports of the two-day event quote Professor David Horner and other military historians there as attacking what they call the “excessive mythology” of the Kokoda campaign. They say the Japanese never intended to invade Australia and Kokoda was not the battle for Australia. 

Interestingly, Professor Horner seems to have dramatically changed his viewpoint down the years. Here's what he said (on videotape) in an interview he gave me for the doco "Kokoda ... The Bloody Track", in 1991: "Combined with the Guadalcanal campaign, the Kokoda campaign marked the turning point of the war in the South-West Pacific. No longer would the Japanese be able to pose a direct threat to Australia."

and again: "In terms of the direct affect on Australia, Kokoda was the most important battle fought by the Australians in the Second War. And, in its general importance to Australia, Kokoda ranks right up there in importance with the legendary Gallipoli campaign.”

Back then Professor Horner saw the Japanese as posing a direct threat to Australia, extinguished by the Diggers fighting on the Track: “It was a daring gamble by the Japanese, which might well have come off had it not been for the heroic rearguard fighting of the Australians in the mountains.” He seems to have a polar opposite view today! 

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A few simple facts point to the Japanese intentions at the time: Firstly, when the Japanese invaded Rabaul and then Papua, they had already invaded Australian sovereign territory. Indeed, the whole of the Kokoda campaign was fought on Australian territory. 

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Secondly, when they landed at Gona and until they reached Ioribaiwa, the Japanese aim was to capture Port Moresby … otherwise, why were they evacuating their wounded forward down the track and widening the track as they went to accommodate their subsequent horses and supplies and why were they carrying Australian invasion currency? 

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Thirdly, in 1990 I interviewed 17 Japanese Kokoda campaign veterans in Tokyo and Kochi (for the same doco for which I interviewed Prof Horner). It was a substantial representation of their survivors … and, without exception, every one of them thought they were coming to Australia! 

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Fourthly, as Capt Bede Tongs MM of the 3^rd Battalion, pointed out after listening to the Canberra conference: the Australian Diggers on the track fought, and died, believing they were defending their loved ones in Australia.

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And what a price they paid. At Isurava, Brigade Hill, Mission Ridge, Ioribaiwa, Templeton’s Crossing, Eora Creek, Oivi-Gorari and the beachheads at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda, the jungles were sewn heavily with Australian blood, as so many proud battalions were whittled down to almost platoon strength.

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Had the Japanese invaders been able to roll over the Australian defenders along the track - as they originally planned - and been able to capture Port Moresby, do you seriously think they wouldn’t have reconsidered plans to isolate, subjugate or take Australia?

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Australians owe an eternal debt to the men who fought in the Kokoda Campaign … those still with us today … and those who have left us ... men like Bruce Kingsbury, John Metson, Charlie McCallum, Butch Bisset, Claude Nye, Mocca Treacy, Tom Fletcher and so many more who sleep at Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby. Those heroes neither sought nor received recognition for their bravery.

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As, a Kokoda veteran, Colin Blume, once told me: “Anyone who turned up to those hellish battles should have got a gong!”

AN OPEN LETTER TO PNG & AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTERS

AN OPEN LETTER 

To         PNG Prime Minister, The Honourable Peter O’Neill and

            Australian Prime Minister, The Honourable Julia Gillard

Please reinstate the PNG-Australia Policing Initiative and create a police academy in PNG. 

Last week’s murder of student Rex John at Laloki on the outskirts of Port Moresby is a wake-up call for PNG and Australian leaders.

It highlights the urgent need for the reinstatement of the PNG-Australia policing initiative (under which Australian police helped their PNG counterparts with training, mentoring and the creation of structures for governance).

Rex was travelling to Moresby last Monday to collect his academic gown for his graduation the following weekend as a Community Health Worker. A gang of cowardly thugs attacked his bus, bashing and stabbing the passengers with bush knives and machetes. Rex died of his wounds that evening.

Rex John’s needless death robbed his father and nine brothers and sisters of a loving son and brother. It deprived his village of Naduri of Rex’s hard-won skills as their first-ever Community Health Worker. And it denied PNG the benefits of a fine young man who hoped to serve his nation in the same timeless, selfless tradition of the revered Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

Rex had showed the way to a better future for his nation. He was one of those quiet achievers who are the essential foundations of a healthy and sustainable society. Rex was one of the 1 out of 100 kids who start school in PNG and who make it through to Year 10. He was one of the even smaller group who make it through to tertiary studies. Rather than being motivated by making money or becoming a Big Man in politics, Rex was determined to help his family, his community and his country by serving them as a qualified Community Health Worker.

Rex had done all the hard work. He had won a scholarship with the Kokoda Track Foundation, studied diligently and had passed his exams. He was looking forward to his graduation last weekend and to being posted back to his village of Naduri, bringing, for the first time, desperately-need medical skills to the community he loved. 

PNG’s ‘Vision 2050’ Plan targets seven ‘key outcomes’. One of them is improved law and order: “Improving the law and order situation is essential to laying the foundations for socioeconomic growth and establishing investor confidence. Adequate budgetary allocations to the RPNGC [Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary] and the broader law and justice sector is necessary to combat law and order problems.

Last year’s Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum recognised that … “Deterioration of law and order hinders development and disrupts delivery of government services and business. It inhibits the effectiveness of development assistance; it has a serious negative impact on investor confidence and on the quality of life of individuals.”

Prime Ministers, it is time for decisive leadership. It is time for a positive response to the growing levels of violence.

PNG’s leaders must act immediately to bring Rex John’s killers to justice and they must redouble their efforts to fight against the violence that dishonours their capital city. For, until Papuan New Guineans can walk the streets of their capital without fear, PNG’s leaders cannot hold their heads high.

Australia’s leaders must also act to help our nearest neighbour to combat the deleterious effects of the violence plaguing Moresby and other PNG cities. For it is to our lasting shame that no two neighbouring nations in the world have a greater disparity in poverty and wealth (as measured by the U.N. Human Development Index) than Australia and PNG. 

Please join together to reinstate the PNG-Australia Police Initiative as a matter of urgency to prevent the loss of any more precious lives like Rex John.

Patrick Lindsay, Chairman, Kokoda Track Foundation

REX'S DEATH IS A CRY FOR HELP

Last week’s murder of student Rex John at Laloki on the outskirts of Port Moresby is a wake-up call for PNG and Australian leaders.

It highlights the urgent need for the reinstatement of the PNG-Australia policing initiative (under which Australian police helped their PNG counterparts with training, mentoring and the creation of structures for governance).

Rex was travelling to Moresby last Monday to collect his academic gown for his graduation the following weekend as a Community Health Worker. A gang of cowardly thugs attacked his bus, bashing and stabbing the passengers with bush knives and machetes. Rex died of his wounds that evening.

PNG’s National 'Vision 2050' targets seven ‘key outcomes’. One of them is improved law and order: “Improving the law and order situation is essential to laying the foundations for socioeconomic growth and establishing investor confidence. Adequate budgetary allocations to the RPNGC [Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary] and the broader law and justice sector is necessary to combat law and order problems.”

Last year’s Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum recognised that … “Deterioration of law and order hinders development and disrupts delivery of government services and business. It inhibits the effectiveness of development assistance; it has a serious negative impact on investor confidence and on the quality of life of individuals.”

It is time for decisive leadership. It is time for a positive response to the violence. PNG’s leaders must act immediately to bring Rex John’s killers to justice and they must redouble their efforts to fight against the violence that shames their capital city.

One immediate response should be for the PNG and Australian Governments to join together to resinstate their joint policing initiative. It will provide PNG police with practical training and mentoring to better equip them to handle the growing violence and corruption. This should be followed by talks to establish a national police academy to provide a system under which overall police skills and standards can be lifted. 

For, until Papuan New Guineans can walk the streets of their capital without fear, PNG’s leaders cannot hold their heads high. 

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LET US HONOUR AN UNSUNG HERO

In the early hours of last Monday morning in Port Moresby the terrible price of the random violence that plagues PNG’s capital was laid bare for all to see and a nation lost a precious piece of its future.

Near Laloki on the city’s outskirts, a gang of cowardly thugs in a mini-van forced a PMV off the road and bashed and stabbed its passengers with bush knives and machetes, killing one and leaving another in a critical condition.

The murdered young man, Rex John from Naduri village about halfway along the Kokoda Track, was travelling to Moresby from his teaching college at Veifa’a to pick up the academic gown he hoped to wear to his graduation as a Community Health Worker this coming Saturday.

Rex was travelling on the bus with his friend and fellow Community Health Worker student, Jackson Fred from Efogi village on the Track, who was also to graduate this weekend. Jackson was also stabbed in the attack but is recovering in hospital.

Both Rex and Jackson were studying on scholarships from the Australian-based not-for-profit organization, the Kokoda Track Foundation (KTF). After graduation, Rex was to be posted back to his home village where he would serve as Naduri’s resident Community Health Worker, giving his community access to basic health care for the first time.

Rex John’s needless death was a tragedy in many ways. His father and nine brothers and sisters were robbed of a loving son and brother. His village of Naduri lost Rex’s hard-won skills as their first-ever Community Health Worker. PNG lost a fine young man who hoped to serve his nation in the same timeless, selfless tradition of the revered Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

Why was Rex John a hero? Because he showed the way to a better future for his nation. He was one of those quiet achievers who are the essential foundations of a healthy and sustainable society. Rex was one of the 1 out of 100 kids who start school in PNG and who make it through to Year 10. He was one of the even smaller minority who make it through to tertiary studies. Rather than being motivated by making money or becoming a Big Man in politics, Rex was determined to help his family, his community and his country by serving them as a qualified Community Health Worker.

Rex had done all the hard work. He had studied diligently and had passed his exams. He was looking forward to his graduation this weekend and to being posted back to his village of Naduri, bringing, for the first time, desperately-need medical skills to the community he loved.

The Kokoda Track Foundation will honour Rex John by creating a Community Health Worker’s Scholarship in his name and by seeking permission to name the Naduri Aid Post after him.

Rex’s death must not be in vain. He must not become another nameless casualty of the guerilla war waged by the thugs against honest citizens.  

All Papua New Guineans must condemn the cowards who snatched Rex John’s life away.

And PNG’s leaders must act immediately to bring Rex’s killers to justice and they must redouble their efforts to fight against the violence that shames their capital city.

For, until Papuan New Guineans can walk the streets of their capital without fear, PNG’s leaders cannot hold their heads high. 

HOW RANDOM VIOLENCE SHATTERED A VILLAGE'S DREAMS

Early yesterday morning in Port Moresby the terrible price of the mindless violence that plagues PNG’s capital was laid bare.

Near Laloki on the city’s outskirts, a gang of thugs in a mini-van forced a public bus off the road and bashed and stabbed its passengers with bush knives and machetes, killing one and leaving another in a critical condition.

The murdered young man, Rex John from Naduri village about halfway along the Kokoda Track, was travelling to Moresby from his teaching college at Veifa’a about four hours away to pick up the academic gown he hoped to wear to his graduation as a Community Health Worker this coming Saturday.

Both Rex and Jackson were studying on scholarships from the Australian-based not-for-profit organization, the Kokoda Track Foundation (KTF). After graduation, Rex was to be posted back to his home village where he would serve as Naduri’s resident Community Health Worker, giving his community access to basic health care for the first time.

“The Kokoda Track Foundation is deeply saddened and distressed by Rex’s death,” KTF Chairman, Patrick Lindsay said today. “Rex and Jackson were outstanding students – unsung local heroes  - who had spent years studying to acquire desperately-needed medical skills which they hoped to bring back to their remote villages,” Lindsay said.

“It’s a tragedy that some cowardly thugs can snatch Rex’s life away and deprive his family and community of a wonderful young man and the health care he hoped to give them.”

Rex was travelling on the bus with his friend and fellow Community Health Worker student, Jackson Fred from Efogi village on the Track, who was also to graduate this weekend. Jackson was also stabbed in the attack but is recovering in hospital.

Local police were called to the scene after the attack and helped to transport Rex and Jackson to Port Moresby General Hospital. Sadly, Rex’s injuries were too severe and he did not survive the night. Jackson is currently receiving medical treatment for his injuries.

“We strongly condemn the attacks and we call for a detailed investigation into the murder,” Lindsay said. “We send our sincere condolences to Rex’s family and to the Naduri community and we pass on our deep sympathies to their fellow students at St Gerard’s School of Nursing who are all saddened and shocked by the tragedy. We also pass on our best wishes to Jackson for a speedy recovery.”

Over the past two and a half years, the KTF has supporting Rex and Jackson to complete their Diplomas in Community Health Work at St Gerard’s School of Nursing, Veifa’a. Along with two other KTF scholarship trainees, Rex and Jackson were to start work with the Foundation in July, where they were to be posted into aid posts along the Kokoda Track.

“It would have been the first time that all villages along the Kokoda Track had access to qualified community health workers. We will continue to work toward that aim,” Lindsay said.

“The Foundation hopes to honour Rex John by creating a Community Health Worker’s Scholarship in his name and by seeking permission to name the Naduri Aid Post after him.”

More Devastation in PNG's Oro Province ... Help Needed

Just four years after enduring deadly Cyclone Guba, which killed 300 people and devastated the region, Papua New Guinea’s Oro Province has again been hit by severe flooding and leaving at least 11,000 desperately needing urgent help with food and medicine.

The 2011 wet season, which began in November, brought sustained torrential rain, flooding rivers and inundating food gardens in hundreds of coastal and low-lying villages. The Kokoda Track Foundation, which has been working in the region since 2003, has responded with an emergency distribution of 5000 kilograms of rise to 55 villages in the region. But more is urgently needed to help the descendants of the WWII Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels - our nearest neighbours.

By supporting our ‘Oro Emergency Appeal’ you will assist the KTF in both our initial emergency food distribution process as well as giving ongoing support for the flood-affected communities as we help them to re-build their gardens. The KTF will continue to support the region via its existing Northern Province Food Restoration Project after the initial rice distribution, giving villages access to improved strains of crops, including taro, cassava and sweet potato, that are able to grow in water-logged soil and will help villages to quickly restart their food gardens.

The KTF’s representative in Oro Province, Mr Elijah Sarigari said yesterday: “I have been to parts of Oro Bay LLG specially along the Bareji and Pongani rivers and found that many food gardens are still under water due to continuous raining for almost two months now… as a result all the food crops are rotting”.

In 2007, the Province was hit by Cyclone Guba, which killed hundreds and left more than 100,000 without access to food and clean water. Then in 2009, severe flooding hit the province again, just as villagers were getting their lives back together.

All donations over $2 to the Kokoda Track Foundation are tax deductible in Australia. Please go to our website to donate. www.kokodatrackfoundation.org

New Fromelles Museum to Honour Diggers

Wonderful news that the Australian Government is to fund a new museum at Fromelles, the site of our nation’s darkest day back on 19 July 1916, when we suffered 5500 casualties in a single night, including almost 2000 killed.

The Battle of Fromelles was the first time Australian troops had fought on the Western Front and many of those whose lives were snuffed out on that disastrous night had already survived the eight-month Gallipoli campaign.

The villagers of Fromelles, led by Martial Delebarre of the Association pour le Souvenir de la Bataille de Fromelles, have been collecting artefacts from the surrounding killing fields for decades and they have created one of the finest small WWI collections in France and Belgium, which they display in a series of attic rooms above the Town Hall. (Check out their website: http://www.asbf14-18.org/)

The new museum, designed by the Paris-New York firm, Serero Architects, will form a key element in the Western Front Remembrance Trail, to be ready for the centenary of WWI in 2014. The trail will be enhanced by an interpretive facility at Pozieres and improvements to the road near the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux and the restoration of the German trenches at Mon St Quentin.

The museum will be housed in an octagonal concrete building, sited next to the new Pheasant Wood Cemetery, which contains the remains of the missing soldiers of the battle, recently found in a mass grave dug by the Germans in the days after the battle. (check the design plans here: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/227498/20111008/museum-of-the-fromelles-fight-serero-architectes.htm )

The building has been designed around two axes: one connecting it with the Pheasant Wood Cemetery and the other to a lobby featuring a stunning view of the Fromelles church spire across the road. The provisional budget is 1.3 million Euros ($A1.75m).

Perhaps now the Australian authorities will reconsider their previous inaction by adding the battle honour “Fromelles” to our major national shrines to give it recognition worthy of our Diggers’ sacrifice there.

Our Fallen are never Forgotten

Just back from a trip to Gallipoli and the WWI Western Front battlefields.

It was a wonderfully enriching experience, made all the more memorable by the superb work of the staff of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission throughout France and Belgium.

Without exception, every cemetery or memorial we visited was immaculate. At most venues maintenance work was underway while we visited, a never-ending tribute to the fallen whose sacrifices live on in the legacy of freedom enjoyed by those who visit and those who live there.

Similarly in Turkey. I hold a profound respect and gratitude for the Turkish nation’s dedication of the Gallipoli memorial park and for the gracious way they allow visitors to pay their respects there. How many nations have set aside tracts of their land as memorials to the soldiers who tried to invade and conquer them?

The Gallipoli campaign represented a magnificent victory for the Turks and it opened the way for the nation to emerge from the Ottoman Empire to become a modern republic. But the Turks also recognize the importance of the campaign to the fledgling nations of Australia and New Zealand in particular and their continuing generosity welcomes those from Down Under as they come to pay their respects.

I was particularly proud to see the beautiful new Pheasant Wood Cemetery for the first time. It honours the Missing Soldiers from the Battle of Fromelles on a prime piece of the town’s land, dedicated by the people of Fromelles. It stands as a tribute to the sacrifices of the fallen and to the persistence of those who fought to ensure the missing were not forgotten but were recovered and buried with dignity.

TWO NEW BOOKS DUE SOON

Two new editions of Patrick Lindsay's books will hit the bookstands soon.

The Spirit of the Digger

Following on the success of his original version of this work, Patrick has updated and rewritten this new edition, which includes our Diggers’ contribution to the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts and recent discoveries relating to Fromelles, Kokoda and other Western Front battles. He has also included new chapters on our most recent VC winners, the Coast Watchers and IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Told through the words and actions of the Diggers themselves, THE SPIRIT OF THE DIGGER explores the essence of the Australian soldier and how he differs from other soldiers.

In many ways, the Digger is a study in contradictions: he doesn′t crave war yet he will fight with unequalled ferocity; he hates spit and polish but will hold his discipline under the most trying conditions; he is tough yet compassionate; he hates his enemy until he surrenders, then he is generous in victory; he despises histrionics but will cry unashamedly at the loss of a mate.

Courage, mateship, endurance, selflessness, devotion, independence, audacity, and humour describe the Digger. Throw in resilience, self-reliance and compassion and the list of the Digger′s qualities is still not complete.

They are not all heroes but they are remarkable and their deeds are timeless.

Our Darkest Days

This is an abridged edition of Patrick’s acclaimed book, Fromelles, first published in 2007 and substantially updated in 2008 after the confirmation of the discovery of the Missing Diggers of Fromelles, the story of which was first revealed in the original edition.

On 19 July 1916, near the French village of Fromelles, Australia suffered its worst-ever losses in a single day when a British officer ordered around 7000 of our Diggers ‘over the top’ to attack the heavily-defended German lines. The following morning more than 5500 Diggers were dead, wounded or missing: the dead was greater that our losses from the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars combined. Many of those who died disappeared from the official record, their fate remaining unknown for close to a century.

This abridged edition of the bestselling Fromelles includes the recent discovery of the largest mass war grave since the Second World War; the recovery of the missing Diggers’ remains; the names of those who have been identified and the opening of the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery in 2010