Network Kokoda

29/08/2024

KOKODA TREKKERS: Have your say on a Strategic Plan for the Kokoda Trail - please click on our blog article to leave your comments so they can be read by the relevant Australian and PNG officials - unfortunately, they won't listen to us so them know your thoughts.

KTF Strategy for the Development of Pilgrimage Tourism Across the Kokoda Trail - OUR VIEWPOINT

17/07/2024

Every time I feel the need for some inspiration and to reinforce my pride in being Australian, I play the Papua New Guinea National Anthem sung by the Strathfield North (multicultural) Public School choir-with all their hearts-at the Kokoda Day Service at Concord last year
https://www.facebook.com/AdventureKokoda/videos/24251283431153175

06/07/2024

CANBERRA MUST RETURN THE KOKODA TRAIL TO PNG

In 1996 Kokoda Trail landowners accepted an offer of a 4% equity in an $8 billion goldmine on Mt Kodu adjacent to the southern slopes of the historic trail.

The mining company, Frontier Resources, stipulated that half of the funds were to be allocated for the preservation of the Trail, and half for education.

The return for landowner communities over the estimated 10-year production of the mine were estimated to be in the vicinity of $100 million (K234 million).

A rearguard action by the Australian Government resulted in a successful appeal against the approval process for the mine.

Canberra then committed to assisting PNG to develop a case for a World Heritage listing for the Trail and the adjacent Owen Stanley Ranges under a Joint Agreement signed in 2008 - environment was to take precedence over tourism.

Since Canberra took control trekker numbers have fallen by 46% which has resulted in a cumulative loss of an estimated $19 million (K49 million) in foregone wages, campsite fees and local purchases for villagers.

But it was all to no avail after an expert report revealed the Kokoda Tral does not meet the criteria for a World Heritage listing which has left Kokoda tourism high and dry.

In retrospect Kokoda Trail villagers would have been far better off financially if the Mt Kodu gold mine had proceeded. The mine would not have interfered with the wartime route and the benefits of Kokoda tourism for traditional landowner communities would have continued to grow.

Having robbed subsistence villages of the $100 million they would have earned from the Mt Kodu goldmine, then denying them the opportunity to develop a sustainable wartime tourism industry, Canberra now has an obligation to support the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority to reclaim ownership of their most popular tourism destination and rebuild Kokoda tourism,

CHAPTER 9: The Mt. Kodu Goldmine - Uncategorized

29/06/2024

Snapshot 2 from our documentary on Rabaul . . .

Check out happy gardening 🇵🇬’s video.

29/06/2024

Snapshot from our documentary on Rabaul . . .

Check out happy gardening 🇵🇬’s video.

25/06/2024

https://blog.kokodatreks.com/2024/06/24/papua-new-guinea-a-place-of-pilgrimage-2/

Papua New Guinea - A Place of Pilgrimage - OUR VIEWPOINT

22/06/2024

The PNG Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) called for ideas to assist in marketing Kokoda tourism in early 2020. We submitted the following recommendations to assist them use the break caused by the pandemic to develop an effective strategy. We did not receive a response, and nothing happened! Would appreciate any comments/recommendation from past trekkers on the blog itself as I plan to resubmit it.

Marketing Strategy for Kokoda Pilgrimage Tourism - OUR VIEWPOINT

13/06/2024

The philanthropic potential of pilgrimage tourism across the Kokoda Trail has never been realised due to the apathy of aid-funded government officials accountable to Canberra rather than the people they are supposed to serve.

Australia's 'PNG Angels' prove the philanthropic potential of Kokoda Tourism - OUR VIEWPOINT

16/05/2024

In view of the recent Prime Minister's Kokoda trek, it is surely time for the DFAT-Kokoda Initiative in PNG to adopt our Network Kokoda proposal for a Military Heritage Master Plan for the Kokoda Trail.

Funding Proposal for a Kokoda Trail Military Heritage Master Plan - OUR VIEWPOINT

09/12/2023

The Australia-Papua New Guinea Association (PNGAA) website contains a treasure-trove of experiences from former patrol officers (Kiaps), ex-servicemen, explorers, school teachers, crocodile hunters, missionaries, doctors, nurses, wives, and government officials who spent a significant part of their lives living and working in Papua New Guinea prior to independence. Their latest online edition refers to their 'Fascinating stories' . . .

According to PNGAA 'there are about a thousand articles from the last forty years of PNGAA journals . . . all stored on our website. Below is the start of just one of them. There are many more just waiting for you to explore':

Kokoda 70 years on: Charlie Lynn
SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
Kokoda is a powerful word. According to the Orokaiva koko means place of skulls, da is village. The combination of syllables conjures up “adventure” in the minds of sedentary beings. It makes sense. Many early explorers and missionaries searching for gold in the Yodda valley ended up in cooking pots.
Then came the war. Kokoda was the first pitched battle fought against the Japanese. It signaled the beginning of a campaign where Australia’s fate hung in the balance as our diggers fought a fanatical enemy, treacherous terrain, legions of deadly mites, malarial mosquitoes, venomous snakes:and cold fear.
But the enemy our commanders feared most was the ignorance of armchair generals and politicians safely ensconced in Australia. “Build a road!” – “Blow the Gap!” – “Die at Imita!” they bellowed from the safety of their bunkers.
THE FULL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE:

Kokoda is a powerful word. According to the Orokaiva koko means place of skulls, da is village. The combination of syllables conjures up “adventure” in the minds of sedentary beings. It makes sense. Many...

22/04/2023

I Spent the morning at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in Concord for their Anzac Day ceremony. Another excellent service commemorating our fallen soldiers from all campaigns. Caught up with former Network Kokoda Chair Ret Brigadier Phillip McNamara, Wayne Lear and fellow Network Kokoda Director Heather Crichton representing Burwood Council.
Happy Anzac Day

12/02/2023

Post an extended period of Covid induced border closures both here in Aus and in PNG myself and fellow NK Director David Knaggs were able to spends 3-4 days in PNG checking in on our NK projects and to finally start construction on the cooking facilities at Iarowari. I cut this brief video to update you all. Thanks again for your support in prior years and we hope you will continue to support us thru 2023 and beyond. We have a lot going on now things have reopened.