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Are we forgetting Kokoda? · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From The Australian, here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, October 16, 2026. Labor voters are more likely
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: than coalition supporters to have a personal stake in a trust.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And that's bad news for Jim Chalmers, who's trying to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: calm a backlash over his 30% minimum tax on all
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: trust income. That fresh analysis is live now at theaustralian.com.au. Fear,
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  Speaker 1: exhaustion and elation combine on the 96-kilometre Kokoda Track, where
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: trekkers honour one of our greatest military victories. But is
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: this ultimate immersive experience being forgotten by Australians as tourist
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: numbers dwindle and Papua New Guinea is gripped by extreme
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  Speaker 1: poverty and violence? Our own John Ferguson reports, fresh from
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: his own Kokoda adventure, and five kilos lighter than when
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  Speaker 1: he set out.
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  Speaker 2: Rain, sheeting down, every day, monotonously, falling from the tropic
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  Speaker 2: skies as if the clouds had burst, turning the track
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  Speaker 2: into a quagmire, adding a thousandfold to their difficulties. These
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  Speaker 2: are grim pictures.
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  Speaker 1: Kokoda 1942. This newsreel by legendary Australian photojournalist Damien Parra
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  Speaker 1: won an Academy Award and it shows the horrific conditions
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  Speaker 1: where a young Australian fighting force tried to repel a
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  Speaker 1: vastly better armed and trained Japanese army.
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  Speaker 3: If only everybody in Australia could realise that this country
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  Speaker 3: is in peril, that the Japanese are a well-equipped and
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  Speaker 3: dangerous enemy, we might forget about the trivial things... and
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  Speaker 3: go ahead with the job of licking them.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: John Ferguson is an associate editor with The Australian, and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: he's recently returned from the scene of one of the
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  Speaker 1: most important battles in Australia's military history. It's not dissimilar
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  Speaker 1: from Anzac Cove or Gallipoli. It's the Battle of Isurava
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  Speaker 1: in Papua New Guinea, part of the Kokoda Track campaign,
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  Speaker 1: where a small force of Australians repelled Japanese forces. The
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  Speaker 1: Battle of Isurava was actually a defeat. in August 1942,
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  Speaker 1: where the Australians had to retreat. But the lessons learned
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: there and the evocative nature of what happened have shaped
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  Speaker 1: Australian military strategy for the rest of World War II
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  Speaker 1: and the decades since. John, what's it like now? What
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  Speaker 1: is this arrival like to look at?
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  Speaker 4: It's a very beautiful part of PNG. It's at the
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  Speaker 4: Kokoda end of the Kokoda Track. It's probably our Equal
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  Speaker 4: most important site for military history, I would argue, for
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  Speaker 4: Australia because of, as you pointed out, it slowed the Japanese,
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  Speaker 4: I suppose, advance and enabled our forces to regroup.
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  Speaker 1: You've just walked the Kokoda Track. What was that experience
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  Speaker 1: like and were you thinking about the actions of those
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  Speaker 1: young men while you were walking?
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  Speaker 4: Claire, it's really interesting. It's quite an emotional trip. It
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  Speaker 4: took nine days. walked with about 18 scholarship winners, Year
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  Speaker 4: 11 children from country Victoria, and you walk the history.
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  Speaker 4: Everywhere you go, you can't avoid seeing and hearing about
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  Speaker 4: what happened. And obviously a centrepiece of the whole 1942
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  Speaker 4: battles in PNG was just the tough conditions. And when
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: you walk the Kokoda Track, you get an absolute, clear
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  Speaker 4: understanding of the physical nature and the difficult conditions upon which,
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: you know, the soldiers fought, effectively saving Australia from an invasion.
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  Speaker 4: So it's an extraordinary part of Australian military history. When
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  Speaker 4: we walked it probably about eight weeks ago, PNG was
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  Speaker 4: in the middle of a drought, so it was actually
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  Speaker 4: quite dry. So we had quite a bit of luck,
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  Speaker 4: but you can't escape the terrain like it's really tough
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  Speaker 4: it's up and down it's a goat track it's very
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  Speaker 4: steep the soldiers they had clearly the added problem of
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  Speaker 4: carrying 30 kilograms of weight guns as the crow flies
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  Speaker 4: it's 96 kilometers but it's actually the walk we did
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  Speaker 4: was more than 130. It was interesting talking to the
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  Speaker 4: scholarship winners they had developed certainly by the end a
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  Speaker 4: deep empathy for what the Australians went through and, of course,
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  Speaker 4: what are known as the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, the local
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  Speaker 4: PNG people who basically had such a massive role in
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  Speaker 4: helping the Australian troops.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: You're a pretty fit bloke. You're a mountain biker. You're
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: a walker. How did you find it physically?
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  Speaker 4: I trained really hard for it. You know, if anyone
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  Speaker 4: who's listening to this has ambitions of walking the track,
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  Speaker 4: you have to train hard. Age, I don't think up
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  Speaker 4: to a certain point is a barrier, but if you
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  Speaker 4: haven't done the work, then it's going to be really,
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  Speaker 4: really painful. In fact, completely unenjoyable, you know, 29 degrees,
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  Speaker 4: lots of humidity. Most people go, they will strike mud
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  Speaker 4: if it rains and that then becomes dangerous and slippery.
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  Speaker 4: You know, there are places where, you know, not many,
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  Speaker 4: just a couple, two or three that if you fall off,
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  Speaker 4: you're not going to come back. So it is a
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  Speaker 4: mental challenge as well. It's interesting talking to you now.
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  Speaker 4: I feel a little bit emotional about it. Certainly when
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  Speaker 4: we got to Isharava, the stories there that we talked about,
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  Speaker 4: people who died and brothers who were there together and
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  Speaker 4: didn't make it. And it just makes it really real.
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  Speaker 4: But because you put in so much effort to get there,
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  Speaker 4: I think it adds to the experience.
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  Speaker 1: When you're going through a physically arduous experience like that,
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  Speaker 1: your emotions are heightened too and probably your sense of fear.
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  Speaker 1: Did you feel fear about falling from high places and
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  Speaker 1: what was in the jungle?
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  Speaker 4: Look, I was absolutely fine. I don't like heights and
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  Speaker 4: there's a sort of a track just the other side
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  Speaker 4: of Brigade Hill which goes down into what is basically
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  Speaker 4: an abyss. It's very narrow and you have to grab
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  Speaker 4: a chain and you know, rowdy is if you sleep,
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  Speaker 4: you're cooked. So that triggered, let's just say, a deeply
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  Speaker 4: unpleasant feeling that lasted for the rest of the trip
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  Speaker 4: of falling off the edge, which I just don't like.
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  Speaker 4: But again, that's also part of it too. I was
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  Speaker 4: quite proud of myself that you just got to keep going.
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  Speaker 4: When you do these trips, you have to go with
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  Speaker 4: a licensed operator. And my porter was very, carrier was,
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  Speaker 4: they're very onto things. They know when The old white
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  Speaker 4: fella from a Melbourne office is not travelling that well.
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  Speaker 4: So Willie Benjamin was his name, terrific bloke. And I
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  Speaker 4: developed a bond with him as well. And that's a
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  Speaker 4: very nice thing because you get to learn about life
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  Speaker 4: in PNG and PNG is very close to being a
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  Speaker 4: failed state. As we kind of know, but it's only
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  Speaker 4: when you look at it and you see the level
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  Speaker 4: of poverty and the dysfunction and you can only imagine
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  Speaker 4: the corruption that that is centred on PNG. And it's
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  Speaker 4: right on Australia's doorstep. So I think journalists owe it
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  Speaker 4: to the community to be writing a lot more about PNG,
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  Speaker 4: I think.
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: Papua New Guinea will enter the NRL competition in a
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: $ 600 million expansion to rugby league. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
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  Speaker 5: is backing a 10-year funding plan for PNG.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Australia is throwing a huge amount of money at Papua
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  Speaker 1: New Guinea. We're contributing to the start of a rugby
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  Speaker 1: league team there that's all part of our soft diplomacy
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  Speaker 1: in the Pacific to try to ward off China.
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  Speaker 5: These treaties represent one of the most significant endeavours Australia
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  Speaker 5: has ever undertaken in our history with any country.
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  Speaker 2: The agreement sets out to better integrate the Australian and
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  Speaker 2: Papua New Guinea Defence Forces and even allows each to
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  Speaker 2: recruit troops from the other countries.
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  Speaker 1: We're also spending quite a lot of taxpayers' money on Kokoda.
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  Speaker 1: But is that money getting to where it should be getting?
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  Speaker 1: And is the track being upkept as it should be, John?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, so Charlie Lynn, the former Liberal MP, is
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  Speaker 4: a really big figure in bringing Kokoda back. He's very
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  Speaker 4: critical of the lack of resources, and I tend to
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  Speaker 4: agree with him. I think a lot more can be
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  Speaker 4: done for the villages, but also to make Kokoda and
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  Speaker 4: other places in PNG accessible, and particularly there's a dearth
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  Speaker 4: of military history when you pass through a lot of
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  Speaker 4: really significant areas. It's run by the Kokoda Track Authority,
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  Speaker 4: which is PNG run, but I think it's very clear
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  Speaker 4: that more could be done to make the experience, I suppose,
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  Speaker 4: achievable but also intellectually stimulating and informative for One of
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  Speaker 4: the issues that Mr. Lin talks about is the drop
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  Speaker 4: in demand, the lower numbers of trekkers since that peak
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  Speaker 4: in 2008. So that becomes quite interesting, doesn't it? Because
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  Speaker 4: are we in a phase now where those great parts
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  Speaker 4: of our history, such as Kokoda and Gallipoli, and maybe
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  Speaker 4: even the Western Front, which is a bit more accessible,
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  Speaker 4: but are we entering a period where there's going to
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  Speaker 4: be less interest and How do we as a country
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  Speaker 4: make sure that we can educate younger people about the
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  Speaker 4: importance and then give them the opportunity to go to
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  Speaker 4: these places and feel what it was like or see
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  Speaker 4: what it was like for soldiers from World War I
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  Speaker 4: and World War II. Over time, the next 20 years,
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  Speaker 4: 25 years, who's going to be prosecuting the arguments for
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  Speaker 4: remembering what these soldiers did, what they suffered for? It's
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  Speaker 4: a pretty important issue. National question, isn't it, Claire?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's on us, of course, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: And I've thought that about, you know, the Gallipoli Peninsula
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  Speaker 1: or other places, as you say, on the Western Front.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there are museums and there are kind of
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  Speaker 1: displays and there are statues and so on, but there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing as immersive as, you know, spending 10 days living
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  Speaker 1: in fear of falling and worrying about your safety and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: going through a gastro. I mean, that is the ultimate experience,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, look, I think it is. Like I found it
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  Speaker 4: so immersive. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who
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  Speaker 4: wants to test themselves physically, but also play a role
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: in supporting the history and the efforts of those in 1942.
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  Speaker 1: I was also impressed to note that you lost five kilos, John.
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  Speaker 1: Who needs Ozempic when you can just go and thrash
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  Speaker 1: yourself to death on the Kokoda track?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, just go and get gastro and walk the Kokoda
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  Speaker 4: track and you'll lose five. Unfortunately, I put three back on.
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  Speaker 1: You have to go back.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, John, very much.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, Claire.
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  Speaker 1: John Ferguson is an associate editor with The Australian. You
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: can read about his Kokoda experience in The Australian's weekend
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: magazine and at theaustralian.com.au.