The "original" Kokoda trail? A diversion to the original track isn't an alteration, right?

Question

I just read that PM Rudd, on his positive looking negotiations in PNG, has said that a compromise is being made but he won't say whether he'll insist that the Kokoda deal should include a guarantee the track won't be altered.

I saw a show last week about the villagers wanting to close the track so they could get mining royalties to live on. Fair enough. In it, a historian was showing on a map how the track that went past the mine (the part that they're closing off) was not even part of the original track - just a post-war add-on!

He was saying the original part of the track actually wound up and away from the mining land... suggesting that that is where people could walk the real Kokoda trail without bother from the villagers.

Isn't that interesting? Has anyone heard anything else about this? I wonder if this is the compromise that Rudd is hinting at.

Answer 1

Hi Miss Schlonky!

and Hear hear to Brent.  I've also heard (on ABC radio) that the existing track is a diversion (that is, the part near the proposed mine).

Did you by any chance see that rivetting doco on ABC TV about a Lebanese-Australian lad who had burned the flag in the Cronulla riots, then went on the Kokoda trail?

Answer 2

I have been close friends with several diggers who did the Kokoda trail thing,, including an uncle and they were all very bitter toward the aust government that it put inexperienced men into that h**l for no good purpose with a complete lack of logistic support or planning, they would all have it be bulldozed flat rather than glorified and it was never called the Kokoda trail It was the Kokoda track, at least call it by the name it was known to them by

Answer 3

There was a article about it in The West Australian newspaper last Saturday.

I think the villagers are only closing the track to draw attention to their protest, obviously it would be in their best interests to have incomes from tourism and mining.

I think Australia should butt out and let those people develop their resources any way they see fit. I don't see how we can justify keeping them in poverty when the majority of us Australians have such a comfortable life.

Answer 4

Yes I also heard this story.Who knows,like most tracks they do change heaps over the years,due to rain,washouts,shortcuts etc.I guess we will never know the truth.But I would find it hard to believe that in such a harsh climate the track is still following exactly the same path as 60 years ago.

I am all for saving the track,but did see an interview with some natives who seem to think we are trying to stop them progressing so they can't become rich like us.

I can see there point and the Australian Government should of been paying the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels a pension for their service in WW2.After all it was an Australian territory back then.