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Read About our Kokoda Trail Trekking
and Papua New Guinea Adventures
Captain Sam
Templeton-Nishimura
By Ilya Gridneff, Papua New Guinea Correspondent
PORT MORESBY, Jan 29 AAP - The remains of
a fearless World War II Digger stabbed to death for taunting a
Japanese officer may at last be laid to rest with all the
reverence he deserves.
The real story behind Captain Sam Templeton's disappearance in
the Papua New Guinea almost 70 years ago has finally emerged
thanks to the selfless dedication of a frail old former trooper
in the Japanese Imperial Army.
Ninety-year-old Kokichi Nishimura, known
as the Bone Man of Kokoda, says it was he who buried Captain
Templeton in a shallow jungle grave following his brutal summary
execution soon after he was captured near the Kokoda Track.
According to official records, Capt
Templeton, a World War I veteran, was a company commander with
the famed Australian 39th battalion in New Guinea, when he
vanished near Oivi village on July 26, 1942.
One report said he had been trying to warn
reinforcements of the massive Japanese presence in the area.
Templeton was a soldiers' soldier,
dismissive of rank and revered for his courage under fire.
Historians say he was technically too old for front line duty.
He was born in 1900 - but lied about his age to qualify for
combat.
Templeton's Crossing at Eora Creek on the
Kokoda Track is traversed by thousands of Australian trekkers
each year and this month Mr Nishimura teamed up with Kokoda
Spirit trekking company operator Wayne Weatherall to locate the
captain's crude bush grave.
Mr Nishimura says he still remembers where
Capt Templeton is buried and the pair recently spent several
days digging for clues and think they may have pinpointed the
spot, but need to consult with the captain's family about what
should be done next.
Mr Nishimura, who has spent the best part
of 25 years recovering the remains of fallen Japanese comrades,
was a member of the 2nd battalion, 144th Regiment of the
Japanese Imperial Army that fought Australian troops in the same
area.
Mr Nishimura told reporters in Port
Moresby he buried Capt Templeton after an enraged Japanese
officer killed the captured Australian.
"It seems Captain Templeton got lost,
being pushed back by Japanese soldiers," he said through an
interpreter.
Mr Nishimura said Capt Templeton was taken
for interrogation and the Japanese commander became enraged when
the Australian said there were "80,000 Australian troops waiting
for the Japanese in Port Moresby?".
"How many of you will see out the day,"
Capt Templeton asked mockingly.
Mr Nishimura said that remark infuriated
Japanese even more.
"The commander got angry at Templeton's
answers and he stabbed him," he said.
"They (Australians) were all very brave
soldiers with high spirits, therefore I don't want to leave this
mystery open," added Mr Nishimura.
Late last year AAP visited Mr Nishimura at
his home on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Humble, reserved and precise, Mr Nishimura recalled the closing
stages of the New Guinea campaign.
"At that time (of the Japanese retreat)
there was no choice (for the wounded Japanese) but to die,
because there was no food or supplies," Mr Nishimura said.
"Those soldiers knew they were being
abandoned and they were ready for what was happening to them.
"And knowing all that, they gave a smile
rather than tears and crying."
Mr Nishimura promised that he would return
one day to recover the bodies of his comrades. And as the only
surviving member of the 2nd battalion, some 30 years later he
kept his word.
"This is nothing special," he said
"It's my way of life, if I make a promise
with somebody I keep it. Whatever it is I just keep my
promises," he said.
Armed with a metal detector, a mattock and
a shovel, a few language dictionaries and WW II battle plans,
maps and official documents he secretly kept despite orders to
destroy them, Mr Nishimura set out on a mission.
Over the years he found the remains of
hundreds of Japanese soldiers.
Those identifiable were returned to
families while the unknown were buried in Japan's official war
shrine in Tokyo.
But while upholding the Japanese
traditions of loyalty and respect, Mr Nishimura has also been a
thorn in the side of a Japanese governments reluctant to
acknowledge the past.
Indeed, his obsession often riled
authorities on both sides, frequently involving him in
controversy.
"I am sure I am a headache to Japanese government - I am sure on
the black list as a dangerous man," he said with a laugh.
Mr Nishimura fought on every front line in
Japan's Pacific campaign.
After PNG he served in Singapore and
Rangoon in Burma then in August 1945 he returned to home with
the remnants of the beaten Japanese forces.
On three occasions Mr Nishimura survived
being shot, suffered just about every type of malaria and was
once so malnourished he weighed around 30 kg.
He said the screams of an Australian
soldier he killed in hand-to-hand combat still haunt him.
"My habit it is to avoid risk - I don't
try to survive (in combat), I think my body naturally moves in
the right direction," he said.
After the war he married and built up a
multi-million dollar engineering company. But then, to his
family's dismay, on retirement he sold the company, left his
wife and two sons with the fortune and returned to PNG.
His only daughter Sachiko went with him
and they still live together.
"I left my sons but never explained the
reason to them," he said.
"I am sure they have a lot of resentful
feeling to me, but still I don't care.
"They are strangers now. I am not
interested in meeting them. I have more family in PNG. Not many
in Japan."
In January this year Mr Nishimura returned
to his adopted home in Oro Province on PNG's northeast coast to
locate Capt Templeton's grave.
The Oro connection was established in WW
II when a villager, Trofian Iewago, helped some Japanese
soldiers, including Mr Nishimura. survive.
Mr Nishimura never forgot and when he
returned to PNG to start collecting bones he lived with the
Iewagos.
Trofian's son Romney remembers Mr
Nishimura well.
"When he first came he would point at the
dictionary and we would work out what he wanted," Romney said.
"He and Dad became very close and Dad
said, 'I will make you our brother and you become a clansman'.
"We call him 'Ijiba Nishimura' as Ijiba is
our clan name and he was initiated and became one of us."
Trofian's daughter Geraldine called her
first-born daughter 'Sachiko' in honour of Nishimura's daughter.
Journalist Charles Happell while walking the Kokoda Track
literally stumbled on a small plaque Mr Nishimura erected in
memory of Japan's fallen.
Happell researched and wrote a book: "The
Bone Man of Kokoda."
"In piecing together his life story, what
has been revealed is an epic tale featuring loyalty,
determination and courage on a scale that is difficult to
comprehend," Apollo writes.
Before returning to Tokyo Mr Nishimura
admitted his most recent trip to PNG would be his last. With his
customary brevity, he dismissed talk about what will happen to
his own bones.
"My daughter sometimes mentions that," he
said.
"But once you are dead you can't do
anything or say anything, so to say, 'I want this after I die,'
that kind of thing is the most stupid thing you can do, so I
don't have any idea."
Kokoda soldier a hero to the
end?
29th January 2010 by Caroline Hutchinson
IS it just me or does
everyone love a murder mystery? In August I walked the Kokoda
Track with Sunshine Coast tour company Kokoda Spirit.
Wayne Wetherall is the company GM. He was also my trek leader
and is passionate about the track and the heroes who died there.
One of the great mysteries of the track is what happened to
famous Australian Captain Sam Templeton.
Born in Belfast at the turn of the century, Sam Templeton served
in the Royal Navy in WWI before immigrating to Australia in
1920, and soon after joined the 5th Battalion of the Citizens
Military Force as a private.
He quickly advanced to corporal then became a sergeant. He met
his sweetheart Doris and together they had four children.
At the outbreak of WWII Sam tried to enlist in the AIF but was
turned away because of his age.
Sam’s family say he felt very strongly about the war and was
busting to get into it, eventually joining the 2nd/7th training
Battalion AMF (Militia), then enlisting in the 39th Battalion.
There he received his commission as an officer.
Sam travelled to Port Moresby on Christmas Day, 1941. He was 42
years old. The 39th Battalion was very fortunate to have Sam. He
was a strong, capable soldier and his experience would prove
invaluable.
Uncle Sam (as he was known by his heartbreakingly young
soldiers) stood 5 ft 10 inches (1.75m), was powerfully built and
into everything.
His charges called him straight as a gun barrel. If it was
wrong, Uncle Sam would put it right.
Wayne Wetherall is a devoted student of the events of 1942 in
PNG.
He says Templeton was one of the few company commanders who
understood the track, instilling strong military disciplines to
keep his men fit, happy and free of disease.
Wayne says that had Captain Templeton and the boys of B Company
not been as successful as they were in the initial battles on
the track, the course of history could have been very different.
There is a crossing on the track named in honour of Sam
Templeton, but the man himself has been missing-in-action for 68
years, lost on July 26, 1942 in the Battle of Olivi.
This week, with the help of a former Japanese soldier Kokichi
Nishimura, it seems Wayne Wetherall may have solved the mystery.
Nishimura is better known as the bone man of Kokoda. For 25
years following the war he scoured the Kokoda track for the
bones of his fallen comrades, determined to return each and
every one to Japan for a proper burial.
Last year Wayne flew to Japan to meet Nishimura. They got into a
conversation about Sam Templeton and the bone man claimed he
personally buried Captain Templeton after the Australian was
killed for taunting a Japanese officer.
Nishimura claims it appeared that in the heat of battle, Captain
Templeton withdrew to the rear of the battle field to warn
oncoming Australian troops about the Japanese, got lost, and
fell into enemy hands.
After being dragged to an officers’ camp for interrogation,
Templeton laughed at the Japanese officers claiming, “Don’t you
know there’re 80,000 Australian troops waiting for you in Port
Moresby? How many of you will see out the day?”
Nishimura says when the Japanese commander was unable to silence
Templeton, he became so enraged he stabbed his prisoner in the
stomach with a bayonet, wounding him fatally.
Sixty-eight years on Mr Nishimura assured Wayne he still
remembered the exact spot the Captain was buried, and last week
they returned together to dig for clues.
Unbelievably, after 68 years of rumour and conjecture, it is
possible it can be confirmed that Sam Templeton was a hero to
the end.
Wayne Wetherall can’t reveal if they found any human remains but
says he hopes the personal effects uncovered, including a watch
and a compass, will prove significant.
Posted January 27, 2010
Kokoda mystery may be solved
BY ILYA GRIDNEFF
25 Jan, 2010 01:00 AM
An Australian tour operator and a 90-year-old Japanese veteran
of World War II believe they have solved the mystery of a
renowned digger's disappearance on Papua New Guinea's Kokoda
Track.
Captain Sam Templeton, a company commander in the 39th
battalion, disappeared near Oivi village in the heat of battle
on the notorious track on July 26, 1942.
Templeton's Crossing on the track at Eora Creek is named in his
memory and is traversed by thousands of Australian trekkers each
year.
Veteran Kokichi Nishimura, known as the Bone Man of Kokoda for
his work in recovering the remains of fallen comrades, was a
member of the 2nd battalion, 144th Regiment of Japan's Imperial
Army battling Australian troops in the same area.
Nearly 70 years after the fighting, Mr Nishimura teamed up with
Kokoda Spirit trekking company operator Wayne Weatherall to
solve the mystery of Captain Templeton's disappearance and find
his grave.
Mr Nishimura said in Port Moresby on Saturday he buried the
captain in 1942 and believed the site had been found.
''It seems Captain Templeton got lost while retreating, being
pushed back by Japanese soldiers,'' he said through an
interpreter.
Mr Nishimura said the Japanese commander was enraged when the
captured captain said there were 80,000 Australian troops
waiting for them in Port Moresby.
''That made a big question whether Japan could advance to Port
Moresby.
''The commander got angry at Templeton's answers and he killed
him,'' Mr Nishimura said.
''I passed by the area where Templeton was killed on about
August 2, 1942.
''I was about to set up a tent but smelt a very bad odour and I
found the dead Australian officer lying there.
''I decided to dig a hole next to him and I buried him in the
hole,'' he said.
Mr Nishimura, whose story is told in Charles Happell's book The
Bone Man of Kokoda, has spent more than 25 years visiting PNG to
recover the remains of his fallen comrades.
This month a frail but determined Mr Nishimura returned to his
adopted home in Oro Province on PNG's north-east coast for one
last time to help find Captain Templeton's grave.
''They [Australians] were all very brave soldiers with high
spirits, therefore I don't want to leave this mystery open,'' he
said.
Mr Weatherall said they had isolated a site no larger than 10sqm
and found personal effects thought to be Captain Templeton's.
''I believe we have located the place,'' he said.
''We're one step away from resolving the mystery of Captain
Templeton's disappearance,'' he said.
''It's very exciting for all of us, for the family and everyone
involved to be this close, people have been wondering for 68
years.''
Mr Weatherall said that after cross-checking they would alert
the Australian defence department so an official recovery could
proceed. Captain Templeton was born in Belfast and fought in
World War I before emigrating in the 1920s. AAP
Posted January 25, 2010
HeraldSun.com.au
Mystery of Kokoda digger's death nearly solved
Listen to an interview with Kokoda Spirit's Wayne Wetherall:
AAP January 25, 2010 12:00AM
Captain Sam Templeton, a company commander in the 39th
battalion, disappeared near Oivi village in the heat of battle
on the notorious track on July 26, 1942.
Templeton's Crossing on the track at Eora Creek is named in
his memory and is traversed by thousands of Australian trekkers
each year.
Veteran Kokichi Nishimura, known as the Bone Man of Kokoda
for his work in recovering the remains of fallen comrades, was a
member of the 2nd battalion, 144th Regiment of Japan's Imperial
Army battling Australian troops in the same area.
Nearly 70 years after the fighting, Mr Nishimura teamed up
with Kokoda Spirit trekking company operator Wayne Weatherall to
solve the mystery of Capt Templeton's disappearance and find his
grave.
The veteran told reporters in Port Moresby on Saturday he
buried the captain in 1942 and believes the site has been found.
"It seems Captain Templeton got lost while retreating, being
pushed back by Japanese soldiers," he said through an
interpreter.
Mr Nishimura said the Japanese commander was enraged when the
captured captain said there were 80,000 Australian troops
waiting for them in Port Moresby.
"That made a big question whether Japan could advance to Port
Moresby.
"The commander got angry at Templeton's answers and he killed
him," Mr Nishimura said.
"I passed by the area where Templeton was killed on about
August 2, 1942.
"I was about to set up a tent but smelt a very bad odour and
I found the dead Australian officer lying there.
"I decided to dig a hole next to him and I buried him in the
hole," he said.
Mr Nishimura, whose story is told in Charles Happell's book
The Bone Man of Kokoda, has spent more than 25 years visiting
PNG to recover the remains of his fallen comrades.
This month a frail but determined Mr Nishimura returned to
his adopted home in Oro Province on PNG's northeast coast for
one last time to help find Capt Templeton's grave.
"They (Australians) were all very brave soldiers with high
spirits, therefore I don't want to leave this mystery open," he
said.
Mr Weatherall said they had isolated a site no larger than 10
square metres and found personal effects thought to be Capt
Templeton's.
"I believe we have located the place," he said.
"We're one step away from resolving the mystery of Captain
Templeton's disappearance," he said.
"It's very exciting for all of us, for the family and
everyone involved to be this close, people have been wondering
for 68 years."
Mr Weatherall said that after cross-checking aspects of the
find they would alert Australia's defence department so an
official recovery could proceed.
Capt Templeton was born in Belfast and fought in World War I
before emigrating to Australia in the early 1920s.
Posted January 25, 2010
'Bone Man' offers help in Kokoda digger mystery
By PNG correspondent Liam Fox for AM
Search team: Kokichi Nishimura with Wayne Weatherall
in Port Moresby (AAP: Ilya Gridneff)
Captain Sam Templeton disappeared in July 1942 near Oivi
while trying to warn reinforcements of the heavy Japanese
presence in the area.
Now Kokoda tour operator Wayne Weatherall says he may have
found Captain Templeton's grave with help from former Japanese
soldier Kokichi Nishimura, who says he personally buried Captain
Templeton after the Australian was killed for taunting a
Japanese officer.
Mr Nishimura fought the Australians along the Kokoda Track
and was the only man from his platoon to survive the campaign.
When he left, he promised he would come back to find his
comrades' remains and return them to Japan for proper burials.
He went on to spend 25 years searching the track, found the
remains of hundreds of Japanese soldiers and became known as the
'Bone Man of Kokoda'.
Now frail and in his 90s, Mr Nishimura returned to Papua New
Guinea for one last hunt, to find the body of the famous
Australian captain.
Mr Weatherall says Mr Nishimura told him he personally buried
Captain Templeton near Oivi after the Australian was stabbed in
the stomach by a Japanese officer.
"He was captured, he was dragged down to the officers' camp
for interrogation," Mr Weatherall said.
"And Templeton has told the Japanese officer that "There's
80,000 Australian troops waiting for you in Port Moresby. How
many of you will see out the day?'
"So Templeton laughed at the Japanese officer and the
Japanese officer was very angry and he stabbed him."
Sixty-eight years on Mr Nishimura still remembers the spot
where the Captain was buried, and last week he and Mr Weatherall
returned there and spent several days digging for clues.
Mr Weatherall will not reveal if they found any human remains
but says other artefacts indicate they could have located
Captain Templeton's grave.
"We have found what we believe could possibly be some
personal effects, like watches, compasses and things like that,"
he said.
"Now we have to go through the correct process in speaking to
the family. There are still some ongoing issues that we need to
resolve to make sure that everybody is completely satisfied."
Mr Weatherall has told Captain Templeton's story to hundreds
of Australian visitors while guiding them across the track.
"He was the first commander to lead the 39th Battalion B
Company across the Kokoda Track," he said.
"Had Captain Templeton and the boys of B Company not been so
successful early on in those initial battles, then the course of
history could have been so much different."
Posted November 6, 2009
Posted November 6, 2009
Fearnley out to conquer the Kokoda Track
November 6, 2009
Australian wheelchair athlete Kurt Fearnley is setting off on
a 12-day journey to crawl the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.
The three-time Paralympian, who last week won the New York
marathon, will be joined on the 96km journey starting on Sunday
by 15 friends and family members.
The 28-year-old said it is an honour to attempt the famous
trek.
"My job is to race for and represent Australia and the Kokoda
Track has a huge significance in Australian history," Fearnley
said.
"For me I think it's going to be a bit about figuring out who
we are."
Fearnley says he feels confident he will be able to conquer
the rugged terrain with the help of his companions.
"I think Kokoda will be the toughest single experience I've
had in my life and I know that but I'm also excited about it,"
he said.
"I'm a little bit worried, which is human I think, when
you're doing something like this.
"I see myself as able-bodied and beyond that I have 15 of the
closest people around me who are there to help if anything's
needed and to make sure we all get through it together.
"I'll require help of course, there's no way I'd even
contemplate doing this if I didn't have the right people around
me, but I feel really confident asking for a hand from any of
these blokes."
Fearnley's training has included crawling up to 100 flights
of stairs and navigating his way through the bush near his home
in Newcastle, NSW, on top of his regular training of up to 50km
a day in his race wheelchair.
He was in a hurry, Kurt Fearnley explained. The 28-year-old
Australian had arranged to attend his first NFL game at the
Meadowlands on Sunday afternoon, but that wasn't what demanded
all of his strength and urgency in the final yards of the New
York City Marathon's wheelchair division, started at 8:20 a.m.
Fearnley, the three-time defending champion, found himself in
a mad dash, wheel-to-wheel with 48-year-old Krige Schabort, a
South African-born resident of Cedartown, Ga., as both barreled
toward the finish line. They had chatted during the race and
traded a friendly fist bump at one point. "We looked after each
other," Fearnley said. "We nursed each other through."
But at the end, Fearnley "saw his wheel there and just kept
screaming at myself not to let him pass me."
Fearnley hung on by inches - both were timed in 1 hour, 35
minutes, 58 seconds. And Fearnley was off to watch the Jets
play. Switzerland's Edith Hunkeler had an easier time in winning
her fifth New York title in the women's wheelchair event, in
1:58:15.
Samuelson breaks 3 hours
Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic champion celebrating
the 25th anniversary of that race, the 30th anniversary of her
first marathon attempt and the 40th running of the New York
race, finished in 2:49:09 - as a 52-year-old. And she also
almost relived a 1988 incident here in which a volunteer ran her
over during the race.
"I won't say little old ladies," she said, "because I now fit
into that demographic. But two ladies were crossing the
crosswalk and I almost didn't see them."
Muhrcke honors Huntington
Gary Muhrcke of Huntington, winner of the first New York
Marathon in 1972 and now 69 years old, finished in 3:46:25.
connections U.S. Republican Party Barack Obama U.S.
Democratic Party White House Bob McDonnell
Celebrity sightings
In the celebrity division, actor Edward Norton ran 3:48:01.
"Phenomenal," he said. "The visuals. Different sections of
the race give you different tableaus."
Former Olympic speedskating champion Dan Jansen ran 3:41:43,
former Islander Pat LaFontaine finished in 4:27:08 and George
Hirsch, the 75-year-old chairman of the New York Road Runners
Club board, clocked a 4:06:14.
"I've run more than 30 marathons," Hirsch said. "This one was
the hardest by far. I'm glad to be a retired marathoner."
Posted November 5, 2009
Fearnley fighting fit before Kokoda crawl
Posted November 4, 2009 14:06:00
ABC News: Jennifer Browning
Wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley says he is physically ready to
take on the Kokoda Track this weekend, following his win in the
New York City Marathon on Monday.
Fearnley returned to Sydney today after claiming his fourth
consecutive New York title.
The 28-year-old will attempt to crawl the 96-kilometre Kokoda
Track in Papua New Guinea starting on Sunday.
Fearnley says his body is holding up well ahead of the
gruelling challenge.
"Because of all the crawling this year, my body's got a lot
tougher and it recovers a lot quicker," he said.
"It's Wednesday now and I'm feeling about what I would be
usually after a week after my race.
"I've got a couple of sore spots, but other than that I'm
good as gold."
Fearnley admits he is a tad nervous despite doing everything
he can possibly do to get his body right.
"My body is as strong as it can be and I'm just looking
forward to seeing this," he said.
"I think it's an adventure for thousands of Australians and
I'm feeling the exact same way.
"I think the wheelchair or regardless, this is just going to
be a really amazing adventure.
"I'm a little bit of nerves, but just the same as what it
would be if you were walking across the track.
"I love nerves, I wouldn't race wheelchairs, or I wouldn't
race wheelchairs at the level that I'm at if I didn't love them.
"The nerves are what make everything a little more special."
Posted November 5, 2009
Kurt Fearnley Wins New York Marathon
Margie McDonald From: The Australian November 02, 2009
TWO-time Paralympic marathon gold medallist Kurt Fearnley has
won his fourth straight New York marathon this morning (AEDT).
The 28-year-old, who won the Chicago marthon two weeks ago,
edged out South African veteran Krige Schabort in a photo
finish.
Both wheelchair racers stopped the clock at 1hour 35min 58sec
forcing judges to go to the cameras to see whose wheel-tip was
in front.
Shabort finished third to Fearnley in Chicago but today in
New York he kept right on his tail.
The pair broke from the pack in the first five kilometres. By
the half-way mark in the 42km race they had built up a lead of
more than two minutes and continued to pull away.
Nothing could split the duo as they entered Central Park
steaming towards the finish line. With 50 metres left Fearnley
had one final surge.
“I can't believe it came down to the last metre,” Fearnley
said.
“I attacked more than a dozen times during the race and tried
to get a bit of a lead, but I couldn't break him.”
Marcel Hug of Switzerland out-sprinted a pack of athletes to
finish third, more than four minutes behind the Fearnley and
Schabort.
He couldn't lift his arms afterwards but the Australian
couldn't wipe the smile off his face.
“I couldn't be happier,” he said.
“That was one of the hardest races I have ever pushed and to
finish in front is amazing.”
After defending his Athens gold by collecting the Beijing
Games marathon gold medal in August last year, Fearnley has now
finished 2009 unbeaten, with six marathon wins from six starts _
Seoul, Paris, London, Sydney, Chicago and New York.
But he has little time to rest. Along with a group of family
and friends, Fearnley, who was born without a complete spinal
cord, will leave his wheelchair and crawl the 98km Kokoda track
in Papua New Guinea starting next Sunday.
Posted November 5, 2009
Four in a row for Fearnley in New York
By Jennifer Browning in New York
The defending champion has been in New York City since
Tuesday preparing for the race, a close contest that came down
to the final centimetres.
Fearnley led the race at the start but settled in behind good
friend Krige Schabort of South Africa at the half way mark.
The 28-year-old is used to leading at the final stages, but
this year was different.
Feanley chased down Schabort on the final sprint into Central
Park, edging him out by centimetres.
"I'm hurting mate, that one took a bit, that's the closest
finish I've ever had," he said.
He finished the 42.2-kilometre course in a time of one hour,
36 minutes.
He says having to sprint at the finish really hurt.
"That was hard, I don't think the arms are used sprinting and
I felt like they were just full of mud there coming up with 100
metres to go," he said.
"I was looking at Krige's front wheel just yelling at myself
not to let it by me.
"He's a hell of a guy to race with, he's been racing for 20
years and he said this is the strongest field he's ever pushed
in outside the Paralympics.
"To go one two with him and get over the top by an inch,
that's a good race."
It is the 40th anniversary of the New York Marathon and
Fearnley says this one is extra special.
"Four in a row, toughest race on the planet, it doesn't get
any better than this," he said.
"It's a hell of a way to finish the racing for the year.
"Any medal that's made at Tiffany's is a pretty special
medal, but this one is going straight to the cellar. This one is
getting kept."
Just three weeks ago Fearnley won the Chicago Marathon and
his list of challenges do not stop today.
He will fly back to Australia tomorrow and next weekend he
will attempt to crawl the 96-kilometre Kokoda Track.
"I've got 12 hours to soak in this atmosphere," he said.
"I'm going to see a [New York] Jets [NFL] game, then ill get
on an plane and it's all Kokoda from there."
He will crawl the track with 15 of his close family and
friends to raise awareness for men's health.
"The boys are amazing, if it's at all possible to get through
this track it will be with them around me, I think it's going to
be great," he said.
It was a great day for Australia in the wheelchair division,
with Christie Dawes finishing in fourth place in the women's
event.
Posted November 5, 2009
Mateship in war and sport
by Sally Robbins WA Today.com.au
November 05, 2009
Two-time paralympic champion Kurt Fearnley, a four-time
winner of the New York Wheelchair marathon, is already a hero.
But the journey on which he is about to embark will cement
this even more. He is taking on the challenge of attempting to
crawl 96km of steep and slippery terrain of the Kokoda Track
this Saturday.
Many might say that he was mad, considering able-bodied
people struggle with the walk and two Australians died within a
week of each other while walking the trail in April.
But Fearnley said even though he was a little bit worried, he
had 15 close family and friends to help him through.
What inspired the crawl was watching a family member battle
depression, resulting in their death and he felt that it was a
perfect way to raise awareness of this issue by campaigning for
Beyondblue and Movember, both targeting men's health.
He said the trip was about mateship and "blokes supporting
other blokes and asking for help when they need it".
You might ask why the Kokoda Track? Well, what better link to
make by connecting a successful sportsman who has had many
struggles of his own to the battlefields of WWII.
Australia has very strong ties with both sport and war. Both
determine how Australians see themselves and how the world sees
them.
Throughout history, war and sport have been linked, whether
it is through military training exercises or associating
competition with qualities such as loyalty, mateship, courage,
leadership, physical prowess and national pride.
Some might claim though that comparing war and sport
trivialises what those in a real war endured.
Sport in one way may reinforce antagonisms bred on
battlefields, which keeps the memories of battles long ago
"alive" and may exacerbate the "ill feeling" and hostility
between countries. However a journey such as this one brings
nothing but positives, apart from aching limbs, blisters and
maybe a few cuts and bruises.
From Fearnley's perspective it is all about mateship. Many
men during World War II had it far worse. As well as having
bullets flying past them, they were battling malaria, dysentery
and often crawling to safety with legs and other limbs missing.
Just as some of the soldiers relied on other diggers to get
them to safety Fearnley may also need to call on his support
network to complete his challenge.
Posted October 27, 2009
Fearnley embarking on
difficult quest
Tue Oct 27, 2009 By Joe
Battaglia / Universal Sports
CHICAGO -- His arms burned with
an ache like he never felt before.
His hands were chaffed with blisters from the rough concrete.
For a split second after climbing those 20 flights of stairs
that November afternoon, Kurt Fearnley questioned what he was
getting himself into. But that fleeting moment of doubt was
hardly enough to squelch the indomitable will of a champion on a
quest.
Last year, the nine-time Paralympic medalist and winner of 23
marathons over the last eight years decided that he wanted to
complete the Kokoda Track, a 60-mile stretch through the jungle
and mountains of Papua New Guinea steeped in history.
The trail is also among the most inaccessible and dangerous in
the world, so arduous that earlier this month it claimed the
lives of two able-bodied trekkers.
Fearnley, who lost the use of his legs due to a developmental
disorder of the spine, plans to crawl Kokoda on his hands and
knees six days after he competes in the ING New York City
Marathon.
"Everyone says to me, ‘Have you gone mad? What are you
thinking?'" the 28-year-old said a day before winning his third
straight title at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. "My job
is to race for Australia, and the Track has a huge significance
in Australian history. For me, I think it's going to be a bit
about figuring out who we are. It is also a chance for me and my
family and friends to experience something positive and
challenging."
Fearnley is crawling Kokoda to raise money for the charity
Movember, which supports awareness of men's health issues in
Australia, particularly depression and prostate cancer. In this
aim, his ties to Kokoda are personal.
"I lost my cousin, Peter Smith, to depression," Fearnley said.
"Blokes in our country find it hard to talk to other blokes
about what's affecting them. We fellas need to need to learn
that we can talk to other fellas and when we ask for help it is
often received with nothing but good will. If you can turn to
your friend, or your brother, or your cousin, and can ask for
help, so much more can be accomplished. Even a guy in a
wheelchair can feel confident enough to crawl the Kokoda Track."
HISTORY BEHIND THE HIKE
The Kokoda Track is a single-file foot trail that starts just
outside Port Moresby and runs 60 miles through the Owen Stanley
Range in Papua New Guinea. The trail crosses rugged and isolated
terrain, and reaches a height of 7,185 feet as it passes around
the peak of Mount Bellamy.
The trail was first used by European gold miners in the 1890s.
During the Pacific War of World War II a series of battles,
afterwards called the Kokoda Track Campaign, were fought from
July 1942 to January 1943 between Japanese and Australian
forces.
Japanese forces had originally hoped to take Port Moresby, on
New Guinea's southeastern shore, by sea. However, having been
repulsed by the United States Navy in the Battle of the Coral
Sea in May and again in the Battle of Midway in June, the
Japanese resorted to a land invasion. Landing at Buna on New
Guinea's northeastern shore, Japanese soldiers advanced the
Kokoda Trail toward Port Moresby.
The Australian forces were both outnumbered and inexperienced,
particularly at jungle warfare. After they were initially unable
to stop the Japanese, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur reinforced
the Australians with more seasoned Allied troops and in November
1942, they had retaken Kokoda. By January 1943, Japanese forces
were pushed off the island.
Kokoda was the first time Australians fought and died repelling
an invader on Australian soil without the material presence or
support of the United Kingdom.
"It's the only track where
a battle has been fought in the direct defense of Australia,"
Fearnley said. "We've never had a war in Australia. The closest
we got was New Guinea, where Australian soldiers fought in
defense of our country as the Japanese were moving toward
Australia. That's where our ties became tighter with the U.S.
because that was the time when we turned to General MacArthur
and the U.S. because the English weren't there to help us."
Fearnley said he has been particularly inspired by the story of
Corporal John Metson, who was serving in Papua New Guinea during
in August 1942 when he was shot in the ankle. Metson refused to
burden his comrades with the task of carrying him on a
stretcher. Bandaging his knees and hands, he crawled Kokoda for
three weeks until he was finally killed in a Japanese ambush.
"People crawled down there with legs missing, with limbs
missing, with bullets shooting at them, with dysentery, with
malaria, with an army on their heels," Fearnley said. "There are
going to be no bullets flying at us, no one chasing us, no one
trying to stop us. No matter how tough we seem to be having it,
people have had it far worse. Along that track, there isn't a
thing you could do that could even compare to what people went
through in the past. That's why it's very doable."
NOT A WALK IN THE PARK
Australian casualties in the war have been estimated at more
than 2,100 while it is believed that 12,000 of the 18,000
Japanese troops who fought in New Guinea died. The challenges
that those troops faced 67 years ago - hot, humid days,
intensely cold nights, torrential rainfall, risk of endemic
tropical diseases - are the same that trekkers face today.
Since 2001, the steep, slippery terrain of Kokoda has claimed
the lives of six people who have attempted to walk it, including
four this year alone.
Imagine then pulling
yourself, hand over hand, through the mud and over the debris
and across the streams that cut through the wilderness like
Fearnley will.
For almost two weeks straight.
"It's going to be 12 days of crawling through jungle," Fearnley
said. "It's hard on your body. It's a tough, just-brutal thing
to put your body through. It's going to be tougher than even I
can imagine."
But Fearnley has prepared himself the best that he can.
His physical preparation began almost a year ago, but kicked
into high gear in May following the Sydney Marathon. His
workouts have consisted of crawling up and down flights of
stairs and through the bush near his home in Newcastle. In early
October, accompanied by his dog Alby, he climbed the 1,504
stairs of the Centrepoint Tower in Sydney on his hands and
knees, making it to the top in 20 minutes.
"It's ‘Planet of the Apes' material," he said. "I've been
crawling through mud. I've been crawling up and down the
steepest descents I can find. I've been crawling between 10 and
20 kilometers a week, and then I'm doing as many stairs as I can
do, between 50 and 100 flights of stairs a day.
"There's stairs just outside my house and I just go up and back,
up and back, up and back. Now, I can knock out 60 stairs in half
an hour if I put my head down. My first training session was
terrible. I did 20 flights of stairs and I was just shattered,
full of blisters and all that sort of stuff. I hadn't gotten the
gloves. I hadn't gotten any of the equipment really sorted out."
EQUIPPED FOR THE
CHALLENGE
After that initial workout, Fearnley worked on coming up with
gear to protect his extremities from the elements and friction
of the crawl.
To keep his skin dry, and thus firmer and more resistant to
tearing, he will wear a neoprene wetsuit, similar to what
surfers or divers might wear. The wetsuit will be adorned with
rubber and treading to protect his shins, knees, and elbows. His
shoes will be capped with steel. For support, he will also wear
a steel wrist brace covered with rubber. Fearnley said all of
his gear is custom designed.
"Me and my cobbler, my boot maker, kind of put our heads
together and came up with it so it's all made from scratch," he
said. "It took a long time to develop it but I'm finally happy
with what we've got. I think we've done good."
Fearnley laughed off the threat of "creepy crawlers, snakes and
wombats," but admitted to being far more concerned with the
threat of malaria, a parasitic disease most often transmitted
through mosquito bites but one that can also be water-borne.
Fearnley said he will begin taking preventative medication the
week before the crawl and then again for two weeks afterward.
During the expedition, he said immediate treatment of the
slightest injury will be paramount to survival.
"You need to make sure that you're on top of every single cut,
anything that can get a bit of bacteria or disease into your
bloodstream," Fearnley said. "Every injury has to be treated
with respect. It's 96 kilometers and every meter can be the one
that gets you. It's the most inaccessible place on the planet.
You're crawling over mossy logs and there is something like 15
river crossings. Every step can be the one that you need to get
flown home for. I've been racing marathons for about 10 years
now and I wouldn't mind doing it for another five or 10 so I'm
going to take every precaution possible."
Fearnley said he is not sure how crawling the Kokoda Track will
impact him or his marathon racing. He expects that his life will
be different afterward.
"This is about as far removed from my comfort zone as I have
ever been," he said. "Marathons for me are more about finesse.
They're about technique and being as technically perfect as you
can time and time again for an hour and a half. Crawling is
being brute-strong dragging yourself for hours and hours and
hours.
"After going through something like this mentally, I will
probably see things differently. All I can be sure of is that
I'm doing it for the right reasons and that I think I'm in the
right place right now to be able to give it a crack."
Posted October 27, 2009
Milton finds relief in
conquering Kokoda Track
Source: GEEJAY MILLI
CONQUERING the Kokoda Track in five days was quite a relief and
achievement for paralympian Michael Milton who had embarked on
the feat a week ago.
Milton had come on an earlier trip where he had walked the track
in eight days, this time the feat included the coast-to-coast
cycling from Buna to Kokoda in the Oro province and the 96km
track to Owers’ Corner.
He then continued with the final leg of cycling from Owers’
Corner to the yacht club in Port Moresby. “It was really
tough, I’m feeling really tired but it feels good,” Milton said.
“The track was a wonderful experience starting from the north
coast, it was an amazing feat for five days,” he added, whilst
passing through the Sogeri turn off.
Losing his left leg at the age of nine did not stop Milton from
reaching out for his dreams, which he has done for the last 30
years.
Milton has competed in four winter Paralympics and the Beijing
summer Paralympics where he won gold as a cyclist.
Accompanying him where two of Milton’s friends and tour company,
Kokoda Spirit, owner Wayne Wetherall, they were later joined by
Wetherall’s 15-year-old son Blake for the cycle from Owers’
Corner to Port Moresby; Blake has walked the track seven times.
The coast-to-coast mountain biking is the new part of the Kokoda
experience that was included in the package, with the first
expedition in 2006.
“To expand tourism, we must make people realise that it is not
only the Kokoda section that consists of the track, but the
coast as well,” Wetherall said.
However, Wetherall was disappointed with the work of
conservation that took place along the Efogi section of the
track, “the building of wooden staircases and supports are
taking the look away from the track, this is not an Australian
track, tourists come here for the PNG experience, the track must
be maintained in its original state,” he said.
Posted October 8, 2009
Bikes and boots in coast to coast PNG
challenge By News Online's Brigid Andersen
Snake bites, landslides and breaking bones in muddy,
mountainous terrain are just a few hazards along the way when
trekking from Papua New Guinea's north to south coast.
Now throw into the mix some cycling, the Kokoda trail, an
eight day deadline and doing it all on one leg.
Paralympian Michael Milton, who lost his left leg to cancer
when he was nine years old, heads to PNG tomorrow to begin the
journey along with an Australian and PNG guides.
"We'll be starting up on the north coast at Buna where the
Japanese fleet landed during World War II," he told ABC News
Online.
"We're going to be mountain biking to Kokoda, the village,
which I believe is about 120 odd kilometres. It's going to take
us about two days.
"Then we swap the wheels for the boots, walk the Kokoda trail
in five days and then back on the bikes for the last day which
will be from Ower's Corner at the south end of the track down to
Port Moresby."
Because Milton will be making the 291-kilometre trek on one
leg, he has had to make some minor modifications - firstly to
his bike.
"I took the left peddle off. [Otherwise] it's just a normal
mountain bike I bought in the shop," he said.
"I've got my crutches set up so the base of them is a little
bit like a ski pole, with the pole actually sinking down into
the mud to prevent any sliding and then a basket to stop the
crutches sinking too deeply into the mud."
Despite this, Milton is not worried about being left behind
on the trip.
"If I get good grip I'm generally maybe 10 per cent slower on
the uphills, but probably more than that faster on the down
hills because walking with crutches and pivoting at the shoulder
means that you have an extremely long stride," he said.
More adventure
Milton is no stranger to adventure; he has won 11 Paralympic
medals, including six gold. He has competed in snow skiing - for
which he holds the Australian open speed skiing record - and
cycling.
He has hiked Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, and
has cycled from Sydney to Brisbane.
But he says Kokoda, which he has trekked before, is a trip
that cannot be undertaken lightly and proper preparation and
packing is essential.
"Your first aid supplies are going to be a pretty
comprehensive pack of stuff that's going to cover acute
injuries, cuts, lacerations, snakebites, stuff like that," he
said.
"Secondly, if there's some more serious stuff going on then
some pain control medication and things like that [are essential
and working] with a reputable company.
"I guess in the end the most important safety tool you've got
is a satellite phone, because if things do go awry you want to
be able to call for help."
Milton says his already rigorous training regime has been
stepped up in the lead-up to the coast to coast trip.
"I'm generally pretty physically active just because it's a
part of my lifestyle after being a professional athlete for so
long," he said.
Another challenge on the trip for Milton will be taking the
right food to sustain him. He was diagnosed with Oesophageal
cancer in 2007, which has left him with just a third of his
stomach.
Despite this, he is looking forward to mixing his assortment
of grains from South America with some local cuisine - and a few
pancakes which he says the local guides like to cook up for
breakfast.
Milton says meeting and working with the PNG locals is just
as important as the physical element of the journey.
"It has many elements to it. I've spoken a bit about the
physical challenge and the physical element to it. But there's
an emotional element to it there as well," he said.
"Learning about the history of the campaign that Australia
ran during the Second World War against the Japanese.
"To me one of the highlights of my last trip was getting to
know the local guys, the guys your working with, who are
trekking with you and coming along, the guys who have an amazing
history and very different culture."
Big fear
He says the recent Australian deaths on the Kokoda show how
tough the trek can be and highlight how important preparation
is.
"My biggest fear is at this stage is not completing my goal.
We've got a pretty tough program," he said.
"It's going to be an intense nine days of physical activity
and my biggest worry at the moment is that the training that I
have done is not enough."
Milton, who is married with two children aged three and 10
months, says he has put his wife through some worrying sporting
moments in the past.
"My wife understands that doing this thing is a part of me
and a part of who I am and a part of what I love doing," he
said.
"I'm sure if you ask her when she was most worried - that's
probably standing at the bottom of a mountain in France watching
me trying to ski it at over 200 kilometres per hour.
But he says despite the risks, the reward of a cold beer and
warm bed makes it worthwhile.
"I believe there are inherent risks in what I do but I
believe the greater risk is not doing them, not following who
you are, not doing what you love to do," he said.
"Kokoda is a fantastically rewarding place to go. There's no
doubt it's hard, there's no doubt it's a challenge, but the
feeling when you get to the end of it, you're back at the hotel,
you've got a bed to sleep in instead of a tent, a beautiful pool
to swim in and stay cool, a beer in your hand.
"It's an amazing feeling to get to the end and that's an
experience for me is a part of it."
Posted October 6, 2009
Kokoda guide backs health checks
Damian Bathersby | 5th October 2009
A SUNSHINE Coast tour operator has backed calls for mandatory
health and fitness checks for people who want to tackle the
Kokoda Track.
The calls follow the recent deaths of two walkers.
But Wayne Weatherall, the managing director of Kokoda Spirit,
believes the deaths will only increase the track's notoriety and
result in more people wanting to conquer the “brutal” 96km trek.
Sydney man Phillip Brunskill, 55, who died from a suspected
heart attack just an hour after starting the 96km walk on
Sunday, had reportedly provided a full medical clearance to his
trekking company.
A spokesman said it was now obvious that Mr Brunskill “hadn't
prepared himself physically as well as he should have”.
Mr Weatherall said although medical and fitness exams should be
compulsory, they should not be a legal requirement under
government legislation.
“You don't want to over-regulate the industry,” he said.
“People need to check that the company they are going with is a
reputable one.
“There are a number of professional operators trying to do the
right thing but there are so many new operators now.
“There are no regulations at all. Anyone can say 'I walked the
track - I can be an operator now' and they get a website up and
it all happens.”
Radio personality Caroline Hutchinson, who recently completed
the track, agreed that legislation forcing trekkers into health
and fitness tests would be “complete overkill”.
“If you have done the training and are with a reputable company,
I honestly don't see it as something life-threatening,” she
said.
“I don't want to underplay it. It's tough but completely
achievable ...”
Mr Weatherall, who has completed the track 35 times, said he was
not interested in taking people who did not have the right
attitude.
“It has a certain amount of notoriety. People like to be able to
say 'I survived Kokoda'. But don't go to Kokoda if all you're
trying to do is tick a box in your life.
“If you're not prepared to do the hard work before you go, then
you shouldn't be going at all.”
Posted October 1, 2009
Paralympian gold medallist and marathon king Kurt Fearnley
has crawled his way to the top of
Sydney Tower in 20 minutes, faster than most able-bodied people
can do it.
The 28-year-old bolted up all 1,504 fire stairs, two at a
time, with his six-month-old chocolate labrador Alby.
The record time for the annual Sydney Tower Run-up is six
minutes and 52 seconds, but Tower manager Jade Hayes says most
people with a good fitness level need 25 minutes.
Fearnley is in training to defend his Chicago and New York
marathon titles after marathon wins in Paris, London, Seoul and
Sydney, and the Kokoda Trail in November.
Watch an interview with Kurt Fearnley click on the link
below.
Queensland teenagers leave to walk Kokoda Track with
Kokoda Spirit
Written by Nicole Arrowsmith
The twelve month Kokoda Challenge Youth Program will
culminate this weekend when the 42 young people, hailing from
Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Tweed, depart Brisbane Airport
on-route to Papua New Guinea.
30 of the teenagers will be making the historic pilgrimage
along the 96km Kokoda Track through the Papua New Guinea Jungle
with Kokoda Spirit. The remaining 12 young people, supported by
a building team, will be experiencing the Kokoda Village and
doing much needed repairs on Kokoda Primary School.
To see the entire article in PDF format
click here.
Posted August 29, 2009
Pilgrimage honours our brave
Diggers
August 28 | Caroline
Hutchinson
Is it just me or has everyone just "come off the track"?
That's right, "just off the track" is how we Kokoda trekkers say
it. We're very cool.
Papua New Guinea is truly spectacular. Words can't describe the
lush, cool jungle, the sweeping green valley, the pristine
villages and the fireflies that light up the night-time bush
like Barleycorn at Christmas.
It's 3am, Wednesday, and I'm lying in my tent at Hoi –
officially the bottom of the track – waiting for a 5am wake-up
call to start the short walk into Kokoda township.
I could just lie here and watch the starry night through the fly
of my tent, but I'm frightened the memories will slip away as
fast as the past eight days.
Like meeting the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel who claimed to be 103 but
%was probably closer to 90, who shuffled out of his hut while
proudly sporting his Australian war medals and sang us a quiet
song about the bombs that shook his homeland in 1942.
Or the kids with massive grins at Menari School who sang about
Jesus then crowded around our cameras, pointing and giggling at
themselves on film.
I don't want to forget the site where Stan Bisset – a war hero
still living on the Sunshine Coast – held his dying brother,
Butch, in his arms while the fighting raged on around them.
Or the hut occupied by Nishimura, the Japanese Bone Man, who
left his wife and family for 20 years after the war, determined
to collect the bones of every fallen comrade.
Most of all I don't want to forget 21-year-old Havuka, my
beautiful Kokoda Spirit porter, who shyly held my hand across 50
odd rivers and never let go of the back of my pack as we
clamoured together up 6000 metres of clay wall and tree root and
then down 6000 more of the muddy tracks and slippery rocks that
make up the Owen Stanley Range.
Crossing the track is bloody hard but completely achievable –
you've just got to train for it.
There are three days I can only describe as like walking up and
down Mt Coolum for 10 hours with the odd break to eat lunch or
catch your breath.
In our group there were people from their 20s to 60s and we all
made it.
There were plenty of tears and the occasional chuck chunder as
well as a thousand laughs – like the time we were menaced by
cranky cows or when 25-year-old Jacinda's porter, Gibson, sick
of 20 questions from his relentlessly curious charge, jumped in
the river for five minutes of peace.
The Kokoda Track is untouched.
The closest thing to an amenity is a hole in the ground covered
by two planks of wood, separated just enough to fit your
business through.
Truly, truly disgusting.
There is no electricity or even a generator at any village on
the track, and not a single shop or supply store.
Because the jungle grows so fast, the trek leader – ours a very
handsome young man called Scarfy – carries a machete and a
shovel to clear a path for those in his wake.
I know I'm nearly out of space but I can't finish without
mentioning the singing.
The porters and people of the Kokoda Track are largely Seventh
Day Adventist, with resonant voices of an angel choir.
Our porters sang as we walked, ate lunch and honoured our fallen
soldiers, and some nights they even sang us to sleep.
I feel so lucky to have walked the Kokoda Track.
It wasn't a holiday and it wasn't just a physical challenge.
Wayne from Kokoda Spirit ensures a meaningful pilgrimage to
honour the brave young Diggers of 1942, and the people of PNG
might just change the way you see the world forever.
Is it just me or does everyone suspect they've never really
been tested?
In just over a week I am going to attempt to walk the Kokoda
Trail. Since the day I booked with Kokoda Spirit I have been
training, whining, sweating and (every once in a while) tearing
up, forcing everyone around me to endure as much of the
preparation as possible.
Yesterday I trained with a bloke planning to do the track
later in the year. Kurt Fearnley is 28 years old and a champion
athlete.
His challenge makes my effort seem embarrassingly feeble.
Kurt was born without the lower section of his spine, a
condition known as agenesis which severely restricts the
development of a sufferer's legs. Kurt can move and feel his
legs they just aren't strong enough to carry him.
Subsequently, Kurt is planning to crawl across 96 kilometres
of dense rainforest, rocky cliffs and treacherous river
crossings.
There's no doubt he is up to the challenge. Kurt is the
world's leading wheelchair marathoner, aiming for a fourth
consecutive gold medal at the 2012 Paralympics in London.
I had read a lot about Kurt before I met him and I think I
assumed crawling up mountains would probably be reasonably
achievable if you knew what you were doing, especially for an
athlete as accomplished as Kurt. I could not have been more
wrong.
I'm no physics expert but it seems to me the energy expended
for ground covered is completely out of whack when you're on
your hands.
Kurt was sweating like a demon at the top of Mt Coolum, still
smiling and cracking (very poor) jokes but make no mistake, most
mere mortals could not do it.
Kurt was raised in central west New South Wales in a tiny
town called Carcoar. The youngest of five kids, he spent his
childhood crawling or being dragged across paddocks creeks and
bush tracks by brothers and cousins.
Very early he learned to flip himself over barbed wire fences
(or risk being yanked through by an impatient older sibling) and
he won his first school athletics medal in the high jump
–seriously.
For Kurt Fearnley family is everything. In November he's
crawling Kokoda with 16 brothers, cousins and friends to raise
awareness for Movember and cash for beyondblue. The trip was
planned after the death of a cousin last year.
Kurt says like most blokes, the men in his family find it
difficult to reach out, something he'd like to change.
"One of the reasons I'm going is to put across the message
that blokes can ask for help," Kurt said.
"There's nothing wrong with turning to the fella next to you
and just asking for a hand. I know there'll be parts of Kokoda
when I'm going to have to ask for help.''
As well, Kurt said his trip was about the diggers and he's
very quick to point out he won't be the first man to crawl
Kokoda.
Very close to Kurt's heart is the remarkable story of
Corporal John Metson who served with the 2/14th at Kokoda.
In August, 1942 Corporal Metson's ankle was smashed by a
Japanese bullet.
On makeshift stretchers it took 8 men to carry each of the
wounded and, reluctant to be a burden, Metson refused to lie
down, insisting instead that he would crawl, asking only that
his mates help wrap his hands and knees in torn blanket to
protect them.
Corporal Metson crawled and fought like that for three whole
weeks, before finally falling to a Japanese ambush.
I'm travelling with Kokoda Spirit on August 17 and like
everyone before me I'm nervous about what lies ahead.
Unlike the diggers I'm probably not going to be shot at and I
definitely won't be doing it on my hands.
Meeting Kurt Fearnley was a great privilege and I suspect a
not so subtle message from the universe to shut up and keep
walking.
Posted August 3, 2009
This is Vonda story. My family and I have lived at
Hobartville station for 16 years, for the past 15 of those I
have taught my 4 children through distance education. I now have
time to do something for myself , I decided to walk the Kokoda
track. I found it totally inspiring and after finishing the trek
I have a new appreciation for our defence forces. I hope you
enjoy my recount of the trip as well as some history of the
Kokoda campaign from 1942. Story page 12, 13 and 14.
To see the entire article in PDF format
click here.
Posted July 24, 2009
Laughing Jim's Kokoda tips
Jim Mackinzie spent his 33rd
birthday soaked to the skin fighting in the jungle on the Kokoda
Track to defend Australia from invasion.
To see the entire article in PDF format
click here.
Posted June 24, 2009
Hale Boys learn about Kokoda
trail the hardway
While most WA teenagers will
spend their July school holidays sleeping in or visiting friends
14 Hale School students will be tramping up to 10 hours a day on
the Kokoda Trail.
To see the entire article in PDF format
click here.
Posted June 23, 2009
Australia to spend $12k on Kokoda refurbishment
Australia will spend $12,000 to refurbish part of the Kokoda
Track and build two memorials to Australian service in Papua New
Guinea.
More than 600 Australians were killed and 1,000 wounded in
battles with Japanese forces along the Track during World War
Two.
"This funding will help restore and repaint the Memorial
Archway, a nearby 25-pounder gun at Owers' Corner and the 39th
Infantry Battalion Memorial," Veterans' Affairs Minister Alan
Griffin said in a statement.
"Thousands of trekkers retrace the steps of Australian
soldiers each year; passing through the archway as they begin
their journey on the Kokoda Track.
"The 39th Battalion was the first Australian battalion to
face the Japanese on the Track, and the memorial at McDonald's
Corner honours their service."
The announcement comes one month before Papua New Guinea's
annual Remembrance Day, which commemorates the first engagement
on the Kokoda Track between the Australian military forces (39th
Battalion and the Papuan Infantry Battalions) and the Japanese.
Posted June 23, 2009
Kokoda death probe 'will improve safety
Ilya Gridneff
June 23, 2009 - 4:24PM
An inquiry into the death of a Victorian woman after just one
day on PNG's Kokoda Track will help make the gruelling trek
safer for others, the track authority says.
The ABC reports an inquest date will be set to ascertain how
bank worker Samantha Killen, a 36-year-old mother from Hamilton,
in southwest Victoria, died in April this year.
Four Australian trekkers have perished on the track since
2001. Two of them - Ms Killen and a NSW man - died in the week
before last Anzac Day.
Up to 6,000 Australian tourists tackle the Kokoda challenge
each year, retracing the steps of WWII troops and paying homage
to the 600 diggers who died repelling invading Japanese forces.
Rod Hillman, director of the Port Moresby-based Kokoda Track
Authority (KTA), welcomed the inquest announcement, saying an
inquiry would ultimately benefit others.
"It's difficult to change practice if we don't know the cause
of death," he said.
"There's been conflicting reports, and it would help to know
the cause of death so we can learn from it," he said.
Hillman said the KTA has been in talks with medical experts
about creating better procedures for trekking companies to
ensure trekkers' safety.
Dr David Rosengren, an emergency physician from
Australian-based advisory service Adventure Medicine, will
conduct research on the Kokoda Track around Anzac Day next year
in a bid to learn more about the health risks faced by trekkers.
"The deaths have happened in the very early stages of the
trek, by day two," he says.
"And there have been a few near deaths with people who you
would not classify as in poor health, which has raised with us
what is the cause?
"We have a theory it's to do with hydration levels and
electrolytes or salt abnormalities, but it's hard to say before
the research is carried out," he said.
Dr Rosengren plans to take samples and do tests on trekkers
during the peak period of April next year.
"We've had a great deal of support and interest from the
various players because we all want to improve risk management,"
he said.
Posted June 23, 2009
Australia's
most inspirational athlete
confronts the toughest challenge
of his amazing life
By Chris Wilson
UNABLE to use his legs since birth, Paralympic champion Kurt
Fearnley says he's willing to risk his sporting career - even
losing his arms - in a quest to crawl the Kokoda Trail.
If that sounds over-dramatic, consider that two Australians
died within a week of each other while walking the trail in
April. Walking.
Fearnley, born without the lower section of his spine, must
take on Kokoda with his hands. He will crawl the narrow 96km
route through Papua New Guinea's mountain terrain for 12 days,
up to 11 hours a day.
He will be tested by everything from disease-carrying
mosquitoes to mud that infects by seeping into cuts and
blisters.
He will climb through a steamy jungle where temperatures will
soar into the high 30s and humidity will exceed 90 per cent,
reaching a peak of 2195m.
"I'm making every effort I can to make sure the injuries will
be limited and that I'm able to come home in one piece, but I'm
willing to take whatever risk there is,'' Fearnley says.
"Crawling 96km is something I haven't done before in 12 days
and I don't know what the effect will be. If I was to come home
and not have arms anymore, so be it, I think I'd be doing
something extremely good. Whatever happens will happen.''
Fearnley is the world's leading wheelchair marathoner, aiming
for a third consecutive gold medal at the 2012 Paralympics in
London.
He admits Kokoda could break him and end his racing career.
It's a big risk, but the 28-year-old prefers to focus on the
rewards.
Joining Fearnley for the Kokoda crossing will be 16 of his
closest family and mates, including his older brothers, Adam and
Jason.
The adventure was inspired by the death of their cousin Peter
Smith, who virtually grew up with them in the tiny town of
Carcoar, in the NSW central west.
The father, who battled depression, died in a car crash on
January 20, 2008, not long after dropping his two daughters off
at a friend's house.
Fearnley raised the idea of trekking Kokoda at his cousin's
wake. He will use the trip to raise awareness for beyondblue and
Movember, both campaigns for men's health.
"I want to be as little amount of burden on my friends and
family as I can, but I know there'll be parts of Kokoda when I'm
going to have to ask for help,'' Fearnley says, claiming he
won't be too proud.
"One of the reasons I'm going is to put across the message
that blokes can ask for help. There's nothing wrong with turning
to the fella next to you - your brother, cousin or mate - and
just asking for a hand.
"If nothing else, it's going to make sure that if one of our
family members goes through tough times again, they'll know
there's someone there they can rely on.''
Family has made Fearnley the man he is, simply by treating
him no different to anyone else.
As a kid, he would flip himself over barbed wire fences and
follow his brothers into the bush. He would be the test-pilot
for a home-made go-kart. He won his first school athletics medal
in the high jump.
"If we were playing footy they wouldn't let me sit on the
sidelines. Whatever it was, going rabbiting or fishing in the
river,'' Fearnley says. "If I wasn't crawling across the
paddock, they were dragging me. If I wasn't finding my way
through a blackberry bush they were pushing me. They're the
blokes who made me the way I am, that made sure I wasn't a
passenger, I was a participant.''
Fearnley points out he won't be the first man to crawl
Kokoda.
He's been inspired by the story of Corporal John Metson, who
was serving in PNG during World War II in August 1942 when he
was shot in the ankle. Metson refused to burden his comrades
with the task of carrying him on a stretcher. Bandaging his
knees and hands, he crawled Kokoda for three weeks until he was
finally killed in a Japanese ambush.
"There's no bullets flying at us, all there are is 15 guys
trying to help each other along the track. There's no one
chasing us, trying to stop us getting there, it's just us,''
Fearnley says.
"Along that track, there isn't a thing you could do that
could even compare to what people went through in the past.
That's why it's do-able, very do-able.''
Guide Wayne Weatherall didn't think so at first. Weatherall,
of Kokoda Spirit tours, partnered one-legged Paralympic champion
Michael Milton across Kokoda in 2007. But having walked Kokoda
31 times, Weatherall couldn't believe a man could crawl it.
"That was until we went training off a headland in Newcastle
with Kurt and I struggled to keep up with him,'' Weatherall
says. "He throws himself around like those Olympic gymnasts on
the bars. ``No doubt it's going to be one of the most incredible
and fascinating stories of human accomplishment. Anyone who
walks the track knows how tough it is. To try to crawl across
it, that's remarkable. But I can tell now, there's no way in the
world he's going to fail.''
Fearnley will try to defend his New York Marathon on November
1, just a week before he sets out on Kokoda.
However, he has taken four months off racing to dedicate his
training to conquering the trail. He's now climbing up to 100
storeys of stairs in a session, scaling bush tracks near his
Newcastle home and crawling more than two hours a day. That's on
top of the daily 40km slogs in his wheelchair.
"The first session in October last year, I only crawled about
900m and woke up the next day feeling like I'd been through a
blender,'' Fearnley says. "But every single time I've gone down
there it's a little easier.''
Fearnley is experimenting with equipment to ensure his
safety. Steel-cap shoes to protect his dragging feet, a
leather-style suit and padding to protect his torso.
Fearnley's athletics coach Andrew Dawes will join him on
Kokoda. "I knew I wouldn't talk him out of it,'' Dawes explains.
"He's been training before and he got T-boned at an intersection
(by a car while training for the Sydney Paralympics) and it took
him out for three months. You can worry about things like that
or do what you want to do. That's the way Kurt lives his life,
who am I to say no.''
Adam Fearnley, Kurt's brother, says: "I don't think any of us
doubt that Kurt will make it, we're probably more hesitant about
the rest of us and our fitness. Kurt's got the mental toughness
that he'll keep going no matter what.''
Posted June 23, 2009
Chocolate soldiers had hard centres
By Caroline Hutchinson
Is it just me or does everyone value courage under fire above
all else?
I don't romanticise war but am unashamedly drawn to tales of
our Diggers.
About 15 years ago, one freezing Canberra morning, I stood
shivering in the dark at the ANZAC dawn service outside the
Australian War Memorial.
As day broke to the sound of the Last Post and the crowd
began to disperse, I found myself beside a quiet but friendly
man who was keen to know what had brought me there.
Because he was wearing medals, I asked how he planned to
spend his day, but he told me there were no plans – he was just
going home.
I couldn't believe it. No two-up? No "once-a-year day" with
army mates at the RSL? He smiled and shook his head.
"I don't have any army mates," he said. "My unit went in to
the Kokoda Track. Only seven of us came out."
Alongside Gallipoli, the Kokoda Track is arguably Australia's
most significant military engagement, yet we don't know much
about it.
While Gallipoli probably shaped our national psyche, the
Diggers at Kokoda were actually fighting for Australia. If the
Japanese took Port Moresby, their next stop was almost certainly
north Queensland.
As with all good Digger stories, Kokoda is about victory
against incredible odds, with very little help from the brass.
In short, in mid-July 1942, American general Douglas
MacArthur ordered a force of Australian infantry and American
engineers to move across the Kokoda Track to construct an
airfield and hold off any advancing Japanese.
Because soldier numbers were already stretched to the limit,
the Australian men MacArthur sent to PNG were known as "chocos",
or chocolate soldiers – young and inexperienced, considered
capable of wearing the uniform but not much more.
They were troops with an average age of 18 who had little
training and few supplies or much ammunition. In their baptism
of fire, our boys met a hardened Japanese force that outnumbered
them 10 to one.
From his GHQ in Brisbane, MacArthur just didn't get it and as
battle wounds and disease took their toll, he openly criticised
the continued retreats as evidence the Australians were
inefficient jungle fighters. When asked for more planes, he
refused.
Anyway, while history records the Allies were eventually
victorious in the mud and blood of Kokoda, it was at a terrible
cost.
Next Tuesday on Mix FM, thanks to Wayne and Michelle
Wetherall of Kokoda Spirit, we will auction a chance to walk in
the footsteps of those young men. For the benefit of Mix FM's
Give Me Five for Kids, a nine-day Kokoda trek departing on
Monday, August 17, 2009, will be sold on air, all inclusive,
with absolutely every cent going directly to the children's ward
at Nambour General Hospital.
For better or for worse, I'll be joining the buyer.
Trekking Kokoda will fulfil a long-held dream for me. I'll
probably cry at the site of every battlefield and quite possibly
in between, considering this piece from The Spirit of Kokoda by
Patrick Lindsay,
"It takes around 10 hours of walking, climbing, clambering,
slipping and skidding to travel from the township of Kokoda to
the Isurava battlefield. Think of it as 10 hours on a
Stairmaster exercise machine, most of the time in a steam room.
"During the tropical downpours which drench the land every
afternoon, walking the terrain is like climbing under a
fireman's hose. The climbing is relentless, bringing searing
pain to thigh muscles, but descending is far worse.
"It results in what the Diggers called 'laughing knees' – an
uncontrollable shaking brought about by overuse of the quads in
unfamiliar fashion, a condition exacerbated by constant slipping
in the wet."
Posted May 9, 2009
You
shall not pass: villagers barricade Kokoda Trail Kelly Burke
May 9, 2009
ANGRY villagers have barricaded a portion of the Kokoda Trail,
following the escalation of a dispute with authorities over the
distribution of tourism funds.
Residents of Kovelo village, about an hour's walk south of
Kokoda Village in central Papua New Guinea, erected the
barricade on Wednesday and have since refused to let any
trekkers pass unless they each pay 200 kina ($100). Between 20
and 30 trekkers - mostly Australians - are on the trail at the
moment.
Wayne Wetherall, who runs the Queensland company Kokoda Spirit,
said he had two parties on the track, totalling 14 trekkers,
with one group expected to reach Kovelo village on Tuesday. He
said he was preparing to fly to Papua New Guinea on Monday to
discuss the problem with the villagers.
"We're not expecting to pay extra and we're not expecting any
trouble … we have a very good relationship with [the
villagers]," he said.
The chief executive of the Kokoda Track Authority, Rod Hillman,
said negotiations with a village representative named Benson
were progressing, and on Thursday the group withdrew a threat to
shift the barricade to the airport at Kokoda.
However communications were severed yesterday due to bad weather
and talks are not expected to resume until Sunday, as the
Sabbath is strictly observed by the Seventh Day Adventist
community.
An agreement was reached some months ago between the authority
and the 14 separate wards surrounding the 96 kilometre track
that the $100 fee charged to each trekker, collectively worth
about $500,000 annually, would be dispersed evenly. But the
decision has angered Kovelo villagers, who say only those
villages directly on the track should receive a share of the
fund.
Wayne Wetherall's company, Kokoda Spirit, conducts treks
along the Kokoda Trail and will expand into Borneo this year.
Photo: Jason Dougherty/172843D
After Wayne Wetherall finished the arduous 96km trek that is
Papua New Guinea's Kokoda Trail for the first time, one thing
was clear - it was what he wanted to do for the rest of his
life.
From humble beginnings, Kokoda Spirit - the business Wayne
and his wife Michelle started from their Sunshine Coast home -
has grown beyond the couple's wildest dreams.
In 2008 the company conducted 90 treks along the historic
trail.
Wayne expects that figure to grow this year.
“It started off as a hobby but the business has become our
life,” he said.
“We got in at the right time. Interest in Australia's World
War Two involvement on the trail is really growing, and I've had
to employ four extra guides to keep up with demand.”
“Last year we took about 1000 people along the trail, which
was about 20% of the total number of people who walked the
trail.”
Wayne describes the Kokoda Trail as “a living museum”.
Last year he and a group of trekkers discovered the remains
of Japanese soldiers who died on the trail.
The remains have been recovered and will be presented to the
Japanese ambassador to Australia on April 24.
“We offer an innovative and safe educational travel
experience, focusing on interaction with the local communities
and developing a greater understanding of the diverse and rich
heritage of PNG.
“Our trips also focus on our Australian heritage and
characteristics, and the values that make Australia and
Australians unique.”
Before establishing the business, Wayne was a building
industry sales executive, but “had a nagging need” to make his
Kokoda Spirit dream come alive.
This year, he is planning to expand Kokoda Spirit's
operations to Borneo, another important Australian military
history site, where more adventure treks will run.
“Our clients are very diverse and include school groups,
sporting teams and corporate groups,” Wayne said.
“Later in the year we are even taking the crew from one of
the Australian navy's ships over to do the trail.
“We've also set up the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program, which
helps the development of young people who are at the crossroad
in their lives and require an opportunity to reach their full
potential.”
Posted May 4, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Papua New Guinea returns remains
SYDNEY (Kyodo) The skeletal remains of four
Imperial Japanese Army soldiers discovered last year in Papua
New Guinea were handed over to Japanese officials Friday, the
Australian Associated Press reported.
The remains were found on Mount Bellamy in the
thick jungles of the Kokoda Track, the scene of intense fighting
between Japanese and Australian soldiers during World War II.
Some 13,700 Japanese and 3,025 Australian
soldiers were killed during the Japanese campaign to isolate
Australia from the Allied forces.
Wayne Weatherall of Kokoda Spirit Trekking made
the discovery. He said he believes that the four soldiers were
from the Imperial Japanese Army's 41st Regiment and were killed
in an onslaught by Australia's 2/16 Battalion.
"At first we thought it was an Australian but we
did more digging and found a Japanese helmet," Weatherall told
AAP. "We then found four skeletons, the whole body is there,
also with personal effects like watch, compasses and dog tags."
Although it has taken more than a year to get
permission from the Japanese government and local landowners to
retrieve the remains, Japanese Embassy officials in Papua New
Guinea said they were pleased with the discovery.
Posted May 4, 2009
Students trek Kokoda
28/04/2009 2:50:00 PM
- Students to trek famous trail
- In training as you read this
Six Year 10 Gulgong High School students, James
Buckley, Rose Vassel, Jacob Hunter, Alex Birchall, Nathan
O’Reilly and Tamara Gauci will walk the famous Kokoda Track in
October 2009.
The students will be accompanied by teachers,
Susan Fuller, Talitha McReaddie and Birgit Smith, parents, Maree
Buckley, Greg O’Reilly and Andrew Birchall and community
members, Ross Smith and Phillip Fuller.
As a part of the stage 5 history program,
students study the Kokoda campaign and during Year 9 students
expressed an interest in understanding the trek.
Planning was undertaken with a number of
meetings with interested students and parents and six students
have committed to taking part in the excursion.
The group is now training and this has so far
involved walks at Beryl, Mudgee Red Bank Dam area and Wentworth
Falls.
The group will be undertaking challenging walks
at Newnes, Windeyer and Yarrabin.
As well as this, the Birchall family went
walking at Coolah Tops and Coonabarabran, the Vassels undertook
a challenging walk at Eden as well as local walks which also
included Tamara, the Smiths have been in hard training, the
Fullers trekked in Nepal in April, and the Hunters and O’Reillys
have been testing their fitness on a number of hills.
A number of Mudgee residents have already
completed the Kokoda Trek and Drew Pirie will be assisting with
training walks at Windeyer.
Posted May 4, 2009
Young adventurers taste life - and death - on
the Kokoda
Dylan Welch, Arjun Ramachandran
April 25, 2009
THE big, fat monsoonal raindrops bucketed down,
the ground turned to a mush of mud and mossy tree roots, and the
track seemed to climb forever.
The rain, mud and swollen rivers on the Kokoda
Trail this month led some to compare it with the conditions
faced by the Australian soldiers who fought the Japanese there
during World War II.
In the past week, two Australians have died.
Last Friday, a mother of two, Samantha Killen, 36, suffered a
fatal asthma attack.
Five days later, as the trekkers who aimed to
finish just before Anzac Day marched the grueling 96 kilometres
of steep, slippery hills, a 26-year-old NSW man died from
dehydration.
Brett Mcenallay, who walked the trail with
Kokoda Spirit and a group of 50 from St Ignatius College
Riverview, shared a campsite with the dying man and his group.
"We made vacant one of the sites we were to use.
There was a basic hut that you sit down to eat under, but we
removed ourselves and gave them a bit of space," said Mr.
Mcenallay, a 44-year-old chartered accountant from Berry.
"We said a few prayers for them. We had some
quiet time and the boys had a briefing of what had happened."
The deaths have come as hundreds of people
completed the trek yesterday and today in preparation for Anzac
Day services. Interest in the trail has grown in the past four
years; now up to 5000 Australians make the trek each year.
The trek will still hold fond memories for the
students.
The group watched while Wayne Wetherall, the
owner of one of the larger Kokoda trekking companies Kokoda
Spirit, collected four complete skeletons of Japanese soldiers
who had died during the fighting in 1942. They had been
discovered last year by Mr. Wetherall when a landslide unearthed
them.
"The track is still giving up secrets," Mr.
Wetherall said.
The bones were carried out by the group and
yesterday afternoon was presented to the Japanese ambassador in
Papua New Guinea. The four were members of the Japanese Army's
41st Regiment and had died during their march on Port Moresby,
Mr. Wetherall said.
"[Mr. Wetherall] showed them to us and he loaded
them up to bring them back to Moresby," Mr. Mcenallay said. "We
thought it was amazing that we were part of something so
significant. It was great for the boys to see the tangible
effects of war."
Tough terrain: The Kokoda Track is popular with Australian
tourists. (AAP: Lloyd Jones)
Related Story: Kokoda 'cowboys' endangering lives, operator says
Related Story: Deaths spark calls for Kokoda conduct code
Australians walking the Kokoda Track say they have not been
deterred by two recent deaths.
On Wednesday, a 26-year-old New South Wales man became the
second Australian to die on the track in less than a week.
He died at Ioribaiwa village while trekking with Executive
Excellence.
The company says it is working with authorities to have his body
returned home as soon as possible.
Craig Stevenson has just completed the 96-kilometre trek and
says the deaths would not have deterred him if he had known
beforehand.
"It certainly would've been a reality check that if I hadn't
have done enough preparation, you'd have to think twice," he
said.
This month about 1,000 people are expected to walk the track.
Last week 36-year-old Samantha Killen, from Hamilton in
south-west Victoria, died on the trek.
The mother of two was trekking with her father when she
collapsed and died on Friday afternoon.
Her father told police his daughter had developed sore legs and
appeared to be dehydrated and disorientated in the lead-up to
her death.
'Cowboy' tour operators
Earlier, a Kokoda Track tour operator said it was inevitable
more deaths would occur unless operators he has described as
"cowboys" were banned.
The chairman of the Kokoda Ethics Committee, Aidan Grimes, said
some companies skimp on safety by taking up to 150 people
trekking and by failing to check their fitness levels.
He said the Australia and Papua-New Guinean governments need to
bring in legislation to ban fly-by-night trekking companies.
"There needs to be legislation in such a way that an operator
can't just start up tomorrow and say yes, I'm an operator," he
told The World Today.
"They have got to start looking at insurances. They have got to
start looking at medical backgrounds. They have got to look at
preparation."
Kokoda Track tour companies say the recent deaths are a reminder
to people that it is one of the toughest treks in the world.
Wayne Wetherall from Kokoda Spirit says people wanting to walk
the track have to be physically and mentally prepared.
"It's like being on a step climber in a sauna, the humidity is
just dramatic, the rain, the mud, the size of the hills," he
said.
Posted April 28, 2009
Japanese Kokoda remains return
home
By Liam Fox in Port Moresby
ABC News
Posted Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:49pm AEST
The remains of Japanese soldiers found by a tour company on the
Kokoda Track have been handed back to the Japanese Government.
Four skeletons were found buried along with other personal items
in an eroded river bank while Kokoda Spirit was conducting a
training trek in February last year.
Kokoda Spirit took the four skeletons down the Kokoda Track last
week after getting permission from Japanese authorities to
exhume them.
They have been taken to the Japanese Embassy in Port Moresby.
Kokoda Spirit's managing director, Wayne Wetherall, says it was
an emotional journey.
"We'd like to think that if it was one of our boys found out in
the jungle somewhere that our former enemies would give them due
respect and then try and bring them back to their homeland as
well," he said.
He says the soldiers were killed in an ambush by Australian
diggers in September 1942.
Mr Wetherall hopes the return of the remains will bring closure
to the soldiers' families.
Posted 3-27-09
KOKODA CHALLENGE MEDIA LAUNCH
Wayne Wetherall
Managing Director of Kokoda Spirit and Australian Gold Medal
Olympic winning swimmer Duncan Armstrong help launch the
2009 Kokoda Challenge, proudly supporting the KCYP Kokoda
Challenge Youth Program at Anzac Square in Brisbane.
Tony Schesser and Jennine Pohlmann will head to Papua New Guinea
next month to walk the Kokoda Track.
BY MICHAEL CLEGGETT
12/03/2009 9:23:00 AM
As they struggle along the undulating, mud soaked twists and
turns that make up the Kokoda Track, two Mountains travellers
will be driven by the fact their suffering won’t approach that
of the Australian soldiers who dodged bullets and disease during
WWII.
Tony Schesser and Jennine Pohlmann will join seven other
trekkers in April on the Kokoda Challenge, with each participant
raising $3000 to promote financial self-sufficiency for
communities in the Pacific.
Jennine, whose uncle served at Kokoda during the war, said the
nine day, 96km journey was a not-to-be-missed opportunity to
re-immerse herself in charity work.
Having spent eight years with the Starlight Foundation before
the birth of her now four-year-old son, she leapt at the
opportunity.
“I felt there was really something missing after giving that up
but I knew I couldn’t give it the time that it needed,” said the
42-year-old Warrimoo resident. “So when this came up it was
really special for me and something that I’ve always wanted to
do as well.”
The family connection means the trip will carry added personal
significance, offering a chance to connect with her uncle’s
struggles.
“I think being able to be there and to feel that and to
experience that, it can’t help but make you a better person.”
Tony, who is also involved through the Cuscal organisation he
and Jennine work for, has no illusions about the physical
challenge facing the group.
The Springwood man admits that at 44 he is not in peak physical
condition, though a recent bike trip through Cambodia should put
him in good stead.
“I am intimidated but not freaked out. It’s going to be
physically very difficult but notwithstanding any major organ
failing me, I will get through it and be better for the
experience,” Tony said.
The trip is co-ordinated by the Credit Union Foundation of
Australia with proceeds going towards developing credit unions
in the Pacific. Tony and Jennine will spend three days in the
Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby to see the type of work
being done in the region.
“By eyeballing that first-hand and sitting down with these folks
and hearing their story gives us that sense of where the $3000
is going,” Tony said.
Both Tony and Jennine are still pushing towards their
fund-raising target and would appreciate any help people can
offer. To make a donation visit www.cufa.com.au and follow the
Kokoda Challenge links.
Posted February 17, 2009
Kokoda Chicks Challenge is
On Again for 2009
Raise Money for the National Breast Cancer
Foundation
Posted January
19, 2009 Kevin Rudd - Remarks at the
Presentation of the Victoria Cross for Australia to Trooper
Mark Donaldson Government House, Canberra
Trooper Mark Donaldson VC. Your beautiful
wife Emma. And your wonderful, wonderful child. And
distinguished Australians one and all.
Today Trooper Mark Donaldson joins the ranks
of Australian heroes. And his feat of arms, his feat under
fire, now becomes the stuff of Australian legend.
Today Trooper Donaldson joins the ranks of
Jacka, of Cutler, of Kingsbury, of so many who have earned
this medal of gallantry. Of Simpson, of Payne, and others
who have been honoured over the years.
He joins the ranks of our bravest and our
finest. In the 153-year history of the Victoria Cross, fewer
than 100 Australians have been awarded this highest military
honour. And now Trooper Donaldson is one of them.
Trooper Donaldson is the first Australian to
receive this award in 40 years. Trooper Donaldson is the
first in history to be awarded the Victoria Cross for
Australia in the national form of this historic award that
was established nearly 20 years ago.
This award is not given lightly, this award
has never been given lightly. The scroll on the Victoria
Cross is inscribed with two simply words, but two most
powerful words. Those words are “for valour”.
It is awarded in recognition of exceptional
bravery, of extraordinary courage in the face of the enemy.
What is courage? How is courage measured?
The answer perhaps lies best with those who
have known the profession of arms.
General Sherman of the Union Army wrote as
follows: “Courage is the perfect sensibility of the measure
of danger and the mental willingness to endure it.”
And I read Trooper Donaldson’s citation from
the Defence Force, and I read it, and I read it again.
Because this was courage writ large. It leapt from the page.
Bear with me while I read part of it to you again.
“During the conduct of a fighting patrol,
Trooper Donaldson was travelling in a combined Afghan, US
and Australian vehicle convoy that was engaged by a
numerically superior, entrenched and coordinated enemy
ambush. The ambush was initiated by a high volume of
sustained machine gun fire, coupled with the effective use
of rocket propelled grenades. Such was the effect of the
initiation that the combined patrol suffered numerous
casualties, completely lost the initiative and became
immediately suppressed. It was over two hours before the
convoy was able to establish a clean break and move to an
area free of any fire.
“In the early stages of the ambush, Trooper
Donaldson reacted spontaneously to regain the initiative. He
moved rapidly between alternate positions of cover engaging
the enemy with 56 millimetre and 84 millimetre anti-armour
weapons, as well as his M4 rifle. During an early stage of
the enemy ambush, he deliberately exposed himself to enemy
fire in order to draw attention to himself and thus away
from wounded soldiers. This selfless act alone brought
enough time for those wounded to be moved to relative
safety.”
And in reference to the saving of the
interpreter: “His movement, once identified by the enemy,
drew intense and accurate machine gun fire from entrenched
positions. Upon reaching the wounded coalition force
interpreter, Trooper Donaldson picked up and carried him
back to the relative safety of the vehicles and then
provided immediate first aid before returning to the fight.
“In subsequent occasions during the battle,
Trooper Donaldson administered medical care to other wounded
soldiers whilst continuing to engage the enemy.”
In our workaday lives, that is the stuff of
legend. It is the stuff of Australian legend.
It is the spirit of Kokoda where nobody is
left behind.
It is the spirit of ANZAC, as the great CEW
Bean has written: “ANZAC stood, and still stands, for
reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, for
resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship, and endurance that
will never own defeat.”
Mark, these men of ANZAC would nod with a
knowing pride of your achievements and your feats in the
field of battle in Afghanistan.
Within this last week, we have buried one of
our best who lost his life in his country’s name. And he is
one of too many who have done the same, fighting for the
values for which Australia stands in the distant mountains
of Afghanistan. Many others still have been wounded and I am
fearful that there will be more.
As a nation we are proud of all of our men
and women in uniform. For there is no higher honour than to
wear the uniform of Australia.
Trooper Donaldson, by your deeds you honour
your family. By your deeds you honour the Army. By your
deeds you honour the country. This country Australia.
At a time of national difficulty, you also
speak to the nation’s spirit in a way you may not yet
understand.
CS Lewis wrote: “Courage is not simply one
of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing
point.”
Trooper Donaldson, you met the test and you
passed with flying colours.
Trooper Donaldson, the nation salutes you. A
man of valour. A man who consciously took the decision to
place his own life in peril to save the lives of others.
Fearnley embarking on
difficult quest 
Sydney Tower in 20 minutes, faster than most able-bodied people
can do it.
