Australia Seeks to Protect World War II Kokoda Trail (Update1)
By Michael Heath and Shani Raja
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Australia wants an accord with Papua New Guinea to safeguard the Kokoda Trail, the World War II battle site, after local villagers blocked part of the track to support the building of a gold and copper mine.
``Australia has the very strong view that the Kokoda Trail needs to be protected,'' Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday, adding he will make this point to his Papua New Guinean counterpart, Sam Abal, when they meet in Canberra next week. ``The Kokoda Trail for Australia and Australians is iconic.''
Frontier Resources Ltd. plans to dig up part of the track between Kokoda village and Owers Corner about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital, Port Moresby, to mine a $6.7 billion gold and copper deposit. Local landowners have been offered a 5 percent stake in the mine and are calling on Papua New Guinea's government to allow its development to proceed.
The Kokoda Trail has become a central event for Australians in war, as was the Gallipoli battles in Turkey in World War I, in which more than 25,000 Australians were killed or wounded.
Troops were rushed there in July 1942 to intercept Japanese forces marching across Papua New Guinea to Port Moresby. The Australians turned back the Japanese advance in fighting that included hand-to-hand combat in the mountainous terrain, preventing the capture of Port Moresby and a possible invasion of Australia 160 kilometers to the south.
Mining Study
Peter McNeil, managing director of Australia-based Frontier Resources, defended the project, which may bring as much as $115 million to local landowners.
``The track is 96 kilometers long, a mining study shows the area of impact from the Kokoda deposit will consume about 600 meters of the track,'' McNeil said today by telephone from Port Moresby. ``You can move the track around it.''
About 5,000 Australian tourists visit the track each year to pay homage to the 600 soldiers, known as Diggers, who died there.
``We very strongly believe that Australia and Papua New Guinea can work cooperatively to protect the iconic value of the Kokoda Trail,'' Smith said in Perth, Western Australia, according to a transcript. ``We also very strongly believe that, to Papua New Guinea, the Kokoda Trail provides great potential and capacity for tourism.''
In July 1942, the 39th Australian Militia Battalion was sent to fight the Japanese and hold the only working airstrip at the village of Kokoda.
Inferior Numbers
The soldiers, sick from dysentery, malaria and malnourishment, were pushed back by superior numbers of Japanese. They managed to reverse the retreat as they moved back toward their own supply lines and the Japanese lines became overextended.
Troops were supported by Papuan carriers, guides and soldiers, who also helped the sick and wounded Australians. They became known as ``Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels,'' from a soldier's verse that included the line, ``May the mothers of Australia when they offer up a prayer, mention these impromptu angels with their fuzzy wuzzy hair.''
Papua New Guinea's government is waiting for a briefing on the mine, expected in the next few days, before making a decision, the office of Prime Minister Michael Somare said.
The government will put the interests of Papua New Guinea's people first, Berta Somare, the prime minister's spokeswoman, said by telephone from Port Moresby today.
``We're sensitive to the feelings of Australians who want to use the track, but we have to put the needs of the people and the economy first,'' she said.
Papua New Guinea shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia. Highlands villagers in the nation of 6 million people didn't come into contact with Europeans until the 1930s.
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