Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels of Kokoda

New Guinea lies just to the north of Australia. In fact, if you stand on the northern most point of Cape York you can almost see New Guinea across the Torres Strait. The group of of islands in this body of water are more related to New Guinea than to Australian aborigines, although they are Australian citizens.

During the war and for years afterward New Guinea was under the protectorate of Australia until it was decided to allow its independence in the late 1960's.-70's

Photo of the Owen Stanley Range is from picsearch.com It shows the jungle conditions of a mountain whose height is 4073 m or 13363 ft. For most this is getting extremely high and would normally play havoc on the body. But it is also an area where you get rain every day, where tracks are mud, rivers are torrents, waterfalls are abundant and that is only the geological side of the environment. Add to these hazards, snakes, birds, insects, constant wet clothes, freezing cold night and boiling hot days and you get some idea of what climbing this mountain in normal soldiers gear of WW2 would have been like. Bear in mind too that due to the scarcity of supplies and materials the soldiers were not well equipped.

My introduction to this region was through anthropology and an in depth study of the native people and their tribal customs. Isolated from the west by impenetrable mountains and impossible terrain most of the tribes in the high mountains had never seen a white man until anthropologists, Mick Leahy and Jim Taylor, walked into the "huge and heavily populated Wahgi Valley. A short time later they walked in with a well supplied patrol and became the first westerners to come into contact with the tribes that are now on the location of Mount Hagen." (cited Wikipedia) The natives thought they were gods with their light skin and hair. Managing to communicate with and befriend them enough to study their customs and habits and build an airstrip at Kelua.

Lae is the seond largest city in Papua New Guinea. The Highlands Highway, the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast, begins here It is also the main cargo port and home to the University of Technology.

It started as a result of the gold rush of the 1920's 30's and developed around an airstrip. In 1937 Amelia Earhart took off from here and disappeared on her round the world flight. In 1937 due to a volcanic eruption in Rabaul it became the Capital city of New Guinea.

The Japanese invasion of 1942 saw them take over Lae, Rabaul and Salamaua where they built major bases in preparation for invasion of Australia. The first assault took place on February 19th when aerial attacks on Darwin devastated Allied shipping, At the time there were 46 ships squeezed into it. The Japs launched 188 planes in the attack and lost some 131 of them while the Allies lost some 900 people, 77 planes and several ships.

The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, took the approach that the Japanese could have Australia and they would try to get it back later. Australians were furious and armed themselves with the addition that wives and children should be killed at their own hands rather than let them fall into the violent hands of the Japs who would rape them.

At that time the country had sent its fighting forces to battle the Germans in Europe and Africa and were fighting major campaigns with heavy losses. A young nation of just 7 million it was hard to round up a new fighting force in time to counter the Japanese. England wanted several thousand more of our young men to go over there and John Curtin, Australia's Prime Minister, stood up to Churchill and said no.

He loaded young untrained 18 year olds onto rusty ships and sent them into New Guinea where he hoped to stop any invasion. At Port Moresby they received a brief six weeks training before facing the Japs on the Kokoda Trail. The Americans came to our aid under General Douglas MacArthur, who took control of this region and they fought the Japs in the battle of the Coral Sea.

Port Moresby is the largest city in New Guiinea and it sits on the south east peninsula of what is known as the Gulf of Papua. It was sighted by Captain John Moresby in 1873. He named the harbor after his father, Sir Fairfax Moresby

Inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people it was an important center for trade between various tribes who dealt in tools, weapons, boats and other things. Houses were mostly erected on stilts over water making little impact on the land.

European settlement began in c.1883 with the annexation of the eastern part of New Guinea to the British Empire. It then passed to the new Commonwealth of Australia in 1906 and was a territory administered by it until 1975 when it gained independence.

During the Second World War it served as an allied military base and thousands of troops were stationed there. It was the objective of a Japanese invasion fleet in May, 1942, that was stopped by the Battle of the Coral Sea. The enemy then tried to take the city by going overland and down the Kokoda Track.

The poorly trained new recruits from Australia were called upon to deal with them. They faced the battle hardened Japanese who had superior weapons, training, acclimatisation and support. Pushed to the limit many an Aussie collapsed on the way up the hill and many more suffered horrendous injuries, discomfort and diseases, such as malaria.

Every day it rains here for at least an hour saturating clothes, ground and equipment. At night, in contrast to hot stifling day time temperatures, the thermometer plunges and people having to sleep in wet clothes really feel it. Stumbling on the next day up the wet, slippery, hard to climb track it was not uncommon for a fall to result in broken leg bones, snake bites, or lacerations. Many would still fight on regardless of their injuries if they could.

Japanese soldiers threw everything at them from hand grenades to bullets, bombs rained down from aircraft, and they trudged on, upwards and down again. This was what they faced on the Owen Stanley Range with its height over 13,000 feet high.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels

Many a mother in Australia when the busy day is done
Sends a prayer to the Almighty for the keeping of her son
Asking that an angel guide him and bring him safely back
Now we see those prayers are answered on the Owen Stanley Track.

For they haven't any halos only holes slashed in their ears
And their faces worked by tattoos with scratch pins in their hair
Bringing back the badly wounded just as steady as a horse
Using leaves to keep the rain off and as gentle as a nurse

Slow and careful in the bad places on the awful mountain track
The look upon their faces would make you think Christ was black
Not a move to hurt the wounded as they treat him like a saint
It's a picture worth recording that an artist's yet to paint

Many a lad will see his mother and husbands see their wives
Just because the fuzzy wuzzy carried them to save their lives
From mortar bombs and machine gun fire or chance surprise attacks
To the safety and the care of doctors at the bottom of the track

May the mothers of Australia when they offer up a prayer
Mention those impromptu angels with their fuzzy wuzzy hair.

- Bert Beros

The 21st Brigade under the command of Brigadere Potts comprised just 1500 men. It was their job to stop the Japanese advance into Port Moresby. What followed was arguably the bloodiest battle of World War 11 and Australia's most significant campaign, according to Wikipedia.

More Australians died here than in any other campaign and these 18 and 19 year old soldiers lie buried at the Bomana war cemetery outside Port Moresby

Description of the track from Wikipedia:
".The track was fairly easy up the slopes through Gorari and Oivi to the village of Kokoda, which stood on a small plateau 400 meters above sea level, flanked by mountains rising to over 2000 meters.

It then climbed over steep ridges and through deep valleys to Deniki, Isurava, Kagi, Ioribaiwa, Ilolo and, at Owers' Corner, linked with a motor road leading from plantations in the hills above Port Moresby down to the coastal plains.

Between Kokoda and Ilolo, the track often climbed up gradients so steep that it was heartbreaking labor for burdened men to climb even a few hundred yards.

Much of the track was through dense rain forest, which enclosed the narrow passage between walls of thick bush.

At higher levels the terrain became moss and stunted trees, which were often covered in mist."

Hard enough to climb under normal circumstances but while fighting a war with a tenacious enemy it was sheer hell.

Again Wikipedia decribes what happened.
"The first engagement between the opposing troops was on the July 23, 1942, and from that engagement, as the Australian force was progressively outnumbered, began the long fighting withdrawal over the Owen Stanley Range.

Kokoda is a small plateau on the north-east slopes of the Owen Stanley Range and possessed a small airstrip the retention of which, for at least as long as it would take Australia to fly in supplies and reinforcements, was of great importance.

However, the remnants of "Maroubra Force", exhausted by a month's constant fighting, were unable to achieve this.

Valiant though their effort was, they even recaptured the plateau after being driven out, the Japanese need was of equal importance as they required a forward base at Kokoda for their drive over the ranges along the "Kokoda Trail" to Port Moresby and they struck before the Australians were able to muster sufficient strength.

The initiative now remained with the Japanese and Australian withdrawal began again - through Isurava, Alola, Templeton's Crossing, Myola, Efogi, Menari and Nauro until at Ioribaiwa Ridge, beyond which the Japanese could not be permitted to penetrate, a final stand was made."

Despite everything a 25 pound gun was hauled up from Port Moresby and the tables turned as the Japanese received a dose of their own medicine.

The final campaign which began on November 19th ended on January 22nd 1943 when all organised resistance by the Japanese ended.

It was with a degree of shock that I was recognised as the next speaker after our Prime Minister, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, at a Liberal Party Federal Convention. The question before the Assembly was "should New Guinea become a state of Australia?"

Some time before this I was on a flight from up north somewhere to Sydney and behind me sat a man from New Guinea. He was instantly recognisable as he was black as the ace of spades and terribly out of place in White Australia. My reaction was to wonder why he was coming to Sydney? Questions like who is he and what is his business here? popped into my head. It was hard for non whites to get visas into Australia but his visit may have had something to do with what happened on this day.

Without any preparation or much thought before hand I was now to speak in front of several hundred people and the media on this very question. It was not hard to get the words out. They floated across the room as my voice boomed through the microphone and into the loud speakers. Not only was I addressing the audience but all of the country. The Sunday newspapers the next day bore my words as their headlines and quoted my speech.

My words went something like this. "You cannot defend this country with out of date ships, planes and tommy guns. Defense must come from within through education and removal of the White Australia Policy. How could we make New Guinea a state of Australia when its citizens are black? How could they vote in free elections when our own aborigines are denied that right? How could they work in a free economy when we deny anyone of any other race outside of those with white ascendants any rights or power in the commercial world?"

Pointing out that we are surrounded by countries whose populations are mainly black it would be impossible to defend our shores if they are antagonized by an attitude that would provoke invasion. With Indonesia close to our northern shores and many islands within a hop step and jump away how long could we seriously think we could keep them out? How long would we be tolerated as this arrogant neighbour? The feeling inside me told me that what was said was making an impact.

The more I spoke the more heated up I became but my debate was a good one and obviously had an impact. Within a couple of days 3 Federal ministers came to see me at the University of New South Wales where I was a medical student to ask me how I envisaged the end of the white Australia policy. The following year I saw my first black South African walking on Sydney streets.

New Guinea was granted independence soon after and they now rule with a good solid political base helped by Australia. We are there for them and we owe them a lot. In my way I sincerely hope they have been repaid for their generosity, help and support at our time of need.

Photo of the front of Parliament House Port Moresby by Steve Shattuck

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