Kokoda Spirit’s Managing Director Wayne Wetherall and St Ignatius Riverview Student John Weston had the recent great honour of laying the 39th Battalion Association Wreath at Bomana War Cemetery Port Moresby on behalf of the 39th Battalion Association during the recent 2011 Anzac Day Service.

Kokoda Spirit Australian Guides Shane Maloney and John Titmus also laid wreaths on behalf of the 39th Battalion association at the Anzac Day service at the Isurava Memorial.

We Made It!

What an experience!

We were privileged enough to be guided across the Kokoda track by the team at Kokoda Spirit. Wayne and Richard shared their knowledge on the track's history and the incredible stories of courage, sacrifice, endurance and mateship shown by Australian soldiers during the war. It was an honour to be following in the footsteps of heroes in such great company, and we thank them for their expertise and support on our journey.

Our trekking crew comprised of a terrific bunch of people: Aaron, Dave, Paul, Doug, Sean, Andrew and all of our porters and local guides were outstanding. We thank each and every one of you for your positivity and encouragement towards our cause. We loved every minute of the trek and we are so grateful to have shared such an unforgettable experience with such a great group of Aussies & PNG'eans - now our new mates.

Tom our cameraman has captured the entire trip on film, and what a sensational job he did. Carrying all of the equipment over such challenging terrain was a momentous feat - what a legend. We look forward to the end result with baited breath.

The track itself was an exciting challenge, and the group did a fantastic job. We all had our moments, but we drew inspiration from Janelle which kept us going and we are all proud of our achievement. Details of the trek will follow shortly.

Thanks again to Air Niugini for flying us safely to and from port Moresby, and to all of our family, friends and sponsors for your generous contributions. We could not have done it without you!

Kokoda upgrade reassures travellers 

Michael Bruce - Travel Weekly 13 April, 2011

Upgrades to the Kokoda Track and stringent safety guidelines for tour operators should encourage more Australians to take on the gruelling trek this year, the Kokoda Track Authority has said.

Launching the 2011 trekking season in Sydney last night, Rod Hillman from the KTA said the Australian and PNG Governments have made significant investments over the past two years to weed out rogue tour operators and to address safety concerns on the track.

Hillman said the revamped licensing system for tour operators, launched last year, has helped reassure Australians about the quality of the experience. Aside from improvements to the track, operators are required to carry basic communication and first aid equipment, while first aid training has also been made available to porters and guides.

“We want to make it a really safe but challenging adventure experience,” Hillman said.

A new terminal building is also being built at the Kokoda airstrip while the KTA is also returning 25% of all trek fees back into the local communities.

Around 17,000 Australians visit PNG each year, with the Kokoda Track being the main attraction. But Leith Isaac, head of marketing for PNG Tourism, said the office also wants to promote other adventure activities, such as surfing and diving. PNG Tourism spends $400,000 in Australia each year.

Isaac said it’s an ongoing challenge to educate travel agents, with awareness still an issue. “It’s a destination that is not really well known and there’s not a lot of information out there,” he said.

The PNG Tourism website has been upgraded to include more information on air links, activities, accommodation and tour operators. Social media accounts have also been established on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Isaac said improved air links should also boost tourism. Air Niugini has moved to double daily flights from Brisbane while Pacific Blue also operates three flights a week from Brisbane.

QantasLink commenced flights from Cairns to Port Moresby last year.

Triathlete takes on Kokoda

DON MAHONEY Mudgee Guardian 13 April, 2011

Well known triathlete and former Mudgee Wombats Rugby Union great Adam Mort will join his 15-year-old son Hamish on a Kokoda Trail trek starting this Friday.

Hamish is a former St Matthew’s student and now attends St Ignatius College, Riverview and they are trekking with a group of 30 students and six teachers from Riverview.

Also in the group will be Michael McManus, whose family recently moved to Mudgee, and also includes 11 other fathers of the boys and four mothers.

“The trek is one of a number of immersions offered by Riverview during school holidays every two years as life-learning experiences,” Hamish Mort said.

“I chose the Kokoda Trail because I wanted to see what the Australian soldiers had to live through during World War II.

“As well as a learning experience and a test of endurance, I expect it will be a mental challenge to walk up one hill only to see another straight after.

“Physically I expect it to be tough, but I am pretty fit and we have been preparing for the trek through the sand dunes at Kurnell and from Perry’s Lookout at Blackheath.”

Adam Mort turned 50 last year and the Kokoda Trail trek fits into one of the significant projects that he set for himself to mark the milestone.

“One was the 230 kilometre Grafton to Inverell bike classic over the Gibralter Range last October, which I completed in eight hours 20 minutes,” Adam Mort said.

“I had pencilled in the Port Macquarie Iron Man (Adam is already the veteran of 11 Australian Iron Man events) I saw it as a chance to honour my father, who was a World War II digger.

“Kokoda fitted in with the special challenges I had set for the year.”

Adams’ father, Charles, was a veteran of World War II action in North Africa and was then based in New Guinea but, as far as he knows, was not on the Kokoda Trail.

“Dad never spoke about his war experiences and it has only been in recent years from talking to my Uncle, who is now 90, about his experiences that I started to understand more about World War II,” he said.

Sights set on conquering track

COFFS HARBOUR ADVOCATe 13th April 2011 

Six men from the Coffs Coast, including vision-impaired dairy farmer Jason Bake, will trek the Kokoda Track. 

They’re out to demonstrate failing eyesight doesn’t end dreams.

The Coffs Coast Advocate is a sponsor of this event, Blind Courage, in June to raise money for Guide Dogs NSW/ACT.

The idea for Blind Courage began during a campfire conversation between Jason and his brother-in-law, Coffs Harbour City Council asset manager Craig Smith.

Jason has lost 93 per cent of his vision through the degenerative eye condition retinitis pigmentosa.

But he has a keen interest in Australian military history and has long dreamed of trekking through the New Guinea highlands where Australian soldiers stopped a Japanese advance during World War II.

“Diminishing sight will make the challenge tougher but now I want to do it more than ever,” Jason says.

“Craig has turned the dream into Blind Courage to raise money for Guide Dogs, whose people give incredible free support to thousands of Australians with eyesight loss.”

Blind Courage is seeking sponsorship and donations for its trek at its website www.blindcourage.net.

Jason and Craig will be joined on the trek by Coffs Guide Dogs instructor Matt Wood, local builder and former rugby league player Peter Phillips, indigenous business field officer Christian Lugnan and Coffs Harbour City Council project designer Robert Fletcher.

The Blind Courage team also includes Armidale Aboriginal liaison officer Steve Widders, who has lost 95 per cent of his sight to cone dystrophy.

Steve last year completed part of the Kokoda Track with an indigenous youth program. He joins Blind Courage this year with Armidale people Nathan and Natalie Mace and Josh Fuller.

The group also includes two Melbournians – film-marker Megan Kae and Jason’s cousin Glen Bake – and another of Jason’s brothers-in-law, Grant Colwell from Coonamble.

The 10-day trek is dur to start on June 3 at Owers Corner, 40km north-east of Port Moresby.

Jason says the team is practising for the 96km trek, which crosses many watercourses and climbs ridges up to 2000m. Techniques include Craig walking a few steps ahead of Jason with an orange fluorescent gaiter on his left foot, warning Jason about difficult footholds and obstacles like tree roots.

Jason says he’ll use similar strategies on the trek to “cope and make the best of the situation” that he uses to farm with impaired vision.

Adventure specialist Dion Taylor of trek facilitators Kokoda Spirit says most days of the Blind Courage journey will involve steep climbs.

Wet weather will increase difficulties. It often rains in tropical highlands. Rapid rainforest re-growth can obscure the track.

Dion says crossing watercourses can be the most daunting part of the journey.

“You can sometimes hear the thunder of fast-flowing highland rapids 90 minutes before you get to a crossing,” he said.

There are single-log crossings over some rapids. Local guides will wade through creeks to install guide ropes.

The team will be assisted by up to 20 New Guineans, and will camp at highland villages.

Dion knows some highlanders well from 20 visits to the track.

“They are fantastic – just like the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels who helped Australian soldiers during World War II,” he said.

Extreme Kokoda Trail for Brain Tumour Victims

In April 2011 join Alex Petrou from the Seed of Thought Group and Dion Taylor of Kokoda Spirit in their quest to complete one of the most difficult treks in the world – The Kokoda trail, 96 kilometres of harsh mountainous terrain in just 3 days. Their goal is to rally the community of North Queensland together to raise vital funds for Brain tumour victims Evie, Saffron and Kim, so they can receive the treatment they require to overcome their respective conditions and live on to inspire others around them.

For just a moment put yourself in Evie, Saffron and Kim’s position. Wouldn’t you want to know that the community was behind you every step of the way that you didn’t have to take on this battle alone?

http://seedofthought.com/projects/kokoda

Please also jump online and check out our YouTube clip - http://seedofthought.com/tv/kokoda

Read the full media release

Janelle Madigan - Never Giving Up

Tonight Kate Save will be appearing on A Current Affair as she is preparing to trek the Kokoda Trail in an attempt to raise money for a 33 year old mother of two, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer at the age of 31. Please tune in at 6:30pm on channel 9 tonight and let all your friends and family know!

Janelle's Story & how to Donate:

Janelle Madigan is no ordinary 33 year old. She is a personal trainer, loving wife to Brett and doting mother of Keirra (4) and Ethan (22 months).

Janelle is also a cancer survivor.

Diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer at age 31, Janelle faced a year of chemotherapy, radiology and surgery, only to be diagnosed as 'medically incurable'. But, Janelle is a fighter who is not willing to give up. This inspiring mother of two is on a mission to become the next medical miracle by returning to complete health in 2011.

To donate please visit My everyday kokoda.

Bridging an ocean of sorrow

Courtesy Sydney Morning Herald October 23, 2010

Reconciling a nation leaves little time for throwing in a line, writes Debra Jopson.

She gazes from the restaurant bar towards Bondi Beach, where surfers are catching long, low waves, and lets slip that she would rather be out there on the sand than in this elevated cube of glass.

Hair bobbed, elegant in a black business suit, Leah Armstrong unwittingly projects the impression that whatever has been promised in the way of seafood for lunch, she is the one about to be grilled, or possibly skewered.

Here she is, the Torres Strait islander daughter of a rural rouseabout and a nurse - who at age 21 thought herself brave to leave her close family network in Mackay for Newcastle - jumping on to the national stage a quarter of a century later to persuade the millions that reconciliation between black and white is not a bridge too far.

Raising her profile as the chief executive of Reconciliation Australia renders her faintly nervous at the start of lunch. But she talks about the need to take risks in her life as a businesswoman and invokes the name of her snake-handler grandfather, Ram Chandra, who in travelling shows around Queensland would enter the ''pits of death''.

''Pop got bitten several times and actually his showman name was the Taipan Man because of the taipan being the deadliest snake in the world.

''He got bitten twice, but because of his research into the taipan and milking [it] and helping to develop the antivenene, he was able to survive that.''

But while the poison affected his mobility - he had to walk with a cane - it did not stop him dealing with snakes because his reflexes remained so fast.

''What he did was very risky and entrepreneurial,'' says Armstrong. ''So that developed through to the sons and we have all had within the family this thing about setting up businesses, being entrepreneurial and taking risks. That's the legacy - being confident enough to take risks and, if you believe in it, keep going and getting back on to it,'' she says.

Armstrong and the Reconciliation Australia board, which includes the eminent Aboriginal academic and activist Mick Dodson, the lawyer Mark Leibler, the Koori Mail editor, Kirstie Parker, and the former senator Fred Chaney, will need such sticking power, as well as the ability to handle venom.

Ten years ago last May at least 120,000 - possibly 200,000 - people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation.

So far only 15,771 supporters of reconciliation have registered on the website unfinishedoz.com.au which Reconciliation Australia launched to mark the anniversary this year, despite a TV ad in which Jack Thompson, Ernie Dingo, Sigrid Thornton and Adam Goodes called for fresh commitment.

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, which ended its stormy life in 2000 with a nation still unreconciled, was generously government-funded and housed inside the Canberra power tent. The successor body Armstrong heads is a non-profit company which gets some government money but relies on corporate and individual generosity to survive.

Separating a whiting's flesh from its bone with the deftness of one born into a family wedded to Queensland ocean life, Armstrong's gaze keeps turning across the bay to a rock fisherman on Bondi's northern point.

''Fishing was just a regular part of growing up. Sand whiting fishing was very, very popular and what we enjoyed doing. My grandmother and the families, because the tides are so low up there, we'd walk out with the tide and all the way back in waiting for the fish. Just great.

''Part of the attraction, or the spirituality of fishing is that you can go out and your mind can be focused either on the fishing or whatever, wherever it takes you … Standing in the water and feeling the warmth of the water and being out there is quite therapeutic.''

Perhaps because she is shy, or because as the mother of two teenagers she has learnt to make every minute on the job count, she only allows talk of leisure to enter a little into the conversation. This is usually about beautiful places.

Five years ago she fell in love with the deserts of the Navajo nation while on a working tour of the United States to learn how indigenous people ran their lives and businesses.

''It's quite sparse, and the Hopi communities … up on the mesas where they have their villages and townships [are] in the middle of the most advanced country in the world … It was kind of like you couldn't believe you were in America.''

Once, for two weeks 15 years ago, she got to her ancestral home of Boigu Island. You can see Papua New Guinea from there and she believes people still take the ancient trade routes between the two countries.

''Whether that is entirely legal, there is probably a question on that. People still get around between the islands of the Torres Strait in dinghies. It is still the main transport.''

With the cross-cultural adroitness so many indigenous Australians display, Armstrong identifies both as a member of the Keodal, or crocodile, clan of Boigu, and with the small business sensibilities of her uncles who made money in Mackay by farming crocodiles that were turned into handbags, shoes and meat.

''Anyone who wanted to see a crocodile farm, we would take them out to the uncles' farm to see the baby crocs when they were hatching.''

From childhood, Armstrong watched her uncles conduct their enterprises, from hiring cranes to operating fishing trawlers. She has no business qualifications, but learnt on the job at her stepfather's framing business. Important lesson: ''The hours you have to put in.''

But there is another truth about the governance of indigenous corporations. It must incorporate cultural values, Armstrong says.

For 17 years, she managed Yarnteen, an indigenous-run business in Newcastle which grew to 266 participants under the federal ''work-for-the-dole'' scheme, then re-established itself as a self-sufficient company. When she left last year, Yarnteen had seven real property assets. Armstrong donned a hard hat when working at its cornerstone enterprise, a huge warehouse on Newcastle's Kooragang Island. But place beside that beefy image the company's corporate plan which mentions the words ''love'', ''lore'' and ''identity''.

She is proud Yarnteen gave a leg-up to Aboriginal entrepreneurs such as Mick Davis, the award-winning inventor of the Davis Starlifter tool for lifting logs and steel pickets.

The mentoring continues. In August she walked the Kokoda Track with indigenous youths on a leadership program. She shrugs away the training - four-hour bushwalks lugging five-kilogram packs.

Keeping fit at 46 will be harder with a job that requires her to commute to Canberra each week - she goes for six-kilometre morning runs and boxes with her fitness buddy.

In the 1990s, which she calls ''that stormy decade'', she saw the courage of individuals when a Queensland fish shop owner MP revved up racist sentiments. She wants her organisation to inspire that fearlessness again. ''With risk comes courage and there were quite a few courageous people who stood up and tried to get their voice through, even through the Pauline Hanson stuff.''

Surveys show about a quarter of the population is pro-reconciliation. An equal proportion is against it and a ''soft middle'' is uncommitted.

''From Reconciliation Australia's perspective, there will always be that 25 per cent that are not believers … and we certainly have got our 'true believers'. But it is the ones who see that something needs to happen [that] we need to help become a lot more true believers, who think they can make a difference.''

Her grandfather took snakes from frightened householders' garages. Her uncles removed rogue crocs from national parks. Armstrong's task is to root out the more persistent beast of racism from the entire nation.

But her working week is over. She straightens her suit and leaves to catch the train to Newcastle, where her husband, Warwick, will pick her up and where maybe, one day, she will find time to go out on their boat and catch fish again.

WORKING TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE

1964 Born in Mackay, Queensland, into the Koedal (crocodile) clan of Boigu Island in the Torres Strait.

1987 Moved to Newcastle where she worked with the Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Co-operative.

1992 Co-founder and founding CEO of Yarnteen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Corporation, which turned into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

1993 Married Novocastrian, Warwick Armstrong and has two children, a daughter, Ellen and son, Wessley.

2002 Chairwoman of NSW Aboriginal Business Roundtable.

2009 Recognised by The Australian Financial Review's Boss magazine as a "2009 True Leader". Numerous board appointments including the Jobs Australia Foundation and Indigenous Business Australia.

2010 Completed Kokoda Track as a mentor with Indigenous Youth Leadership program (Jobs Australia Foundation).

2010 Appointed CEO of Reconciliation Australia.

Vale Stan Bisset MC OAM 1912 – 2010

7 October 2010

Stan Bisset was a remarkable man, a hero in the true sense of the word and a great Australian.

His death at the age of 98 will sadden many people, those who knew and loved him and those who felt they knew him through the telling and reading of his life.

For the thousands who have now trekked the Kokoda Track, or read anything about the Kokoda Campaign, Stan Bisset’s name will always be etched in our history and our hearts. As will his beloved brother ‘Butch’.

Stan was an honourable man, a man who stood proud and lived by the ethos of hard work, honesty, compassion, kindness and of never giving up.

He personified the qualities in a human being that most of us could only dream of emulating. Yet he didn’t think he was remarkable and that in itself is what made him an outstanding man.

I feel privileged to have met Stan on a number of occasions and of being made welcome by him and his wife Gloria on those visits.

Thank you Stan for the legacy you left us all. You will never be forgotten.

Wayne Wetherall

Forever in debt to Stan Bisset

Courtesy Sunshine Coast Daily 8 October 2010

By Caroline Hutchinson

IS it just me or does everyone think some debts can never be repaid?

One of the Sunshine Coast’s most important people passed away this week, quietly, in a Coolum nursing home.

At 98, Stan Bisset was Australia’s oldest surviving Wallaby and veteran of the Kokoda Track.

I had the privilege of meeting Mr Bisset one very hot Saturday last December.

Clearly adored by the staff at Coolum, he was the consummate gentleman, insisting everyone in our party was seated comfortably, despite the fact we had arrived unannounced and had disturbed his rest.

I imagine Stan Bisset was plagued by visitors like me, who had walked the Kokoda Track in peaceful comfort and wanted to touch a hero.

There’s a special tree on the track named for Stan and his brother, Butch.

Stan Bisset was one of five children but closest to his older brother, Hal (he wasn’t called Butch until army days).

Together they were raised around Melbourne – rafting, fishing, learning to shoot a rabbit on the run and playing football.

At the age of 26, Stan was named in the Wallabies team to tour England. But Churchill had other plans.

The Australian team arrived in the UK on September 2, 1939, the day before WWII was declared.

Stan told us that while he got to meet the King and Queen, the rugby tour was cancelled.

Back home, Stan immediately joined his brother Hal in the 2/14th Battalion.

At first the 2/14th was sent to the Middle East but after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Stan said they were pretty keen to get back home to defend Australia against the Japanese and that’s how they found themselves in PNG.

By this time, Stan was an intelligence officer and Butch was a platoon commander.

Stan said all the soldiers were shocked by the conditions on the track.

While they learned to cope with the vicious terrain, he said the driving rain and relentless heat were impossible.

There was never enough food or ammo, and the Japanese outnumbered Australians more than 10 to one.

Stan said while he and Butch were separated and busy, they felt lucky to be close enough to sometimes say hello and every once in a while get together for a sing-along.

On one particular August day Stan said Butch and his team of 35 were sent to higher ground, supposedly to overlook the battlefield.

Quickly discovered, in the next 48 hours Butch and his men were hit by 11 enemy attacks. In each attack there were more than 100 Japanese.

Late on the second day of fighting, Butch was hit with a burst of machine gun fire to the abdomen, a guaranteed death sentence on the track.

It was a couple of hours before Stan heard the news and more time still before he finally caught up with the stretcher bearers carrying his beloved brother.

He told them to stop running and laid Butch down under a tree.

In Coolum last year, Mr Bisset told me he sometimes got impatient with different versions he had read about the way his brother died, so I hope I do it justice.

He said for six hours they sat together. Butch was mostly conscious and they talked – about their parents, their long ago summers, good times and bad.

Around 4am, long after the battle had fallen silent, Stan felt his brother slip away.

He said, “Hal, are you awake?” but he knew he was gone.

Stan Bisset had a long, rich life after Kokoda. More than 20 years ago he and his wife Gloria moved to Cooroy, where they ran a business for many years.

It was only in the past decade that Australia’s heroic efforts on the Kokoda Track came into vogue.

I got the feeling that amused Stan Bisset somewhat, but he enjoyed the visitors, especially if they wanted to talk about rugby.

Vale Stan Bisset MC OAM. We are forever in your debt.

See this story on the Sunshine Coast Daily website

Veterans from 39th & 53rd Battalion attend Commemoration

wednesday 29 September 2010

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. 
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, 
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

These immortal words by Laurence Binyon's from 'The Fallen' could not have been more appropriate when recited by a veteran from the 39th Battalion in honour of five fallen comrades at a ceremony at Gorari Village.

President of the 39th Battalion Association, Alan Jameson, Kokoda Veterans Alan ‘Kanga’ Moore and Cecil Driscol, and 53rd Battalion Veteran Clarry Meredith flew to PNG to attend a private, moving ceremony on Wednesday, September 29.

Alan ‘Kanga’ Moore was proud to unveil a plaque and deliver The Ode on behalf of his fellow diggers.

The ceremony was to remember Captain Sam Templeton, Privates Sydney Moffatt, Thomas Herbert, Harry Lubansky and Leslie Speechley who fought and died during the Kokoda Campaign in the area of Oivi and Gorari. A plaque was laid in their honour and will be a place for others to pay homage.

The returning veterans were visibly moved as the memories of the battles they fought in during the same campaign came to the fore. They spoke of personal recollections from those terrible years, the hardship and the shocking loss of life but also remembered with gratitude the many kindnesses shown to them by the local Papuan New Guinea people.

The trip was organised by Wayne Wetherall of Kokoda Spirit in conjunction, and corporation with, the principal land owner of the Gorari – Oivi area, Standfield Anjeka.  

Left to right Alan Jameson, Clarry Meredith, Cecil Driscoll, 
Wayne Wetherall, Alan ‘Kanga’ Moore, and Stanfield Anjeka.

Kokoda Spirit to manage Kokoda Track Authority
Chairman’s Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels Day Trek

Friday 3 September 2010

Kokoda Spirit is pleased to announce that it has been selected to manage and facilitate the invitation only Kokoda Track Authority Chairman’s Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels Day Trek 3rd – 14th November 2010.

This trek is to celebrate the role played by the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels during the Second World War. The trek will allow the participants to

• meet with the village people
• inspect the facilities and infrastructure created through the ‘Kokoda Initiative’, and
• listen to peoples concerns and issues along the Kokoda Track

The trek will be managed by Kokoda Spirit, and the historical guide will be Kokoda Spirit Managing Director Wayne Wetherall.

All aspects of the ‘Kokoda Track Code of Conduct’ will be adhered to.

The VIP participants on this trek have been personally invited by the Chairman and CEO of the Kokoda Track Authority.

Kyle Vander-Kuyp completes Youth Leadership Program

12 August 2010

Kyle Vander-Kuyp, Australian track and field champion, has just completed an eight-day trek along the Kokoda Track. Kyle was one of a group of Indigenous people who undertook the rugged 96km trail and he said it was one of the hardest but most rewarding challenges he has ever undertaken.

Kyle undertook the trek as Patron of Jobs Australia Foundation in its first Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. The programs aim is to develop the leadership skills and abilities of those that attend the 10 month long program.

Kokoda Spirit was engaged to lead the group of 23 participants including mentors and leaders as part of this exciting new Indigenous program.

Wayne Wetherall, Managing Director of Kokoda Spirit and lead guide for this trek said, “Kyle’s participation as a role model had a tremendous impact on this group of young men and women and his willingness to share his own life experiences has left a lasting impression.”

Kyle said that everyone who took on the challenge should be very proud of what they achieved, both personally and as a group working as a team.

“Personally I was very touched spiritually and emotionally, I expected this to be a tough mental and physical challenge but was surprised at the sense of spirituality that accompanied me, it was humbling.
We all hit our own hurdles along the track, it is very rugged terrain and those hills test you to the core but no one gave up. I was so proud to be among this fantastic group of young people who showed strength, courage and commitment and by doing so they honoured those Australians who fought in the Kokoda Campaign,” Kyle said.

Kyle is no stranger to courage and commitment, he holds the Australian record for 110m Hurdles (13.29 sec) and the Australian record for 60m Hurdles indoors (7.73 sec), and has been National Champion 12 times.
Kyle was part of the 4 x 100m relay silver medallist team at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada and was a finalist in the 110m hurdles at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA and represented Australia at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Kyle also represented Australia at four Commonwealth Games, including the Melbourne Games in 2006.

Kyle has received many honours, particularly for his contributions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sport. He is a winner of the prestigious Charles Perkins Award, is Patron for Jobs Australia Foundation, a board member of the Australian Sports Commission Board and is an Ambassador for Centrelink. Kyle is also an Ambassador for the “Red Dust Role Models”, an organisation that promotes the profile and influence of positive role models to deliver health messages and inspire healthy lifestyle decisions among youth living in remote communities.

Kyle dedicates a great deal of time as an ambassador and mentor for indigenous youth. His most recent trek in Papua New Guinea with the youth leadership program is testimony to his ongoing commitment.

See more about the Jobs Foundation Australia trek.

Group joins service for war dead

Courtesy Sunshine Coast Daily 12 August 2010

By Mark Bode

FOR years Wayne Wetherall has enlightened Australians to the horrors inflicted on scores of our World War II Diggers in Papua New Guinea by taking groups along the infamous Kokoda Track.

Now he is determined to shed more light on another atrocity committed against our Diggers by introducing Australians to the story of the Sandakan POW camp and related death marches.

It is one of Australia’s most tragic World War II episodes – a largely unknown snapshot of Japan’s wartime inhumanity on the island of Borneo which led to the deaths of more than 2000 Australian and British soldiers.

Of the 1787 Australian and 642 British soldiers incarcerated at the Sandakan POW camp, only six Diggers survived the three 260km death marches from Sandakan to the Ranau POW camp on the island.

To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the death marches, a special memorial service will be held in Sandakan on Sunday.

Mr Wetherall, the managing director of Sippy Downs-based Wild Spirit and Kokoda Spirit, will be there with a group of nine Australians.

He will lead the group, which includes three Sunshine Coast residents, along the last 140km of the route and across the mountains.

It will be only the second official group that he has taken along the route.

“It really has been one of those tragedies that has been suppressed for so long, and the story only came out in 2006 as to what an awful tragedy this was,” Mr Wetherall said.

Retired police senior sergeant Julie Elliott will be joined on the journey by two other Coast residents, 92.7 MIX FM announcer Mark Darin and Wendy Grieve.

Ms Elliott said: “When I started to hear about Sandakan, I was stunned as to how little I knew and jumped at the chance to learn a bit more.”

See the full story here

Indigenous Youth Group about to embark on the Kokoda Trail

A group of young Indigenous people are about to embark on a trek of the 96km Kokoda Trail and for many it will be their first trip outside their own communities.

The Indigenous Youth Program is a pioneering initiative of the Jobs Australia Foundation to develop the leadership skills in young Indigenous people. The thirteen young people aged 17-22 and seven mentors aged 26-65, will be accompanied by former Olympian and Foundation Patron, Kyle Vander Kuyp.

The group head out on from Owers Corner at midday on Sunday, August 1st and will be led by Wayne Wetherall, Managing Director of Kokoda Spirit.

Wayne participated in the inaugural Jobs Australia four day Indigenous Youth Leadership Program held in Victoria earlier this year. He said, “I am excited and honoured to be leading this fantastic group of young Australians. There will be some nerves among the group as we take our first steps but I am confident that this group will learn a great deal about themselves, about the history of the track and of the local Indigenous Papuan people.”

Mr Wetherall says having Australian Olympian Kyle Vander Kuyp along as a mentor and role model will add a depth to this trek that will benefit everyone fortunate enough to be participating.

“Kyle will bring a wealth of experience, his own life story, its hardships and rewards. He will be an inspiration in developing leadership skills and confidence to the group and I believe we will have leaders of the future among these young people.”

The group will arrive at Port Moresby Airport at 12.30pm on Saturday, July 31st and commence their trek on Sunday, August 1st leaving the Gateway Hotel at 8am and Owers Corner at midday.

Wayne can be contacted on +61 437470008

Download this release                Read about how the trek went here.

Bone Man of Kokoda says he buried Captain Templeton

Courtesy AAP 29 January 2010

By Ilya Gridneff - Papua New Guinea Correspondent

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.

Read complete article

'Bone Man' offers help in Kokoda digger mystery

Courtesy ABC News 25 January 2010

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.

Link to written story ABC website

Hear the audio from ABC AM Program 22 January 2010

Mystery of Kokoda digger's death nearly solved: searchers

Courtesy Herald Sun 25 January 2010

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 Wetherall to solve the mystery of Captain Templeton's disappearance and find his grave.

Link to written story Herald Sun website

Kurt Fearnley crawls over Kokoda Track with mate by his side

Courtesy Courier Mail 9 November 2009

WHEELCHAIR athlete Kurt Fearnley is crossing Papua New Guinea's Kokoda Track the hard way - by crawling.

And in the iconic trail's spirit of mateship, his friend, Wayne Weatherall, from the Sunshine Coast, is carrying him across the track's muddy waters.

Link to written story Courier Mail website

Hear Kurt Fearnley interviewed on 92.7 Mix FM

Kurt Fearnley - Sunday Night

COURTESY SEVEN NETWORK