When Prime Minister Antony Albanese lurches out of the PNG jungle at Isurava shrine, four words will be etched on his psyche.
“The Australians who served here in Papua New Guinea,” he gravely intoned, “fought and died, not for defence of the old world, but the new world.world. They died in defence of Australia and the civilisation and values which had grown up there. That is why it might be said that, for Australians, the battles in Papua New Guinea were the most important ever fought ... ”
The PM honouring the Kokoda campaign in this way is no small thing. For, while Keating kissing the ground was a magnificent gesture, Albaneseit – even if he is only doing a truncated version of it with PNG Prime Minister James Marape – may well shatter, batter and tatter him, as it does all who attempt it.
As one who 20 years ago wrote a book on the Kokoda campaign, allow me to recount four episodes that are emblematic of those values.On the third day of the battle, the decimated 39th Battalion is replaced by the AIF soldiers. In the mid-afternoon, in those steaming jungle conditions, the Japanese break through on the northern perimeter.
At the Regimental Aid Post, Dr Don Duffy does not take long in his diagnosis. One look at the red hole where the bullet entered above Bruce’s heart tells him the truth. He pulls back Bruce’s eyelids and … alas. The eyes are the window of the soul, and there is never the slightest doubt when the soul has departed.Alan Avery weeps. For his valour and extraordinary courage under fire, Kingsbury would be posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross medal.
“The jungle stamps an indelible imprint on those who fight in it. But guts, endurance, self-sacrifice and initiative, all stretched to breaking point many a time, have left their imprint, too, so that a less war-weary age could say, ‘These men have the look of great fighting men’ ... ” The Japanese also stop firing. Yes, Father Nobby is clearly distinguishable as a man of God, with his priestly “dog-collar” plainly visible; but it is by no means certain all of the Japanese would recognise that, and just one shot would have brought him down. But nary a one comes.
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