Anzac Day 2009 - I'll Never Forget Your Smile

“It is a place of incredible beauty, but it is also an unforgiving place - a place of death”.

This description of the Owen Stanley Range was written by an Australian Militia soldier in 1942. As recent events have shown, those prophetic words remain tragically true today. Rain, fog and mist cling to the precipitous mountain sides in Papua New Guinea as tenaciously as the jungle and rushing rivers that lie below – all are equally as dangerous.

In April 2009 I was one of a group of 18 trekkers that followed in the footsteps of Australia’s young wartime heroes. I walked the Kokoda Track and had the privilege of attending the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Isurava. Later that day, our group walked to Kokoda and awaited our flight back to Port Moresby. The flight was delayed, bad weather having grounded all aircraft.

Less than four months later, Tuesday, the 11th of August 2009, was also a day of low cloud and rain. Shortly after 11:11am, death came yet again to the Kokoda Track. A Twin Otter piloted by 25 year old Jannie Moala crashed into an almost sheer mountainside whilst on approach to Kokoda airstrip. All 13 people on board were killed. Jannie Moala was the same woman pilot that flew me from Kokoda to Port Moresby only a few months earlier. Now Jannie is gone -but I’ll never forget her smile.

This is the story of my Anzac Day at Isurava and my memories of Jannie Moala.

The night before Anzac Day few of us slept well. I was conscious of the fact that we would need to rise, probably around 4am, in order to be in position for the commencement of the Dawn Service. Tossing and turning throughout the night, I decided to rise at 3am and make my way to a communal thatched hut. There I could see a few of my fellow restless trekkers gathered around a struggling and smokey fire. We passed the few hours before dawn talking in hushed voices and discussing the techniques of good fire making. Dawn was drawing near.

As a group we made our way in the dark down one of the narrow dirt tracks that leads towards the memorial. Head torches have become “de rigueur” amongst campers these days, allowing both hands to remain free. Seated right next to the memorial itself, I glanced back up the hill from where we had come. I will never forget the scene that met my eyes. A seemingly endless stream of lights from head torches were proceeding down the steep hill, along three or four paths. Processions of glow worms, approximately 500 trekkers were converging on the memorial and assembling for the highlight of their Kokoda trek – Anzac Day at Isurava.

Whilst I had attended Anzac Day Services previously, I had never actually attended a Dawn Service. I could think of no better place to be, no more sacred ground to stand upon to experience my first Dawn Service other than here at Isurava in Papua New Guinea. An Order of Service was distributed to all. There on the cover was a picture of a patrol of the 25th Battalion crossing the Brown River on the way to Menari in 1942. I instantly recognised the location of the picture. Only a few days earlier, I had swum in the same river as the soldiers shown swimming in the picture. I had crossed a similar log bridge. Being there, one feels a sense of connection with those who served. To read their stories, to walk where they walked, to stand where men fought and where men died is an experience no book can convey.

The Master of Ceremonies begun by reading a Historical Background and Prologue, explaining the events that took place here at Isurava in late August 1942. Prayers and Poems followed. Phrases such as “the first light mists the day new born” and “Weep not for them, O leaden sky” were all the more poignant as dawn did break over leaden skies here in this special place of Remembrance – Isurava, on this special Anzac Day. Fiona Foster, whose grandfather served on the Kokoda Track and her husband, a current member of Australia’s Defence Forces, Sergeant Rod Foster laid a wreath on behalf of trekkers, staff and porters associated with Adventure Kokoda (our trekking company). Following the wreath laying ceremony, a Lament and Ode were read, the Last Post was played and this was in turn followed by One Minute Silence. Proceedings were concluded by the singing of the National Anthem of Papua New Guinea by a choir of porters and finally all trekkers joined together to sing Advance Australia Fair. It was a truly moving occasion – everything I had hoped and expected from a Dawn Service at Isurava.