World Footy News

In World War Two New Guinea was Australia's last line of defence against Imperial Japan. As the Japanese invaded from the north the local Papuans helped Australian troops defend, often assisting by carrying equipment and guiding through heavy terrain. The legend of the Kokoda Trail (Track) is perhaps the most famous memory of those events, with many Australians walking the path each year, including AFL players.

Decades later and the links remain. Carlton's PNG recruit, Peter Labi, recently returned to his home town of Lae and while he was there he searched the war cemetery, eventually finding the final resting place of Jim Park. The 1938 Carlton premiership player made the ultimate sacrifice during the war and his surviving daughter, Joan Schinner, was delighted to have Labi pay tribute to her father.

2818 soldiers of the Second World War are buried there (444 of them unidentified), including Jim Park and Labi’s five great uncles - Gesengus Tae kikia, Hansa Gageng Gindingeng, Leo Kikuctung, Yanger Dingu and Nasala Pedere. Labi said, “I was trying to imagine what Jim went through, to leave his young family behind and go to another country to fight. To think that Jim never came home to see his wife or his little girl. It’s very sad.”

The full touching story can be read at Peter’s PNG pilgrimage to Jim Park’s grave.