Australian MPs among group to trek Black Cat Trail

 By ELLEN TIAMU

A GROUP of Australians, including two Federal MPs, are in Morobe to follow in the footsteps of their forefathers along the Black Cat Trail which runs from Wau in the hinterland of Salamaua on the coast.   

The 26-member team left Lae yesterday for Wau and will begin trekking their way through what has been touted to be one of the toughest tracks in the world.

Black Cat was a trail used by gold prospectors in the 1920 travelling to and from gold-rich Wau and was later used by Allied Forces against the Japanese during World War II.   

The walk by the Australians, mainly from New South Wales, is being coordinated and managed by Port Moresby-based Our Spirit Adventures.

Twenty local legends (porters) will accompany the group with the seven-day walk expected to begin today and end in time for Anzac Day on April 25.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare and shadow minister for immigration Scott Morrison are among the group of mainly young trekkers who want to see part of Australian war history.

The two parliamentarians are avid visitors to PNG, having walked the Kokoda Track in 2009 and are looking forward to bringing their team to the Lae War Memorial for the Anzac Day dawn service having visited Bomana several times already. 

“Australians died fighting in the war 70 years ago and this Anzac Day service will be special for us,” Morrison said in Lae yesterday.

Five women also make up the team.

A three-member Channel 9 TV crew from Australia is also with the team to document the expedition.