Courage, heroism amid ruins of war

By PAUL MURPHY.
ON Sept 16, 1943, the 7th and 9th Australian divisions entered the shattered and smoking remains of Lae, liberating the territory from Japanese occupation.
Theirs had been a gruelling campaign
Begun as a guerrilla war after a 3000-strong industrialised Japanese force moved in, there were times when the outcome was in question – such as at the battle of Wau, where Australian soldiers exited planes directly into a fight that raged alongside the airstrip itself.
There was devastation, such as the destruction of the formerly thriving town of Salamaua, from which it has never recovered.
There was courage and heroism by Australians and by those who would later become known as Papua New Guineans – the Papuan Infantry Battalion, the fearless “green shadows”, and civilians and carriers without whom liberation could not have been achieved.
At the graveyard, 2818 people are buried – Australians, Papua New Guineans and Indians – who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice. They were not bound by race – they come from many races. Nor were they bound by religion, you can see from the headstones they comprised Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and others whose views we don’t know. They were, and have been bound, by the values for which they fought and the qualities they exhibited and defined.
These stem from a proud legacy, forged 30 years earlier on the shores of Gallipoli, by another group of men from different places, Australians and New Zealanders, fighting together for a common cause.
They are values and qualities like courage, resolve and compassion.
In World War II, compassion was clearly displayed in the fight against fascism.
This was a fight for freedom and self-determination for people around the world, already a principal declared by the Allies in World War I.
Our soldiers in World War II made this a reality, enshrining it in enduring institutions.
In doing so, they set in train events that would lead to Papua New Guinea’s own Independence 32 years later. Our soldiers’ legacy is the foundation from which we – Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand – enjoy our ennobling freedoms today Australia still holds firm to the values and qualities these soldiers defined our national view is that the failures of the past – conquest, genocide and other evils – should not deliver the outcomes they once could.
Our soldiers paid in blood so that humanity could be better.
Our soldiers still fight to maintain these ideals in modern battlefields and peacekeeping operations.
Another value which Australians believe defines us was honed in the battlefields of Morobe and Gallipoli.
That is the value of mateship. Mateship brought our people together regardless of different backgrounds into a unified fighting force. It helped comfort our soldiers during their ordeals and enabled them to be overcome. Today mateship endures.
We see it in Lae in the wonderful welcoming community and fraternity between Papua New Guineans, New Zealanders and Australians.
We see it in the partnership between our three countries for PNG’s development.
We see it in the proud work of our soldiers and police when they work together at Igam or in the field, such as in the Solomon Islands under RAMSI. We must not forget the ultimate payment made by those who fought in World War I – the war to end all wars. And in World War 2, when the forces of fascism sought to undermine freedom.

• Paul Murphy is Australian consulate-general in Lae