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BRISBANE: AustralianReturned Services League has joined forces with a Brisbane coffeemaker in a commercial deal to keep the Spirit of Kokoda Alive.
In 1942, Australian soldiers and local people fougt under terrible conditions on Papua New Guinea's Kokoda Track to halt a massive Japanese invasion.
RSL national president Major General Bill Crews said that to honour the Anzac Spirit and their Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel allies ( as Papua New Guinean helpers were known), the RSL had signed a deal with coffee Manufacturer Kokoda Coffee.
Picture_500.jpgIn return for using the RSL emblem on each coffee product, 7 per cent of all Australian profits, estimated at $ 2100,000 a year, would go to the RSL to ensure the memory of the battle at Kokoda survived, Major General Crews said.
He said a percentage would also be donated to the Kokoda Track's traditional landowners, and the Koiari people.
"The name Kokoda was chosen as it is an icon in Australia and Papua New Guinea, mutually respected, recognised and accepted in both countries," Maj Gen Crews said.
Sracifice.jpgFormer army sergeant Bill Guest, 84, from the 39th Battalion, said his 10 week jungle stint on the kokoda Track had been a nightmare of rain, mud and disease.
"We were always wet – by the end our socks were fused to our feet," he said.
Maj Gen Crews said it was ironic that the consistent rainfall – a soldier's worst nightmare – had now made Kokoda such an ideal coffee growing region.
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