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Sometime last year, I stopped at McDonald's Corner with a group of trekkers when one remarked they were sorry to hear Bob McDonald had passed away. I had no idea, and was quite shocked to hear the news. I asked if he was sure, to which he replied, I think so, thats what I heard from someone. The days, months have gone by and every time I stop at McDonald's Corner I think to myself this must be true as the emails no longer arrive from Bob who used to contact me often. I searched on google but could not find anything. In 2010 a couple of articles have now appeared. I would like to add my tribute to Bob, who during the years I got to know quite well.
One such email from Bob was after he walked the track with Sir Mick Curtain (Curtain Bros). He was wrapped to be out on the track again and to be able to share his knowledge with them of what happened during the war. One such email he sent included the photographs below:
Email received from Bob McDonald:
Hi Gail, still enjoy your web site which I look at every morning to see whats happening on The Bloody Track.
I attach a couple of photos that you might like to help promote your site, taken earlier this month when I was privileged to trek with Sir Mick Curtains group.
Hope this finds you all well and prosperous.
Cheers
Bob
Pic 1: Kagi from Bellamy
Pic 2: Templetons
Pic 3: Alola
Pic 4: down it comes 2pm sharpI always know when the Curtain Bros trek is coming up as quite a few of our boys ask for time out so they can prepare for this trek. Kingsley Boropi has walked with them as their guide for years. Of course he has the pick of KOKODA and chooses his closest friends.
We count off the days as we have all the older more confident guys in town and they pop in and out of our base like its one of our own treks about to kick off. They all talk about the big rooster that is flown in. I havent talked to anyone this year since the trek to see if the tradition remains but one of the reasons our staff LOVE to walk on the Curtain Bros trek.
Thanks Bob for taking the time to share some of your photographs.
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down_it_comes_2pm_sharp__Medium_.jpgPic 5: Fashion Parade:
Pic 6: Mt Victoria from Nauro
Pic 7: Rising to Alola
Pic 8: Spider web Nauro
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Spider_web_Nauro__Medium_.jpgHi Bob, thanks for the pics. I was fortunate to have walked the Curtain Bros Trip with Bob. An amazing and generous gentleman, just as was his father PJ!. Bob spoke Motu and all the locals loved him, understanding that he is real "wontok". We visited Bobs old house in land from MacDonalds Corner and Bob was very emotional, as you would understand. Bob's dad PJ took that famous photo (with box brownie) of Capt'n Sam Templeton and his Company marching out from MacDonalds corner towards Kokoda. Thanks Bob, the memories are for-ever. (PS, don't forget I want to order 3 autographed copies of your book). Regards
Wayne Rotherham
In 2005, Bob heard we were travelling up to the Sunshine Coast to meet with Stan Bisset. He insisted we break the journey by calling into his place and having lunch with him. This was the first time I had met Bob. He had many war relics in his unit that makes me wonder what happened to it all. At the time I had Russell Eroro and Eric Uwea with me and they were intrigued by Bob and his passion for where he grew up on the outskirts of Port Moresby at McDonald's Corner. We all asked several questions and Bob was thrilled to answer as like Soc Kienzle he felt he was passing on information to these PNG men who would continue taking trekkers across the Kokoda Track.
For lunch he prepared a nice salad and made a loaf of his own variety of bread. He informed us that he had a new lease on life after taking some alternative medicine he stumbled across. Throughout the years I continued receiving emails from him. Bob spoke often about the alternative medicine he was taking and said he continued to feel good. He told me previously there were days he could not even move from his bedroom to his couch…then he found this alternative treatment. The last time I met up with Bob on the Gold Coast, he still looked a picture of health and was enjoying life. The last email from Bob was sent whilst he was in North America for several months…then nothing!
The photographs below were taken in Bob's sunshine coast unit before he sold it and moved to Brisbane and later overseas. A portrait of his father PJ McDonald can be seen on the wall behind where Bob is standing. Bob was so proud of his father and how he helped wherever he could during the war.
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Eric__Russell__Gail___Bob.jpegBob spent 41 years living at McDonald's Corner, Ilolo. The corner is named after his father P.J. who in 1941 had acquired some virgin jungle called Ilolo where he started planting rubber trees. Bob informed us he nicknamed the steel sculpture FRED. He added, that at one time it also had a rifle but that someone had stolen it. In recent years men from the Kokoda Memorial Foundation have painted the rocks white, and cleaned around the sculpture. To this day, all of our treks stop at McDonald's Corner a very special part of the journey to or from Owers' Corner.
The 8 kilometre road to the plantation, which PJ built by hand, was of great strategic importance when the Kokoda campaign commenced. P.J. refused to be evacuated and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the field, at age 52 (he was ex Gallipoli) with ANGAU, and stayed for the duration of the war at McDonald's Corner. Bob took over the property in 1967 and operated it until being acquired under the Acquisition Act in 1980.
Bob walked the Trail in December 2002 with his son Nathan and nephew Duane, who kept asking probing questions. To answer these satisfactorily he produced a small diary and guide. Until the Bill James book was publilshed, all our trekkers were issued with this diary as it was light and could very easily be carried in their day packs. He later went on to produce a photo album. The photograph directly below became the front cover of the album. It included over 400 images from the past 60 years, covering all aspects of the Kokoda Campaign.
Bob's father PJ McDonald, took the now famous picture of Captain Sam Templeton and his company marching off from McDonalds Corner. The sculture was built as a memorial to the 39th Battalion.
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McDonald__s_Corner__640x480_.jpgThanks Bob for the sculpture at Mc'Donalds Corner. Many a trekker will continue to have their photograph taken there as they pay their respects either heading out or on their way back from Owers' Corner.
Thanks also for the diary and album and your passion for sharing your knowledge about your father PJ McDonald. May you rest in peace.
I miss your emails!
The attachment was an article he passed on to me to share in case someone like himself wanted to try some alternative treatment as he was a firm believer in the fact it added years to his life.
3_Cancer_story_usage.pdfIf anyone would like to add any further comments, please feel free to do so. To Bob's family, our condolences to you all. Nathan, if you ever read this, would love you to contact me: Email: trekking@kokodatrail.com.au
Other images are from Bob McDonald's diary. If the diary or album is still available to purchase, can someone please provide details as its a shame that all Bob's work can no longer be purchased. thanks Gail
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Owen_Stanley_Map.jpgThe inscription inside the back cover of Bob's diary reads:
KOKODA TRAIL – MCDONALD'S CORNER ALBUM
From a young family looking down the barrel of Japanese invasion to the Battle of the Coral Sea to the soldier's campaign to current trekking, this album is the story of the Kokoda Trail accompanied by 400 images spanning the past sixty years.
Reading this makes your legs grow weary as if you had just climbed the 'Golden Stairs' or the nine false peaks of the Maguli Range. You feel the mud between your toes and imagine the taste of the acrid cordite atop Butchers Hill or in the dark, dank, dripping depths of Eora Creek. Combining the best Kokoda writers with personal pictures of the track, this collection demonstrates the utter waste and sheer strength of spirit that kept Australia safe during those bleak hours of 1942.
A detailed overview, this compilation identifies specific battalion movements during gruelling engagements, revises military decision, diseases contracted on the track, the fuzzy wuzzy angels and describes the trail through the eyes of someone who has trekked what has become known as, 'the ultimate military obstacle course'.
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The_Kokoda_Trail_Album600.jpgIm not sure I understand the controversy…Trail is American Track is Australian….THAT SAID IT WAS CALLED BOTH AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE CALLED BOTH……what is important is the history…pre and post war…..at the end of the day…it is ones experience of the track that matters and thats what continues the history…
The controversy is because there are current moves by RSL members to get the name Trail officially changed to Track. Emails have been rife and it has caused some heated debate within the veteran fraternity.. My father, as well as the majority of the 39th veteran's would only ever call it a Track.. Trail being an American word.. Soc has explained how it came to be named a Trail.. I once asked Ben Moide, a PIB veteran who is often in the news through visits from PNG organised by the Rotary Club in Southport at various ANZAC day's & Kokoda Day's what he thought.. his answer was that although he calls it a trail.. he thinks of it as a track, but trail or track, the veterans have earned the right to call it what they like, no matter what the offical title may be. As Dad once said after an argument with Bert Kenzle over this very subject.. 'we will agree, to disagree'..
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