Last week's Guest Speaker: George Friend OAM - Kokoda Memorial Hospital
Posted by Franz Huber
on Apr 25, 2016
George Friend OAM, a member of the Broadwater Southport Rotary Club, is known for a number of major projects. Last Wednesday, George, a former came to bring us up to date on two major project of his: from 2015 - 2012, the Kokoda Memorial 
Wall in Cascade Gardens and before that, in 1995, commenced the building of the Kokoda Memorial Hospital. There is no doubt that George has a lot of fondness for the area, for the 39th Battallion RAR and for Kokoda in particular. At the time as a member of the Australian Army, he walked the famous (infamous?) Kokoda Track in 1988. He trained in the Kokoda Barracks (these days known as Canungra Warfare Centre). Some 20 years ago, he approached (then) Mayor (and now Councillor of Division 7) Gary Baildon to commission a memorial to the bloody battles which now have become major tourist attractions in Papua New Guinea. He traveled the country from Sydney to Melbourne, Perth and even to Japan to interview veterans of that era, including veterans of the Japanese Imperial Forces who, at the time, would have been the sworn enemies of the Australian Defence Force. In conjunction with the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments, Rotary and lots of volunteers, the hospital was built in 1995.Later on, in stage 3, Bronze Statues were added to the Memorial Wall (see picture on right).
To close the presentation, our Terry O'Shea recited the poem 'Our Flag' - you can download it from here: http://www.monarchist.org.au/australian-flag.html