Discovery of an unpublished poem from a World War 2 (WW II) Australian Diggers hand written diary

• Please refer to Aussie Digger's Diary based on Huon Peninsular Campaign not Kokoda Campaign POST or you can click on to the link on your right as there has since been a new discovery...

I am just sharing some important Australian/PNG WW II history find. Yesterday, Saturday, 12 February 2011, I was handed an Aussie Digger's medals and diary memorabilia by his step grandson for safe keeping for the time being. I was skim reading the last 3 pages before midnight and discovered he had written a poem. I contacted Tony to tell him about it and advised him about copyrights of the diary and luckily it had not fallen in to the wrong hands.  From the looks of it Tony's grandfather must have been there when Australia won the Battle for Australia on the Kokoda Campaign - as that what it was known at the time.  I will be contacting my contacts at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) about authenticity of diaries, etc and copyrights and publications. 

*There are various links on the Kokoda Campaign and the Battle for Australia; however I have inserted the Digger history website version for the Kokoda Campaign; and the Anzac Org version for the Battle for Australia in this post.  Anyone can google the information or read the thousands of books written about the Kokoda Campaign for the Battle for Australia as it is also known as.

How this all came about is my friend keeps borrowing money from me and does not pay me back, so in return for outstanding payments I asked him for his grandfather's medals to hold on to til he pays me back.  I knew from what Tony had told me that his step grandfather had served in PNG on the Kokoda Track in WW II, but I also knew that he could foolishly sell those medals and memorabilia to the likes of Cash Converters, etc, without realising the PRICELESS value of those items.  I told Tony a couple of times that the man may be his step grandfather, but he had played an important role in WWII history of Australia and PNG.  Kokoda won the Battle for Australia, and it is only just a couple of years ago I came to realise (duh dumb as), why it was such a big deal both in Australia and PNG.  It would be in his best interest to keep it for his two daughters as a family heirloom.

So this is latest find which I am so excited about. This is all I can share with you at the moment. The privilege of looking after an Aussie digger's diary who fought in the country of my birth, and made Australian WW II history where the Kokoda Campaign won the Battle of Australia, and to discover 68 years later that he wrote a poem that possibly no-one knew about, is one of the greatest honours of my life.  I see myself as the modern day Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel protecting the diary and memorabilia’s of a long ago Aussie Digger who fought on the Track about 68 years ago.

I am now in the process of discussing authenticity, copyrights and publications of diaries and poems with the AWM.  All the latest updates will be in here on my BLOG unlike other idiots who will go to straight to the media in the hope of making a few bucks out of it.  So I have decided  BLOG about it and slam dunk a Copyright and a Disclaimer on my version of accounts.

Em tasol folks for the time being I will be taking photos of the contents later on but nothing will be on display as of yet.

Disclaimer:  I accept no responsibility or liability of any loss to any incorrect or out dated information some of these websites may contain.  The most accurate up to date information at the time known to me is inserted in these pages.  It is the responsibility of the individual to do their own research in their own time.  This is just a guide to assist people in giving them as much information as I possibly can to assist them in learning about the The Battle for Australia – The Kokoda Campaign.  My views and opinions and experiences will not exactly reflect other peoples' views and opinions and experiences.

This material is copyright © Wendy J. Seymour 2011 - Exempt the hyperlinks they are from the World Wide Web (WWW)