A Sydney Anglican minister is following in the footsteps of former Archbishop of Sydney Marcus Loane to raise money for the Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea.

The rector of the parish of Ulladulla, the Rev Geoff Deutscher is flying out for Papua New Guinea (PNG) tomorrow where he will walk a 240 kilometre route including the Kokoda Trail.

Geoff has spent the last three months training his 47-year-old body for the trek made famous by Australian troops during World War 2.

His personal journey will commemorate a 1972 journey taken by the first Archbishop of Papua New Guinea David Hand and Archbishop Loane.

A group of Australians, including Geoff, will be in PNG for two-and-a-half weeks, journeying from Gona on the north-east coast of Papua, across the rugged Owen Stanley mountains, via the notorious Kokoda Trail, finishing at Port Moresby on the south coast.

"We will start with a service of remembrance on September 2 at Gona where there is a memorial for the Christians martyred for their faith during World War II," Geoff says.

In memory of martyrs

In August 1942, eleven Australian missionaries were murdered, just some of the more than 300 church workers who died during the fighting in PNG. 

The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea (ACPNG) was founded by Anglican missionaries from Australia in 1891, supported by the Anglican Board of Mission (ABM) and was a missionary diocese of Australia until 1976.

In 1972, 54-year-old Bishop Hand walked the Kokoda Trail with 60-year-old Archbishop Loane in order to raise money for the growing church.

ABM is honouring the memory of Bishop David Hand who passed away last year and continuing to support the ACPNG by establishing a Trust in his name, in recognition of the ties between the Australian and PNG churches.

The income from the Trust will be available to the Church in Papua New Guinea for its own use, creating a sustainable income stream to strengthen the church's Christian mission and contribution to the well-being of society. 

"I am doing my own fundraising for the walk, the proceeds of which will go into the Trust," Geoff says.

"Bishop Hand's passion was for a greater level of funding for training PNG clergy."

Leaving a legacy

During his 60 years in the country, Bishop Hand opened the remote Highlands of PNG to the Christian Church, and became the first Archbishop of the newly independent Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea in 1977.

While Geoff will leave his wife, Karen, and three children Tim, Simon and Amy for two-and-a-half weeks, he will be joined by his older brother.

Geoff says he is honoured to represent the Sydney Diocese in this walk and looks forward to joining other Australian Christians.

"I am sure the experience will change me as a person, because of both the physical challenge and the spiritual challenge of being away from home," he says.

"I will be mixing with Christians from another arm of the Anglican Church I am not familiar with so it will be a broadening of my experience and I'll probably be engaging in styles of worship I'm not familiar with."

Archbishop Hand was an Anglo-Catholic who was deeply loved by the locals, even taking up PNG citizenship and spending 60 years there.

Geoff says Archbishops Loane and Hand modelled how people from different Christian persuasions could still relate well.

"Archbishops Loane and Hand formed a close bond of friendship which they maintained right up until Hand died last year," he says.

"They were able to enjoy their common ground and accept their differences on other things."

Photo: Milton/Ulladulla Times