The 18 year-old Peter Labi, now pursuing his football career at Carlton by way of an international scholarship, is ever mindful that his forefathers paid with their lives in his hometown of Lae during the Second World War. “I always knew that my great uncles, who served as supply carriers and night watchmen through the war, died with the Australians,” Peter said.

That the great Carlton footballer Jim Park also made the ultimate sacrifice now resonates deeply with Peter.

At Carlton, Peter learned of the legend of Jim the 1938 premiership player whose name today features on Joe Anderson’s No.26 locker. He also came to appreciate the story of Jim the husband and father, and Jim the soldier, who gave his life for liberty in the dense jungles of Papua New Guinea.

So much so that before his recent return to his hometown, Peter promised Jim’s surviving daughter Joan Schinner that he would make the pilgrimage to Lae War Cemetery, to locate her father’s grave and pay his profound respects.

“I told Joan I was going. She was so pleased and thankful. She told me she’d never been there,” Peter said.

Peter’s father, Giossi Labi, the Police Commissioner of Lae, accompanied him on the pilgrimage to the cemetery which flanks the Botanical Gardens in the centre of the town.

2818 soldiers of the Second World War are buried there (444 of them unidentified), including Jim Park and Peter’s five great uncles - Gesengus Tae kikia, Hansa Gageng Gindingeng, Leo Kikuctung, Yanger Dingu and Nasala Pedere. 

“The cemetery is a lovely place. It’s always been very well looked after,” Peter said.

“When we got to the cemetery there was a guard at the entrance and we told him that we were looking for Jim’s grave. He produced a book with all the names and we found Jim’s name there.

“But it was difficult to find Jim’s grave. My father and I walked in different directions and it took us around four or five hours, because there are so many soldiers buried there. I remember getting a bit worried that we wouldn’t find it, but suddenly I saw my Dad raise his hand. I knew he had found the grave and he was a few hundred metres from me.”

The poignancy of the moment was not lost on Peter either. “To see Jim’s grave was a great thing. To be there at that time was a great honour for me and I’m really happy I did it,” he said.

“I was trying to imagine what Jim went through, to leave his young family behind and go to another country to fight. To think that Jim never came home to see his wife or his little girl. It’s very sad.”

During the week, that little girl, now 70, contacted the Carlton Football Club to thank Peter Labi and his father for making the pilgrimage to her father’s final resting place.

“I was so pleased to know that Peter had found my father’s grave and would like to pass on our thanks from all the family,” Joan Schinner said. “I was most interested to read about Peter’s great uncles. It is a wonderful gesture of his father that he will place flowers on the grave on Anzac Day. Thank you so much.”

“I have watched Peter in action on youtube and he looks as though he has a great future ahead of him. I wish him well and will follow his career with interest.”


The entrance to Lae War Cemetery, December 2009 -
image courtesy Peter Labi


Jim Park's grave, together with those of fellow Australian
soldiers, Lae War Cemetery, December 2009
- image courtesy Peter Labi


Jim Park's grave, Lae War Cemetery, December 2009.
Image courtesy Peter Labi


Jim Park's grave, Lae War Cemetery, December 2009.
Image courtesy Peter Labi


Jim Park in his military uniform, which appeared in the
Carlton Football Club’s 1943 annual report