PNG plane crash victims come home

Grieving family members and loved ones have collected the bodies of the nine
Australians killed in a plane crash near the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.
The bodies arrived in Brisbane and Melbourne on Wednesday aboard an RAAF Hercules
flight from PNG, two weeks after their plane crashed in the Owen Stanley Ranges on
the way to the Kokoda Track, killing all 13 people on board.
Before dawn, PNG police escorted three funeral-home mini vans carrying the bodies of
the seven Victorians and two Queenslanders to Port Moresby's airport, where the
Hercules awaited them.
Hearses sat on the tarmac at Melbourne Airport to receive their coffins, which were
draped in Australian flags and flowers.
Family members hugged one another as they waited in a nearby hangar, then followed
as the hearses were driven from the airport.
The father of 22-year-old Hannah Kinross, from South Belgrave in Melbourne, said the
return of his daughter's body provided little solace.
"We have been in limbo for the past two weeks," Colin Kinross told AAP.
"It has been quite distressful. The fact the bodies are coming back is not much help
to us, we would rather have our daughter back. Hopefully, we can move on with our
lives, eventually."
Mr Kinross said there were no plans for a funeral yet as the family had found out
only in the "last couple of days" the bodies were on their way back.
The mother of Bendigo man Peter Holliday was among the bereaved family members who
met the Hercules when it landed at Melbourne Airport at about 4.30pm (AEST) after an
eight-hour journey.
Mr Holliday's wife Shonia had gone to PNG to see where her husband spent his final
days and is already back in Bendigo. His mother Liz escorted his casket home.
"I think it was good for Shonia to go to PNG," her stepfather Keith Sutherland told
AAP.
"I was encouraging her not to go, but she had it in her head to visit the hotel
where Peter spent his last night.
"There was lots of mixed emotions, which was fair enough."
A public memorial service will be held for the 28-year-old father of two in Bendigo
on Friday and he will be buried in a private funeral next week.
Mr Holliday was killed alongside his cousin Euan Comrie with whom he was planning to
walk the Kokoda track in honour of their late grandfather who marched the trail as a
WWII digger.
The bodies of Gippsland dairy farmer Max Cranwell and his daughter Leanne Harris
were also met by family members at Melbourne Airport. The pair will be buried
together next Wednesday.
Sylvia Cranwell, the wife of Mr Cranwell's cousin David, said the funeral service
for the pair would be held in Kernot Hall in Morwell.
"The funeral is not at a church, even though Max was a staunch church man. There is
not a church big enough," Ms Cranwell said.
Funeral officials took the bodies of June Canavan and Keith Gracie from Brisbane
Airport just after noon (AEST) to their families on the Sunshine Coast.
Dr Canavan, 59, a sports medicine specialist from Maroochydore was tackling the trek
with her friend Mr Gracie to raise money for a school in Tanzania.
A memorial service for Dr Canavan will be held at Sunshine Coast University on Monday.
The Mooloolaba Surf Club will host a service on Friday for Mr Gracie, 54, a
construction company owner.
Also killed were Ms Kinross' friend Kelly Weire, of Melbourne, and Matthew Leonard,
a 28-year-old Melbourne fireman and part-time Kokoda tour guide.
Local man Kingsley Eroro, Airlines PNG pilots Jannie Moala and Royden Soauka and an
unnamed Japanese tourist also died.