Australia's federal government is considering how to officially recognise the pioneering work of Australian patrol officers in Papua New Guinea.
From 1949 to 1974, patrol officers or "kiaps" brought law and order to PNG's remote tribal areas so Australian teachers, agricultural officers, infrastructure and health workers could follow and aid local development.
Campaigners seeking formal recognition for up to 1,000 Australians who worked in PNG met with advisers for Special Minister of State John Faulkner and staff from the prime minister's department in Canberra.
Former kiap Chris Viner-Smith and former PNG Association of Australia president Keith Jackson says the talks were e positive, and they now need to work out what form the recognition should take, like a medal or certificate.
Mr Jackson said 500 to 1,000 people along with widows would be eligible under their proposal to acknowledge work carried out in the Australian-administered former territory of Papua and New Guinea.
Kiaps regularly trekked to isolated villages to conduct weeks or months worth of surveys while also providing basic services like law and order.
Often they were the first contact villagers had with white men and Western ways and many went on to spend the rest of their lives in PNG.
