THE little propeller plane was a de Havilland Twin Otter belonging to Airlines PNG and it would have held 20 people if full. This time there were 13 on board. Eleven passengers and two crew. Everyone in it died in the crash on Tuesday in the thick morning cloud over a steep Kokoda Track peak called Isurava.

The remains of six of the dead were taken out yesterday, but that operation has only just begun. Nine who died were Australian; seven were Victorians.

Old-time Gippsland dairy farmer Max Cranwell, who was 67, was one of them. He was in the plane with his daughter Leanne, 35, one of his three children. The pair had gone to PNG together to walk the Kokoda Track and both were fit and strong for the tough 96-kilometre, eight-day mountain trek because Leanne ran marathons and her father had only just retired from farming all his life.

Their family has requested privacy but in a statement said they took comfort knowing father and daughter were together.

There's no link between the nine Australians who died except an uncanny set of similarities to do with the importance they all placed on doing good in their communities. They were in the image of Max Cranwell: selfless people who spent a lot of time doing things for others. Ironically they were killed in a place that symbolises selflessness because at Kokoda in 1942 underdog Australian troops mounted a raw defence against Japanese advances, changing the course of the war in the Pacific.

Matthew Leonard was a Perth-born actor who changed careers and became a fireman, in Melbourne, and a St John's volunteer. He was also a Kokoda tour guide. Euan Comrie and Peter Holliday were Victorian cousins who wanted to honour their war veteran grandfather at Kokoda. Mr Comrie was a member of the Moe Arts Council, an environmentalist and social justice advocate. His wife, Annemieke, said yesterday he prepared for the trek by carrying his children around in a backpack. Hannah Kinross ran health programs for new migrants and refugees in eastern Melbourne. Kellie Weire, who lived in Bendigo, saw the trek as a pilgrimage. Queenslander Dr June Kanavan was trekking to raise money for an East African school. Also killed was fellow Queenslander Keith Gracie.

Max Cranwell's story is of a man deeply tied to his community and his family roots. He lived in Hazelwood North, a small community near Morwell where his ancestors go back to 1882 and where there is a road - Cranwell Crescent - named after them. ''Anything that was going on around here he was into it,'' said friend and CFA captain Ray Beaton last night. ''He was always there. He was staunch and he was active. We took Max for granted because of that.''

He was a life member of Mr Beaton's CFA brigade of 38 who had plenty of work to do on and after Black Saturday. Cranwell was the one who with his wife Phyllis did all the food runs to those who lost homes in the area and then went out and fixed people's fences. On Black Saturday he ''looked after the welfare of the troops'', said Mr Beaton, making sure everyone was all right and fed and watered and making sure the Hazelwood North shed was in order as a ''brew stop''.

This is the same country brigade Cranwell's own father Doug helped set up. ''We have three life members,'' Ray Beaton said. ''Max was one of them.''

He was also involved in the Morwell East and Hazelwood North tennis clubs. Tennis mate Alan Maddeley said his friend stopped playing two seasons ago because of a crook shoulder but still sometimes drove 40 kilometres to watch his old teammates play. He never played on Sunday mornings, though, because he was in church. ''He was very competitive on the court but very fair,'' said Mr Maddeley. ''If the ball was close to the line at his end he always erred on his opponent's side.''

Max was also on the community hall committee and the committee of an old people's home in Morwell. He served on Hazelwood North's primary school council. He was a church elder. He gave evidence at the Lindy Chamberlain trial because daughter Amanda got grabbed by a dingo at Uluru.

Another thing he did for going on 30 years was serve as an arts steward at the Traralgon Agricultural Show, pinning up kids' finger paintings and local artists' watercolours in a pavilion, supervising the judging and taking them all down afterwards to return to their owners.