This site is in development for initial release during 2010.
In 1942, along a narrow track over the rugged mountains of Papua New Guinea, 625 Australians were killed and over 1000 wounded...
The fighting there, against a Japanese invasion force, was perhaps the most significant battle fought by Australians in World War II.
This site will help you to understand about this extraordinary event: Why it occurred, who was involved and what it was like to face death in the jungled mountains along the Kokoda track.
The Japanese landed near Gona on the north coast of Papua on 21 July 1942. In the next two months they drove the Australians and their Papuan allies back over the mountains towards Port Moresby, the Japanese objective. Port Moresby was vital to the defense of Australia. If they took Port Moresby the Japanese planned to begin a bombing offensive against north Queensland and, had they decided to invade Australia, the invasion would have been launched from Port Moresby. None of this came to pass. The Japanese approched to within 40 kilometres of their objective but the tide turned in September. Then the Australians, in a series of costly engagements, pushed the Japanese back the way they had come. By mid November the Japanese were forced to abandon their plan to take Port Moresby. They retired to their north coast strongholds at Buna, Gona and Sanananda.
The Kokoda Track region appears much as it did in 1942 when the Australian soldiers fought there. Along the track trenches and rusted weapons can still be seen. There are almost none of the facilities a tourist might expect to find, no electricity, no shops, and each madly rushing stream is crossed by means of a simple log bridge. Following in the steps of the Australian soldiers remains a physically challenging task, to be attempted by only the fittest of bushwalkers amongst us.
The 96 kilometre Kokoda track wanders along narrow crests offering spectacular views, and falls into deep dark gorges where the thick green vegetation blocks out the daylight. The Australian and PNG governments are considering seeking a World Heritage listing to continue to preserve this remarkably beautiful, pristine and historical environment.
This site, while not a substitute for walking that beautiful wild landscape, will help you understand more of the people, events, history and topography of a defining moment in Australian history.
Just off the road from Port Moresby to the southern end of the Kokoda track is Bomana, the largest war cemetery in the Pacific. Established in 1942 it contains 3779 graves. There are 3069 known and 237 unknown Australians from the fighting in New Guinea together with 443 allied soldiers sailors and airmen.
The core of this site concerns the Kokoda track - or the Kokoda trail as it is sometimes called. The Battle of Kokoda was a four month struggle which began with the Japanese landing in Papua in July 1942. The Japanese strategy was to take Port Moresby via a track over the Owen Stanley Range. Along this track were fought engagements between the Japanese and the Australians at Kokoda, Deniki, Isurava, Eora, Efogi, Templeton's crossing, Ioribaiwa and Oivi-Gorari.
The jungle warfare on the Kokoda track did not occur in isolation: You will also find here accounts of the other battles in Papua (as the southern half of mainland Papua New Guinea was once called). At the Battle of Milne Bay a second Japanese attempt to land in Papua was defeated and at the Battle of Buna-Gona, which ended in January 1943, the Japanese army in Papua was finally destroyed. There was fighting on the sea and in the air. At the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, the Royal Australian Navy contributed to repulsing the first Japanese attempt to land in Papua and the Royal Australian Air Force lost over 200 men in attacks on Japanese land forces and shipping.
About 120,000 people were engaged in the fighting in Papua, either as combatants or supporting the fighting troops on both sides. In Australia the story of the fuzzy wuzzy angels is well known but thousands of Papuans and New Guineans also participated on the Japanese side. The Americans made an important contribution to the war in Papua and fought a concurrent battle against the Japanese on the island of Guadalcanal.
The post war revival of interest in the Kokoda track has given rise to new problems. Now over 2000 Australians walk the track each year and there is concern that this has a detrimental environmental effect. For the Koiari people, through whose land the track winds, there are issues of track ownership and remuneration. There is also the question of mining. In 2008 an Australian company, Frontier Resources, was refused permission to mine for copper near the Kokoda track.
To deal with disputes, to promote trekking with a low environmental impact and to develop revenue for local communities, the Kokoda track foundation (2003) and the Kokoda track authority (2004) were established. In 2008 the Governments of Papua New Guinea and Australia signed a joint understanding which may result in a world heritage nomination for the Owen Stanley Range.