What was the Kokoda Track campaign?

The Kokoda Track campaign was the Australian-led defensive campaign fought in the rugged mountains of Papua New Guinea from July to November 1942. Australian militia and AIF troops fought a series of defensive actions along the Kokoda Track to stop the Japanese advance toward Port Moresby, the capital of Papua. The campaign is one of the most celebrated Australian military efforts of the Second World War.

The Kokoda Track is a 96-kilometre walking trail across the Owen Stanley Range in Papua, linking the Japanese landing area at Buna and Gona on the north coast with Port Moresby on the south coast. The Japanese 17th Army landed at Buna and Gona on 21 July 1942 and began advancing south along the track. The defending Australian Maroubra Force (initially comprising the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion of mostly young, inexperienced militia soldiers, later reinforced by experienced AIF battalions) fought a series of delaying actions as the Japanese pushed south.

The campaign involved major actions at Kokoda village (captured by the Japanese in August), Isurava (the first major Australian stand, 26 to 31 August), Eora Creek, Templeton's Crossing, Ioribaiwa Ridge (the Japanese high-water mark, just 50 kilometres from Port Moresby, reached on 16 September), and the subsequent Australian counter-attack from 28 September that drove the Japanese back. Kokoda village was recaptured by the Australians on 2 November 1942, and the Japanese beachhead at Buna and Gona fell to combined Australian-American forces in January 1943. Australian casualties on the track totalled about 600 dead and 1,600 wounded. Japanese casualties are estimated at about 6,000 dead.

The Kokoda campaign has become central to Australian memory of the Second World War. The narrow track, the steep terrain, the tropical heat and rain, the constant supply problems, the diseases including malaria and dengue fever, and the support given by Papuan carriers (known as the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels', though the term is now considered outdated) all feature in the legend. Each year hundreds of Australians trek the Kokoda Track as a pilgrimage. The Kokoda Day commemoration on 8 November (the anniversary of the Templeton's Crossing victory) is observed at the Australian War Memorial. Kokoda is celebrated through documentaries, films, books, and school history programmes as the moment Australia successfully defended itself against invasion. The 39th Battalion's Isurava stand is particularly remembered, with the qualities of courage, endurance, mateship, and sacrifice inscribed at the Isurava Memorial.