The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

The Pacific Theatre in

the identity of
Australia
The Kokoda Trail

Figure. 1

The Kokoda trail is a single file, rough tropical jungle path that connects villages
together throughout the Owen Stanley Range. It crosses rivers and creeks over 13
ranges, it is so dense that the vegetation changes along the track.i It runs for over 96
kilometers from Kokoda to Port Moresby, with the greatest altitude reached of 2’190
meters as it passes through Mount Bellamy. The track is hot and humid during the day
with cold and unforgiving nights.ii On this sodden and desolate track the Australian and
Japanese Armies engaged in a series of battles and skirmishes along the track from July
1942 to November 1942. The Kokoda Track campaign is not known for the brutality of
the battles, but for the national identity it was able to build.iii

Question: How was the Kokoda Trail Campaign first reported and
how did this change over time?

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The Kokoda Trail Climate and Conditions
The climate and conditions on the
Kokoda trail was a key factor
towards the troubles of the troubles
the soldiers had on the campaign.
On the rain, sodden hills of New
Guinea, the Japanese forces weren’t
the only opposing factors that the
Australian militia had to deal with,
jungle growth, flooded rivers, cold,
heat, disease, exhaustion, and
starvation. Yet the deadliest weapon in
the region was the land itself.iv The trail
a former series of interconnecting
small trails used as a mail route to
supply the settlements around Kokoda,
these routes when drenched by the
rain, this debilitating climate turned the
ground into quagmire.v During the
expedition some days and nights
where filled with torrential rain, while
Figure. 3
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The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa
Figure. 2
others was just a hot sun and humid
conditions.vi These conditions allowed
for the epidemic of tropical diseases,
these include malaria, dengue fever,
tropical ulcers, fungal infections, scrub
typhus and dysentery. The conditions
saw soldiers create poor field hygiene
that when coupled with the poor food
quality influenced a large amount of
enteric infections to run rampant.vii
Exercise-associated hyponatremia
(EAH) was also a problem on the trail
for the less physically fit soldier.viii
The conditions on the trail was the
main reason for the casualties
during the campaign, this was
because of the poor climate and
location that didn’t allow for modern
medicine and protective gear to be
used to its upmost best.

The Kokoda Trail Campaign
After the seaborne capture of Port
Moresby had been disrupted by the
battle of Coral Sea, the Japanese
invaders saw the Kokoda trail as a viable
alternative to reaching their goal of the
ix
capture of Port Moresby. Japanese
troops landed at Gona in the early
evening of the 21st July 1942 and
Figure. 5
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The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa
Figure. 4
advanced rapidly towards Kokoda,
reaching Wairopi by the 23rd of July. The
39th Battalion overwhelmed withdrew to
Deniki, here they reassembled and
fought the Japanese at the first battle at
Kokoda from 28th-29th of July, this battle
saw the commanding officer of the 39th
Battalion Lt. Colonel William Owen shot
above the right eye, mortally wounding
him.x
Although having reinforcements from
the 30th Battalion and 21st Brigade the
Australian forces were unable to stop
the Japanese’s steady advance through
the trail. Many compounding factors
including the poor equipment and the
lack of effective jungle warfare put the
Australian forces at a severe

disadvantage against the seemingly
unstoppable Japanese force.
By the 17th of September the Australian
retreat finally stopped at the Imita Ridge,
only 8 km from the junction to the road at
Port Moresby. The Japanese set up
fortifications, preparing for a full-scale
advance on the opposing ridge at
Ioribaiwa, a mere 6km from the
Australian position.xi
Yet the tactical situation had changed,
the Japanese forces had now
overstretched their line, not able to be
properly supplied, while in comparison
the Australian forces where now able to
be freshly suppled with more man power
and better weaponry. But most
importantly the Japanese invader where
now within artillery range. This was then
coupled by the fact of a successful
American landing on the Guadalcanal,
the Japanese forces where now put into
a situation where they had to abandon
their attack to create a defensive position
of the north coast of Papua.xii
Figure. 7
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The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa
Figure. 6
The Australian forces of the 25th Brigade
crossed the Imita Ridge on the 23rd of
September forcing the Japanese to
withdraw from Ioribaiwa entirely. The 16th
and 25th Brigades harried the Japanese
retreat all along the trail. By Mid-
November the Australian forces had
crossed the Kumusi at Wairopi and
where now in position to attack the
Japanese beachhead positions at Gona,
Buna and Sanananda.
The importance of the Kokoda trail battle
now meant that the air raids made by the
Japanese forces on northern Australia
where now able to be repelled.xiii Yet the
Trail fighting saw some of the most
desperate fighting in the Australian
troops history. The war casualties where
measured at approximately 625
Australians killed, 1’600 wounded and
exceeding 4’000 casualties because of
sickness.xiv
 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

Soldier’s on the Trail

For the soldiers who fought on the

trail it was a gruelling ordeal that
many where not prepared for.

The Australian soldier had to deal with

the ‘terrible physical and mental
agony’ that they endured in the name
of war. For the average Australian who
had joined the war effort in the name
of nationalism and glory the Kokoda
trail was the ‘Physical nightmare’ some
xv
never woke up from. With marching up
the track to face an unrelenting Japanese
threat, the only wat to keep the supply
line moving through the tough
impregnable terrain was that of ‘human
xvi
sweat and cracking muscles’.
Figure. 8
plummet of morale from sickness and the
terrain was also coupled with the
situation of the 53rd Battalion, who with
around one hundred draftees being
denied their Christmas leave, had their
voyage to North Queensland diverted
towards the defensive effort in New
Guinea.xviii These compounding factors
had an overall effectiveness of the
battalion’s performance in battle.

Figure. 9 Figure. 10

This when coupled with the rampant

dysentery that spread throughout the
ranks saw death from sickness greatly out
match the death tolls from the fleeting
skirmishes fought on the trail,xvii this saw
the morale of the soldier’s plummet. The

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 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

The day to day life of soldiers was also a over the weary soldier. And finally, when
problem for the men with marches they have awakened they look forward to
lasting up to 12 hours, carrying a day of walking through the pouring
overloaded packs on their backs heavier rain, steaming and wet through the
than those of even the Papuan porters forest.xxi
accompanying the soldiers. These
journeys where made increasingly worse
by the terrain of the Owen Stanley range. Soldier’s on the trail lived through
On one account of a day’s travel a soldier circumstances unimaginable to the
states that they spent 4 hours of the day public eye. The daily routine of their life
traveling up a rising path of a 2’000 ft was bleak and completely different too
ascent only to then descend another much of the views handed out to the
2’000 ft. By the end of this day the 2 public.
miles of journey along the path was 8 to
10 miles of tireless walking.xix The
journey of a weary soldier did not end Figure. 11
there on the path, within the forest
covered-ridges the trail was ill managed
and kept for the forward troop
movement, this meant that trestle
bridges as well as the felling of trees
needed to be done, and after all this had
been seen to camps and in some cases
fortifications had to be built.xx Yet at the
end of the days long journey the soldiers
only had to look forward to a restless
sleep. This was made apparent by the
native bugs and rats that would crawl all

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 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

The Narrative Sold

When the campaign had finally

been won the war ‘a million miles
away’ finally felt a little closer to
home’,xxii as such the battles along
Kokoda where seen as battles that
saved Australia from a Japanese
invasion, from this the campaign
as well as the role of the 39th
Figure. 12
Battalion became entrenched within the
Anzac mythos. As such in celebration of
the Kokoda trail campaign was
remembered to such a scale of triumph
and fondness by the Australian
citizenship that only D-Day on an
international scale surpassed any
commemoration of war by any country The Australian spirit was also importantly
than that of Australia and its fondness of shown by a newspaper article on the 3rd
its war effort in Papua New Guinea. The of November stating the soldier’s
sustained communal recollection was eagerness on betting on the Melbourne
unmatched. xxiii
Cup.xxiv

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating used

the Kokoda trail as a way of stating
Australia’s stance against imperialism,
Figure. 13 as such he stated that the Australian
forces who fought and died in Papua
New Guinea was not of defense of the
old world, but of the new world.xxv He is
clearly stating that Australia’s intention
was never a land grab, of similar vein to
the Japanese invasion, but of defense
towards the people of Papua New
Guinea.

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The Prevailing Story
Although Kokoda is still seen as a
triumphant success of Australian military
power the original views and ideals of
the battles have been toned back.
The original view of Kokoda saving a
nation have been debunked and one of
the key premises of Australia going in
alone against a force that vastly
outnumbers them have been proven to
be false. As such the Kokoda campaign is
now seen by historians as an allied
logistics failure that allowed the
Japanese to get into a position of power
to begin with. Kokoda in terms of the
Pacific theatre of war is less significant to
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The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa
the overall allies’ victory then it was
previously thought to be.xxvi
As such many Australians do not wish to
see the violence of Kokoda as the
definition of their national identity.xxvii
The Kokoda Trail is still an important part
of what makes an Australian, it is just now
remembered in less glowing terms, this
therefore allows for the critical view by
Australians on a personal level to decide
if this is part of their identity as an
Australian citizen.
Figure. 14
 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

i
Kokoda Tour Operators Association, ‘Kokoda Track Conditions’, No Roads Expedition
[website], (2011) <http://www.kokodaexpeditions.com.au/track-conditions.html>,
accessed 18 Oct. 2018.
ii
Yvon Pèrusse, Lonely Planet Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea (2nd ed.) (Hawthorn,
Victoria: Lonely Planet, 1993)

iii
Hank Nelson, ‘Gallipoli, Kokoda and the making of national identity’, Journal of
Australian Studies, 21/53 (2009), 148-152.
iv
Osmar White, ‘Jungle track to Kokoda’, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 17 Oct. 1942, 4, in
trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
v
Department of the Environment and Energy, More Information about the Kokoda Track,
<http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/list-overseas-places-historic-
significance-australia/kokoda-track>, accessed 19. Oct 2018
vi
Kokoda Tour Operators Association, ‘Kokoda Track Conditions’, No Roads Expedition
[website], (2011) <http://www.kokodaexpeditions.com.au/track-conditions.html>,
accessed 18 Oct. 2018.
vii
Allan S. Walker, The Island Campaigns (Canberra, NSW: Canberra Australian War
Memorial, 1957), 70-75.
viii
Sean P. Rothwell and David J. Rosengren, ‘Severe Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia
on the Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea’, Elsevier, 19/1 (2008), 42-44.
ix
Australian War Memorial, Kokoda Trail Campaign,
<https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84663>, accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
x
Samuel Milner, Victory in Papua (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1957), 60-
68.
xi
Australian War Memorial, Kokoda Trail Campaign,
<https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84663>, accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
xii
Australian War Memorial, Kokoda Trail Campaign,
<https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84663>, accessed 19 Oct. 2018.
xiii
George H. Johnston, ‘Land fighting in Papua’, The Mercury (Hobart), 28 Jul. 1942, 1, in
trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
xiv
Australian War Memorial, Kokoda Trail Campaign,
<https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84663>, accessed 19 Oct. 2018
xv
George H. Johnston, ‘Soldier’s grim story of the Kokoda Track’, The Argus (Melbourne),

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 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

9 Nov. 1942, 4, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

xvi
Geoffrey Hutton, ‘Kokoda tack. The scenes of fighting’, The West Australian (Perth), 13
Mar. 1943, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
xvii
Justin Lees, ‘Kokoda Campaign: Surviving veterans share their triumphs and horrors in
jungle warfare’, The Daily Telegraph, Jul. 21 2017,
<https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/kokoda-campaign-surviving-
veterans-share-their-triumphs-and-horrors-in-jungle-warfare/news-
story/aded217a81eed21ba9e4733a56fdcf4d>, accessed 20 Oct. 2018
xviii
Nicholas Anderson, To Kokoda. Australian Army Campaigns Series (Sydney, NSW: Big
Sky Publishing, 2014), 20-22.
xix
George H. Johnston, ‘Soldier’s grim story of the Kokoda Track’, The Argus (Melbourne),
9 Nov. 1942, 4, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
xx
Geoffrey Hutton, ‘Kokoda tack. The scenes of fighting’, The West Australian (Perth), 13
Mar. 1943, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
xxi
George H. Johnston, ‘Soldier’s grim story of the Kokoda Track’, The Argus (Melbourne),
9 Nov. 1942, 4, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
xxii
Ken G. Hall (dir.), Kokoda Front Line! (Cinesound Productions,1942)
xxiii
Nelson, Hank, ‘Gallipoli, Kokoda and the making of national identity’, Journal of
Australian Studies, 21/53 (2009), 152.
xxiv
T. J. Fairiiall, ‘Bets and cup fever on Kokoda Track’, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 3 Nov.
1942, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.
xxv
Nelson, Hank, ‘Gallipoli, Kokoda and the making of national identity’, Journal of
Australian Studies, 21/53 (2009), 150.
xxvi
Nicholas Anderson, To Kokoda. Australian Army Campaigns Series (Sydney, NSW: Big
Sky Publishing, 2014) 205-215.
xxvii
Nelson, Hank, ‘Gallipoli, Kokoda and the making of national identity’, Journal of
Australian Studies, 21/53 (2009), 152.

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 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

Bibliography
Figure list:

Figure 1: Australian War Memorial, Australian Soldiers stop on Ioribaiwa Ridge to look at the
scenery, 1942, in Australia War Memorial [online database], accessed 6 Oct. 2018.

Figure 2: Daniel Milne, The Kokoda track stretches from coast to coast, 2017, in Snowys
Outdoors blog [online database], accessed 8 Oct. 2018.

Figure 3: Daniel Milne, View over the Owen Stanley Range, 2017, in Snowys Outdoors
blog [online database], accessed 8 Oct. 2018.

Figure 4: White, Osmar, ‘Jungle track to Kokoda’, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 17 Oct.
1942, 4, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

Figure. 5: Australian War Memorial, Natives carrying supplies for the members of the
Chauvel’s production, 1942, in Australia War Memorial [online database], accessed
6 Oct. 2018.

Figure 6: Australian War Memorial, Allies retake Kokoda, 1942, in Australia War Memorial
[online database], accessed 6 Oct. 2018.

Figure 7: Hutton, Geoffrey, ‘Kokoda tack. The scenes of fighting’, The West Australian
(Perth), 13 Mar. 1943, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

Figure 8: Australian War Memorial, 39th Battalion returning to base camp after battle,
1942, in Australia War Memorial [online database], accessed 6 Oct. 2018.
Figure 9: Johnston, George H., ‘Soldier’s grim story of the Kokoda Track’, The Argus
(Melbourne), 9 Nov. 1942, 4, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018

Figure 10: Australian War Memorial, Kokoda Trail Private J. Ryan, 1942, in Australia War
Memorial [online database], accessed 6 Oct. 2018.

Figure 11: Australian War Memorial, Australian infantry crossing the Brown River, 1942, in
Australia War Memorial [online database], accessed 6 Oct. 2018.

Figure 12: Johnston, George H., ‘Land fighting in Papua’, The Mercury (Hobart), 28 Jul.
1942, 1, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018

Figure 13: Australian War Memorial, Mr George Heath, Chief cameraman of Chauvel’s
productions, 1942, in Australia War Memorial [online database], accessed 6 Oct.
2018.

Figure 14: Fairiiall, T. J., ‘Bets and cup fever on Kokoda Track’, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane),
3 Nov. 1942, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

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 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

Primary Sources

Johnston, George H., ‘Soldier’s grim story of the Kokoda Track’, The Argus (Melbourne), 9
Nov. 1942, 4, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

Johnston, George H., ‘Land fighting in Papua’, The Mercury (Hobart), 28 Jul. 1942, 1, in
trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

White, Osmar, ‘Jungle track to Kokoda’, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 17 Oct. 1942, 4, in
trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

Hall, Ken G. (dir.), Kokoda Front Line! (Cinesound Productions,1942)

Hutton, Geoffrey, ‘Kokoda tack. The scenes of fighting’, The West Australian (Perth), 13
Mar. 1943, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

Fairiiall, T. J., ‘Bets and cup fever on Kokoda Track’, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 3 Nov.
1942, 3, in trove [online database], accessed 16 Oct. 2018.

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 The Kokoda Trail by Nicholas Caiafa

Secondary Sources

Anderson, Nicholas, To Kokoda. Australian Army Campaigns Series (Sydney, NSW: Big Sky
Publishing, 2014).

Australian War Memorial, Kokoda Trail Campaign,

<https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84663>, accessed 19 Oct. 2018.

Department of the Environment and Energy, More Information about the Kokoda Track,
<http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/list-overseas-places-historic-
significance-australia/kokoda-track>, accessed 19. Oct 2018.

Kokoda Tour Operators Association, ‘Kokoda Track Conditions’, No Roads Expedition

[website], (2011) <http://www.kokodaexpeditions.com.au/track-conditions.html>,
accessed 18 Oct. 2018.

Lees, Justin, ‘Kokoda Campaign: Surviving veterans share their triumphs and horrors in
jungle warfare’, The Daily Telegraph, Jul. 21 2017,
<https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/kokoda-campaign-surviving-
veterans-share-their-triumphs-and-horrors-in-jungle-warfare/news-
story/aded217a81eed21ba9e4733a56fdcf4d>, accessed 20 Oct. 2018.

Milner, Samuel, Victory in Papua (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1957).

Nelson, Hank, ‘Gallipoli, Kokoda and the making of national identity’, Journal of Australian
Studies, 21/53 (2009), 148-160.

Pèrusse, Yvon, Lonely Planet Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea (2nd ed.) (Hawthorn,
Victoria: Lonely Planet, 1993).

Rothwell, Sean P. and Rosengren David J., ‘Severe Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia on

the Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea’, Elsevier, 19/1 (2008), 42-44.

Walker, Allan S., The Island Campaigns (Canberra, NSW: Canberra Australian War
Memorial, 1957).

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