Thursday 21 July 2022 marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Kokoda campaign in Papua New Guinea.

Approximately 625 Australians were killed along the Kokoda Track and over 1,600 were wounded. Soldiers who died due to sickness exceeded 4,000, according to Australian War Memorial archives.

The opening months of 1942 were perhaps the darkest days of the Second World War for Australia, with the seemingly unstoppable advance of Imperial Japanese forces across Asia and into the Pacific. 

Historians say the conditions experienced along the Kokoda Track were among “the most desperate and vicious” endured by Australian troops in the Second World War.

According to Phil Hotham, Nephew of Athol Robinson, who was part of the Kokoda campaign, “Uncle Athol never spoke of the war when he got back. We knew he was badly affected but it was just something that wasn’t spoken about. Men were expected to man up and get on with it. As time went on and we found out more details of the campaign, we had a small insight into what it had been like and some of the things that the men had to suffer through, it’s tough to think about, so how hard must it have been to live through,” he said.

“These were brave young men, fighting for their country in horrific circumstances, far from home soil,” said Mr. Hotham. “My Grandparents saw four sons off to War, that is difficult to even imagine as a parent, for me that is my whole family.”

Although the successful capture of Port Moresby was never going to be precursor to an invasion of Australia, victory on the Kokoda Track did ensure that Allied bases in northern Australia, vital in the coming counter-offensive against the Japanese, would not be seriously threatened by air attack.

“The Kokoda Trail is one of the most iconic Australian campaigns of the Second World War,” Dr Karl James, Head of Military History at the Australian War Memorial.

“Eighty years on, it is important to continue to honour those veterans still with us today and to highlight Australia’s long connections with our Pacific neighbours.”

IMAGE: abc.net.au

Intent on capturing Port Moresby and isolating the Australian mainland, Japanese forces landed around Gona, on Papua’s north coast, on 21 July 1942 and moved inland across the Owen Stanley Range along what would become known as the Kokoda Track - or Trail.

Gai Richardson (nee Edgar), whose family has been in the Walgett - Carinda area since the early 1900s, says the matter of 'track' or 'trail' was one of the details that was made clear in relation to her own father's war service.

"My father was a Kokoda Track veteran and he and other veterans from here used to get angry when it was referred to as the Kokoda Trail in later years," Mrs Richardson told the Western Plains App.

"They said the Americans referred to it as a 'trail' but it was definitely only ever a track and therefore referred to as track by the soldiers." 

The five-month Kokoda campaign would become an epic feat of endurance, requiring hand-to-hand combat and many acts of individual bravery, that have been etched into Australia's psyche.

Australian troops – with Papuan support – fought vicious actions at Kokoda and Isurava. They then went on the offensive, achieving hard-fought successes at Templeton’s Crossing and Eora Crossing, and liberated Kokoda in early November.

“Australia emerged from the Second World War industrialised and confident, with a sophisticated relationship with Britain, a new friendship with the United States of America, and ready to engage with Asia and the Pacific,” Dr James said.

“The Second World War was the conflict that most shaped Australia during the 20th century.”

With soldiers enlisting from all over the countryside wherever they were working from at the time, it is hard to ascertain how many men were from the central west of NSW. Private Allan. R. Blackstock of Parkes was part of the 39th Battalion, Private Joseph T Ringe of Dubbo, Private Herbert Robertson, Cowra and Private Norman. J. Crawford of Young, were some soldiers of note involved in the campaign.

Known as one of Australia’s best known War time campaigns. For many it is synonymous with sacrifice, great courage, and true mateship.

A true and timely reminder of what it means to be Australian. 

If you have a connection with a veteran of the Kokoda campaign from the small towns of the Western Plains Contact Us.