The Kokoda Trail is a 130km track across the Owen Stanley Ranges in Papua New Guinea that was the site of battles between Australian and Japanese soldiers during World War 2. It has since become an important site of remembrance and pilgrimage for Australians. Young Australians now trek the trail in honor of those who fought there, experiencing the challenging environment and learning about the history. The trek helps build empathy between Australians and Papua New Guineans while providing economic opportunities for locals. An organization called Network Kokoda aims to support community development, education, and healthcare for those living along the trail to honor the legacy of veterans.

1. WWW.NETWORKKOKODA.ORG
Honouring their legacy
Honouring their legacy
Honouring their legacyHonouring their legacy Honouring their legacyHonouring their legacy
The Kokoda Trail is one of many jungle shrines
littered with relics of desperate battles fought be-
tween Australian and Japanese soldiers in PNG in
late 1942.
In 1958 the Commonwealth Battles Nomenclature
Committee awarded the Battle Honour ‘Kokoda Trail’
to the 10 Australian battalions and the Papuan In-
fantry Battalion who fought in the Kokoda campaign.
In 1972 the PNG Government accepted the rec-
ommendation of their Geographical Place Names
Committee and officially proclaimed the 130 kilo-
metre native track across the Owen Stanley Ranges
between Owers Corner in Central Province and Koko-
da in Oro Province as the ‘Kokoda Trail’
The trail lay dormant in the minds of Australians
for five decades until Paul Keating became the first
Prime Minister to visit the battlesite on the 50th
anniversary of the Kokoda campaign in 1992. After
falling to his knees and kissing the ground Keating
remarked:
‘This was the place where I believe the depth and
soul of the Australian nation was confirmed. If it was
founded at Gallipoli it was certainly confirmed in the
defence of our homeland here.’
Since then a growing number of young Australians
have trekked in the footsteps of the brave.
A pilgrimage across the Kokoda Trail is unique be-
cause there is no other known challenge in such a
remote jungle environment with such a compelling
story – an experience that allows modern day trek-
kers to conquer their own adversity as the wartime
history of the Kokoda campaign unfolds.
Kokoda, like Gallipoli, is an Australian leadership
laboratory where heroic stories of courage, mate-
ship, sacrifice, endurance, initiative, egalitarianism
and leadership are experienced in a way that has no
equal in today’s civil society.
Trekking Kokoda is almost the complete adventure
experience for young Australian and PNG adventur-
ers. It requires physical stamina and mental tenaci-
ty. The wartime history evokes strong emotions. The
unconditional care and support of local PNG guides
and villagers is humbling. The environment is rug-
ged, remote and pristine.
More importantly the Kokoda pilgrimage has
emerged as a gateway towards re-establishing em-
pathetic relationships between future leaders from
both countries. The Koiari and Orokaiva people who
live along the trail are the custodians of land sa-
cred to our wartime heritage. The emerging Kokoda
trekking industry is providing them with income and
opportunity they could only dream of a decade ago.
Network Kokoda will honour the legacy of our
veterans and wartime carriers by establishing
partnerships with Local, Provincial, and National
Government authorities to support integrated
community development initiatives along the trail;
to establish a Kokoda bursary program for local
students; and to support local educational and
health programs.
‘Those of us now reaching the end of our time
should, continue to see that our children and their
children embrace the notion that the death of the
brave is never in vain and, a good action never lost
to the world while there is but one actor or observer
left to preserve the record of the event’.
Lieutenant-Colonel Phil Rhoden OBE
Isurava Battlesite – 26 August 1988
The Kokoda Trail