General Vernon Sturdee warned in 1933 that Japan would pose a major threat to Australian security and predicted that in the event of war, Australian troops would be hastily assembled civilians with little training compared to battle-hardened Japanese soldiers. However, he was ignored. By late 1941 when war loomed in the Pacific, the only troops available to defend Australia were training with broomsticks because they lacked rifles. The document discusses Australia's lack of preparedness for the threat of Japan prior to World War 2 and the difficulties Australian forces faced in the early days of the Pacific War due to insufficient training and equipment.

2. General Vernon Sturdee, Director of military operations and intelligence at Army
Headquarters in Melbourne, warned in 1933 that Japan would pose the major
threat to Australian security.
He predicted: ‘the Japanese would act quickly, they would all be regulars, fully
trained and equipped for the operations, and fanatics who like dying in battle,
whilst our troops would consist mainly of civilians, hastily thrown together on
mobilisation, with very little training, short of artillery and possibly of gun
ammunition.’ He was ignored.
As the storm clouds of war gathered over the Pacific in late 1941 the only troops
available to defend our homeland at the time were training with broomsticks
because they had no rifles.
Spirit of Kokoda: 70 years on!

3. Where is Kokoda?
Kokoda is a town in Papua New Guinea.
It is in the Northern state/region.
Latitude: 8° 52' 57" S
Longitude: 147° 42' 28" E

4. What is the Kokoda Track/Trail?
The southern end of the Kokoda track/trail
begins at Ower’s Corner, a 61km drive from
north-east of Port Moresby.
The track/trail is 96 kms long and ends on
the northern side of the Owen Stanley
Range at Kokoda station near Kokoda village.

5. What is in a Name?
1526 Portuguese sailor JORGE DE MENESES is the first European visitor.
He names one of the islands “Ilhas dos Papuas” meaning: “Land of
fuzzy-haired people”.
1546 Spanish explorer INIGO ORTIZ DE RETES names the other main island
New Guinea because the islanders resemble the people of Guinea in
Africa.
1768 French explorer LOUIS-ANTOINE DE BOUGAINVILLE lands at the
islands during his circumnavigation of the world. Gives his name to
an island just to the east of New Guinea: Bougainville Island.
1873 Port Moresby is named by English explorer JOHN MORESBY after his
father. Port Moresby is annexed by the British 1883-1884.
1942 Japanese forces occupy parts of both territories.
Annexed: To add territory to one’s own territory by appropriation (Just taking it).

6. The Europeans and the Australians
1884 Great Britain established a protectorate over south-east New
Guinea, while Germany annexes the northern part of New Guinea.
1906 The control of British New Guinea is transferred to the newly
independent Commonwealth of Australia and renamed:
Territory of Papua.
1914 Australian Forces occupy German New Guinea during The Great War
(World War I).
1921 After the Great War (World War I), the League of Nations grants
Australia a mandate to run ‘German New Guinea’. This new
MANDATED TERRITORY of New Guinea is governed totally separately
from the ‘Territory of Papua’.
Protectorate: A state controlled and protected by another.
Mandate: An official order or commission to do something: A Federal Mandate.

7. Road to Independence
1828 The area West of 141° East longitude, was claimed by the Dutch, on
August 24, 1828, by proclamation.
The first establishment was at Merkusoord/Fort Du Bus, in 1828 and
abandoned in 1836.
1895 The Eastern Border was set at 141° 1’47” East longitude.
1898 The first permanent administrative posts at Fakfak and Manokwari,
were set up.
1884 Germany annexed the Northeast as Kaiser Wilhelmsland.
England claimed the Southeast on November, 1884 with the
establishment of Port Moresby.
1899 The German Government gave exploitation rights to the “Neuguinea
Compagnie”.
Proclamation: A public or official announcement of great importance.

8. Road to Independence cont…
1906 British New Guinea was administered by Australia as “Papua”.
1945 Australia combined its administration of “Papua” and that of the
mandate into the “Territory of Papua New Guinea”, with the
common capital at Port Moresby.
1946 From 1946 it became “United Nations Australian Trust Territory of
New Guinea”.
1921 German New Guinea and the Solomon Islands formed the “New
Guinea Territory” administered by Australia as a mandated territory
of the League of Nations in 1921, after the Great War. (World War I).
1973 Self-government was achieved on December 1, 1973.
1975 Full independence from Australia on September 16, 1975.

9. Administration of the Island of New Guinea
1942
Eastern Section
Western Section
Northern
Section
Southern
Section
Administered until 1963 by:
The Netherlands
Administered by:
Australia
Under ‘mandate’ from the
League of Nations 1921
(had been annexed by the Germans In 1884)
Known as Papua was:
An Australian Colony
transferred by the British to
Australia in 1906
The indigenous population of both Territories was estimated at about 1.5 million. The
European residents numbered about 6,000. After Pear Harbour European women and
children had been encouraged to return to Australia and by mid-February 1942 the Territories
were under military control.

10. 1942
In mid-July, General Douglas MacArthur, orders a force of Australian infantry and
American engineers move across the Kokoda track to Buna to construct an airfield
at Dobodura. Under American influence, the track becomes known as the Kokoda
Trail.
Keep in mind: There is pressure on troop numbers. Experienced soldiers of the AIF
(Australian Imperial Force) are fighting elsewhere, mainly in the Middle East and North
Africa.
Major-General B.M. Morris, who commanded the 8th Military District, had to rely at
first only on the three (3) militia units of the AMF (Australian Military Forces): the
39th, the 49th, the 53rd and a Papuan Infantry Battalion, manned by indigenous
Papuans under the command of Australian Officers.
Note: the AMF was originally formed by volunteer and part-time soldiers.
Australia's involvement in the long battle for the Kokoda Trail began on 21 July when the
Japanese landed in Papua. A partial resolution of the conflict was not to come until
November. The Japanese were finally driven out of Papua in January 1943.

11. At the outbreak of the war, this force was augmented by the call-up of the
conscripts for home defence.
Note: New Guinea had been declared the 8th Australian Military District in mid-1942 to
enable the use of conscripts in the war zone.
The 39th Australian Infantry Battalion was a CMF unit ie A Citizens’ Military Force.
Note: It was raised in October 1941 from volunteers in Victoria arriving in Port Moresby in
January 1942. When it was relieved during the Kokoda operations in September, the
Battalion’s strength of about 1500 had decreased, due to battle casualties and illness to 185.
“It was not the fault of the 39th Battalion that Kokoda was lost. The fault lay in the failure
to make an early assessment of the trail, to foresee the possibility of the Japanese using it,
and to take in good time the steps necessary to meet such a development.”
Colonel E.G. Keogh, South West Pacific 1941-1945
In July 1942, the Papuan Infantry Battalion was joined by conscripts who arrived
with little military training and whose average age was 18½.
Note: It was these forces that had to be called upon to mount the offensive.
1942

12. These young soldiers, with little military training earned the nick-name of ‘Chocos’
or ‘Chocolate soldiers’.
Note: This term was first used in WWI and came from George Bernard Shaw’s play Arms
and the Man, about a man that would not fight. But after their ‘baptism of fire’ at Kokoda
and Milne Bay, the ‘Chocos’ proved that they could fight bravely and well.
“The days go on. You are trying to survive, shirt torn, arse out of your pants, whiskers a
mile long, hungry, and a continuous line of stretchers with wounded carried by
‘fuzzy‐wuzzies’ doing a marvellous job…” – A digger
The Japanese first landed in New Guinea in March, at Salamaua and Lae. In July
they landed south of these areas on the north east coast of Papua – at Buna and
Gona. It is less that 200 kms from Port Moresby; it is however, separated from that
town by the steep rage of the Owen Stanley mountains. The only way over the
range was by foot.
Note: The Japanese losses at the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway prevented them from
invading Port Moresby by sea. Their objective was to go via the track. The village of Kokoda
was about half way between Port Moresby and Buna.
1942

13. Major-General Morris calls the troops: ‘Maroubra Force’. He sends them towards
Buna over the Kokoda track:
• Preventing any Japanese advance
• Holding the ‘Kokoda Gap’, a flat stretch of the Owen Stanleys.
They left Port Moresby on the 7th of July reaching Kokoda on the 15th. Even prior to
facing the enemy the ‘Maroubra Force’ had to fight conditions horrific to men
untrained in Jungle warfare. They had to contend with the steepness of the track,
rainforests dripping with moss and leeches as well as mosquito infested swamps.
Many contracted malaria. Despite being in the tropics they were continually wet
and cold in the rain and high altitudes. Their 27 kilogram packs, heavy boots and
khaki summer uniforms were unsuitable for the conditions. The khaki allowed
them to be seen against the green of the jungle. Camouflage and jungle green
uniforms arrived later in the campaign.
In his Recollections of a Regimental Medical Officer, Major H.D. Steward wrote, “it seemed
strange that the Army had not provided us with 'Jungle Greens'. The Japanese had already
shown in Malaya and the Pacific their mastery of camouflage, yet we were in khaki shirts
and shorts”.
1942

14. A Timeline – Key Dates
1942 KEY EVENTS
7 July B Company 39th Battalion leave Port Moresby to cross the Kokoda track.
15 July
B Coy arrives at Kokoda. Captain Sam Templeton continues on to Buna to
collect supplies that have been shipped on the "Gilli Gilli".
21 July Japanese land on the Northern Beaches.
23 July
Australians of the 39th Battalion and the Papuan Infantry Brigade make
first contact with the Japanese near Awala.
28-29 July First Battle of Kokoda.
8-10 August Second Battle of Kokoda.
12-14 August Battle of Deniki.
26-30 August
Battle of Isurava. 39th Militia Battalion reinforced by 2/14th AIF. 53rd
Militia and 2/16th prevent outflanking on parallel track through Aburari.
31 August –
2 September
Australians withdraw to Eora Creek.
3 September Australians withdraw to Templeton's Crossing.

15. 1942 KEY EVENTS
4 September Australians withdraw to Myola.
6-8 September Battle of Mission Ridge and Brigade Hill.
10 September Australians withdraw to Nauro.
11-16
September
Australians Ambush their way back to Ioribaiwa. Battle of Ioribaiwa.
17 September Australians withdraw from Ioribaiwa and dig in at Imita Ridge.
24 September
Japanese begin to "withdraw to the rear" and head back down the track
towards the Northern beaches.
THE AUSTRALIAN ADVANCE
BEGINS
September 1942 – January 1943
A Timeline – Key Dates

16. THE AUSTRALIAN ADVANCE
28 September
Australian patrols enter the Japanese defensive positions at Ioribaiwa
unopposed.
11 October
Japanese halt their withdrawal to positions forward of Templetons
Crossing.
16-21 October Battle of Templetons Crossing.
22-29 October
Japanese withdraw to defensive positions at Eora Creek. Battle of Eora
Creek.
2 November Australian patrol enters Kokoda station unopposed.
3 November
The Australian flag is raised at Kokoda. Papuan carriers parade and
receive thanks on behalf of Australia. 5 carriers receive awards.
5-12
November
Battle of Oivi and Gorari.
15 November Battle along the Sanananda Track begins.
18 November Battle of Gona commences.
A Timeline – Key Dates

17. THE AUSTRALIAN ADVANCE
19 November Battle of Buna starts.
9 December 'Gona's Gone'. The Australians take Gona village.
1943
2 January Buna Village falls to the Australian and American forces.
21 January
Sanananda cleaned out. No further Japanese fighting force exists on the
Northern Beaches.
A Timeline – Key Dates

18. Webography & Resources
• Article: Battle lines II: what invasion?
• Article: Tracking the truth of Kokoda
• Battle for Australia: Kokoda Trail 1
• Chronological Events - Papua New Guinea
• Kokoda Memorial: Queensland
• Mandate Records Archives: 4 Mandated Territory of New Guinea
Records, 1921–42
• Margaret May MP - Parliament Address on Rotary Kokoda
Memorial Wall
• Postage: Kokoda Series
• Postage: Kokoda Series
• The History of Netherlands New Guinea
• Timeline: Kokoda
• Vietnam Veterans & Veterans Federation ACT Inc