Trek the Kokoda Trail Travel Blog

Posts Tagged ‘commemorative’

The Australian Government’s Department of Veteran Affairs has released a new Kokoda specific website full of information, maps and analysis of the Kokoda Campaign: kokoda.commemoration.gov.au

You’ll find:

• videos with Australian Kokoda Veterans including members of the 39th and 2/16th Battalions
• animated battle maps
• a detailed timeline of events
• information of the other battles fought in PNG during WW2

On the morning of November 3, Team 17, our last team on the Track for 2010 will commemorate the recapture of Kokoda and the historic raising of the Australian Flag over the site where the Kokoda campaign started.

Although B Company of the 39th Militia Battalion had briefly engaged the vanguard of the advancing Japanese forces before they reached Kokoda station,  it was the battle for Kokoda and our subsequent forced  withdrawal which marked the start of the Japanese advance over the Owen Stanley Ranges towards their goal of Port Moresby. It was a moment of great pride when in the early hours of November 3, 1942, the advancing Australian forces raised the Australian Flag in the same clearing that had been so heroically defended 4 months earlier.

Raising the flag will be only one of the highlights of this trek. We will be starting this trek at Ower’s Corner and walk South to North following the battle history of the Australian soldiers  as they pushed the Japanese back over the Track. Rather than camp at Kokoda, we intend to stay the night in a village Homestay which should be a lot of fun.

Click here to view our Team 17 Itinerary >

Click here to read more about this special commemorative trek >