Kokoda

Kokoda was arguably Australia's most significant campaign of the Second World War. More Australians died in the seven months of fighting in Papua and the Japanese came closer to Australia than in any other campaign.

"Kokoda Trail" or "Kokoda Track" ?

There has been a considerable debate about whether the difficult path that crossed the Owen Stanley Range should be called the "Kokoda Trail" or the "Kokoda Track". Both "Trail" and "Track" have been in common use since the war. "Trail" is probably of American origin but has been used in many Australian history books and was adopted by the Australian Army as an official "Battle Honour". "Track" is from the language of the Australian bush. It is commonly used by veterans, and is used in the volumes of Australia's official history. Both terms are correct, but "Trail" appears to be used more widely.

Further Information

Official record series: AWM54: 481/12/13
This link is to a selection of scanned sketches of Kokoda taken from official records series AWM 54: 481/12/13 "[Medical - Reports:] Brief account of the activities of the 7th Australian division - medical services during the six months campaign in Papua (January 1943)".
- Papers from the 2002 History Conference - Remembering 1942.
  - High command and the Kokoda campaign by David Horner
  - Command In New Guinea by Steve Gower
- “The track”: a historical desktop study of the Kokoda Track
  A study written by Dr Karl James, Military History Section, Australian War Memorial, and commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2009
- The Kokoda “Track” or “Trail”? by Dr Karl James, 2009
- Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway
  The Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway is a unique tribute to the bravery of Australian troops who fought through atrocious conditions and against vastly superior enemy numbers in the Papua-New Guinea campaign of July 1942-January 1943. It covers more than 800 metres from Rhodes Station to Concord Hospital in Sydney's inner-west, and runs along the mangrove-studded shores of Brays Bay on the Parramatta River.
- Kokoda Trail campaign
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs website The Kokoda Track: exploring the site of the battle fought by Australians in World War II. Includes animated battle maps
- Dudley McCarthy, South-West Pacific Area – First Year: Kokoda to Wau, Australia in the war of 1939-1945, volume 5, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1959