The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Billson, today encouraged all Australians to reflect on the service and sacrifice of our World War II veterans on the 65th anniversary of the retaking of Kokoda. Mr Billson said that the Australian pursuit of the Japanese across the Owen Stanley Range in 1942 epitomised the Anzac spirit and placed Kokoda alongside Gallipoli as an iconic battle in our wartime history.

“Sixty-five years ago, Kokoda was a battlefield where Australian soldiers stood and fought a strong enemy,” Mr Billson said. “The possibility of an attack on Australia was increased by the Japanese push to take Port Moresby. This threat was faced and convincingly defeated by courageous Australian forces which included the Papuan Infantry Battalion.”

War came to the Kokoda Track in July 1942, when a Japanese invasion force from Rabaul, New Britain, began landing at Gona Mission on the North Papuan coast. During the next four months, Australians fought in appalling conditions, sustaining more than 600 dead and 1000 wounded. The Japanese objective was to capture Port Moresby by an overland strike across the Owen Stanley Range. The most direct way across the range was by the Kokoda Track.

Between July and November 1942, Australian soldiers fought the Japanese to keep them from reaching Port Moresby and then to push them back over the Owen Stanley Range. At Isurava, Private Bruce Kingsbury, was killed in a determined counter-attack. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the first of the New Guinea campaign. During the campaign, Papuan men carried supplies forward for troops and carried back to safety those who were wounded and sick. From mid to late September, the Japanese retreated over the mountains, and finally, on 2 November 1942, Kokoda was retaken.

By 18 November, the Australians had reached the Kumusi River and the battle for the Kokoda Track was over. The battle to clear the beachheads and free Papua would continue for another two months. In 2002, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the Papua New Guinean Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, unveiled a memorial at Isurava to the Kokoda campaign. The panels on the memorial commemorate Bruce Kingsbury VC and all the Australians including Papua New Guineans, who endured hardships and made tremendous sacrifices.

"As a nation we are forever grateful for the courage and bravery of our past and present servicemen and women. We will remember them and their place in our history," Mr Billson said.