Kokoda Trail - McDonald's Corner (starting point)

McDonald's Corner was the starting point of the Kokoda Trail. The Australian Army built a road suitable for army jeeps here down to the Goldie River.

One rite of passage in Australian culture, other than visiting Gallipoli in the Dardanelles, is to walk the Kokoda Track, in homage to those soldiers who fought here against the invading Japanese and won an important victory in World War II.

The fighting took place in the Owen Stanley mountain range between July and November 1942, and was a decisive victory against the previously invincible Imperial Japanese Army.

For anyone considering walking the track (it is sometimes called the Kokoda Trail, but Aussies speak of "The Track"), the relief model at the Bomana War Cemetery can offer some cautionary guidance on the topography of "the walk" and the rugged landscape to be encountered.

In all about 50 hours of walking can be expected of anyone tackling the mountainous battlefield from one end to the other. (At five hours a day, that’s a ten-day trek in heat, up and down mountains.) The length is about 60 miles, and the vertical elevation of all climbs is more than 6000 meters. (And imagine doing that in 1942 with parts of a howitzer on your back.)

Many tour companies, especially Australian, organize groups to make the ordeal part of a team-building exercise. The cost is about two to three thousand dollars per person, not including airfare.

While in theory it might be possible for someone to roll up unannounced in Port Moresby, hire some guides, pay for the permits, book accommodation, buy food, and set off on the trail, it’s taking a large risk at many levels, and might well result in failure.

A detailed overview of the trek can be found here.

Online there are many other accounts, and searching will yield up endless books devoted to the battle, which has become deeply engrained in Australian culture, as, say, Normandy Beach is in the United States.

For an overview of the many Australian battles here, maybe start with Peter Brune’s "A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in Papua : Kokoda, Milne Bay, Gona, Buna, Sanananda."

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Source

• Text: Matthew Stevenson + Kaj Metz
• Photos: Matthew Stevenson
• Pacific Wrecks