The Kokoda track was the site of a four month battle between Japanese and Australian troops in the Papuan capital of Port Moresby in the July of 1942. With Japanese strategy put in place they began attempt capture of the city via a track over the Owen Stanley Range, prompting battles at Kokoda, Deniki, Isurava, Eora, Efogi, Templeton’s Crossing, Ioribaiwa and Oivi-Gorari, of which Kokoda was the most famous. It’s significance for Australia was huge, as was the role it played in the future of our nation: and each and every soldier that entered into that campaign should be commended for their efforts in keeping Australia within American support. The blood bath that occurred through the treacherous conditions has forever sealed the bond between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The beginning of all the turmoil that occurred during the Kokoda campaign was all thanks to Japan’s power hungry nature. The imperial army we determined to capture as much of Asia of they could, and after the failed attempt at bombing of Pearl Harbour, Hawaii in 1942 they decided the best approach to this was to capture Papua New Guinea, they only free country still left in the Asian continent, and one which conveniently had much needed airbases. With the fighting so close to Australian soil, it was vital that they defended Port Moresby with great intent, however with the fighting still occurring in Europe the poorly trained and unprepared 39th Battalion were all that was left to fight. These mainly eighteen and nineteen year old troops were sent off to the steep, wet and muddy Kokoda track that left from Port Moresby into the jungle and over the mountains amongst the Owen Stanley Range. For these considerably disadvantaged soldiers, along with the Papuan Infan...
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... to hold Port Moresby from the Japanese until the AIF assisted. Kokoda lead to the growth of the nation because of the conditions that the Australian troops had to go through was unbearable and amazing how they were still able to defeat the Japanese.
Kokoda was arguably Australia’s most significant campaigns of the Second World War. The track crosses some of the most rugged and most isolated terrain in the world, and is only passable by foot. Being poorly equipped, and having not developed effective jungle warfare tactics, troops had to manoeuvre through the rough terrain. “In these moss forests, where you couldn't see the sun, the roots of the trees are all covered in moss and the track was only root from root. Further along, where it was not quite so high, you would spend three hours climbing up a small pad through the jungle.” (Simonson, 1995) Australia’s involvement through this jungle-enclosed pathway was the last resource Australian troops needed to conquer to defend the mainland from dire threat. Through nightmare conditions like torrential rain, leeches, malaria horrific fighting and more Australia managed to push the Japanese back to where they came from. Despite the relatively small size of our armed forces, Australians fighting in the Kokoda campaign made a significant outcome to world war two.
The Kokoda Campaign, also known as the Battle that saved Australia, was a series of battles in which the Japanese fought the Australian and Americas for control over Port Moresby. Had the Japanese been successful in taking over Port Moresby, Australia would have been under serious threat. This was a significant event in Australian History because it was the first time the Australian Nation had been threatened by invasion. This was a significant event in Australian History because as it was a time to reflect upon those who put others lives before theirs for the safety of this Country.
The Kokoda Battle occurred from the 21st July 1942 to 16th November in 1942, during World War II. It was a campaign which resulted in an aggressive fight between the Japanese and the Allies. I believe that, based on my research, the Kokoda Battle in World War II was a significant battle for Australians to a great extent. I believe this for three reasons: firstly, the battle was culturally significant to Australia: secondly, the battle was strategically significant to Australia: and thirdly, the battle was of military significance to Australia. I will argue that these reasons are three strong reasons.
Good morning members of the Mt Gravatt show society. Did you know that World War Two is known as the most destructive war in history? It killed over 60 million people and had a lot more far-reaching impacts than any other wars. Published in 1988 in Inside Black Australia, an anthology of Aboriginal poetry, “The Black Rat” by a famous author and researcher, Iris Clayton, was a poem inspired by her father, Cecil, who fought in the war. The poem describes the depressing life of an Aboriginal soldier who helped off the German army at Tobruk at the time. The message in the poem is that the Aboriginal soldiers did not receive the benefits that European soldiers received, like farming lands after the war ended. This tells how unjust the European society was in Australia’s history.
Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in early December 1941, Darwin's defences were reinforced . In line with plans developed before the war, s...
The Anzac Legend is the source of the Aussie Fight and bravery that will live on for future generations to understand and to acknowledge their courage and bravery.
The Battle of Long Tan took place on the 18th of August 1966 in a rubber plantation in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. The soldiers fought in very tough conditions; “the battle was like no other in that it occurred admits the trees and bushes of a rubber plantation,” (Parks, 2005). The plantation already gloomy was made darker by tropical downpour. Men were being killed by rifle and machine gun bullets, mortars and shrapnel from grenades fired into trees to blast splinters into the sheltering soldiers. The Australians were nearly surrounded, isolated and running out o...
I will also discuss how the young, naive soldiers arrived at war, not knowing what warfare entailed. They were shocked by the conditions and the casualties. I will also discuss the bravery shown by the ANZACS in the most dangerous conditions. I will conclude with my reasons for why the Gallipoli campaign holds such value and importance in Australian history and ideology. Australian men were very keen to get involved in the war because they felt that it was their duty and if they didn’t go to war it would make them look cowardly.
In the early morning of 19 February 1945, United States Marines assigned to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Division led the initial assault on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima, with the objective of capturing and securing the island. This was the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. After the dust had settled, and the smoke had cleared, the causalities and losses were astounding. 6,821 U.S. Marines along with 18,844 members of the Imperial Japanese Army had paid the ultimate sacrifice. A decisive US victory on the island of Iwo Jima later played a pivotal role in the overarching defeat of the Japanese Empire and its Armed Forces (Morison, 1945).
The Australian participation in WW2 was similar to that of WW1 in many ways. After the British declared war on Germany on September 3rd 1939, an Australian declaration of war was automatic. Aussie troops were soon sent to different parts of the world to help the British and other allied countries. It was not until late 1941 that they were recalled in order to defend the homefront. Darwin had been suddenly attacked by Japanese planes and small enemy submarines had snuck into Sydney Harbour. Darwin was repeatedly bombed by Japanese planes until July 1941, when along with American troops, the Aussies managed to drive them out of the Solomon Islands and northeastern New Guinea and eliminate a strong Japanese base at Rabaul. Without General MacArthur's troops, the enemy may very well have invaded Australia. This illustrates the importance of alliances.
Chisholm Trail When the railroads moved west to the Great Plains, the "Cattle Boom" began. Southern Texas became a major ranching area with the raising of longhorn cattle from Mexico. Cattle was branded by the rawhides who guarded them on horseback on the ranges. Before the Civil War, small herds of Texas cattle were driven by the cowboys to New Orleans, some as far west as California, and some to the north over the Shawnee Trail.
In the nineteenth century, the “History wars” became the fight between the most prominent historians revolving around the deception of frontier conflict between the labor and coalition. The debate aroused from the different interpretations of the violence that took place during the European colonization and to what degree. It became a crisis in history, emerging from the dispossession of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) that resulted in exclusion of their traditions and culture. The ATSI were the first people of Australia that brought along a different culture, language, kinship structures and a different way of life (Face the Facts, 2012). Post European colonization was a time where the ATSI people experienced disadvantage in the land they called home. With the paramount role as future educators, it demands proficient knowledge on the Australian history and one of the most influential moments in our history started from the first European settlers.
Between 1840 and 1950, over fifty-three thousand people travelled the Oregon Trail. Native American exposure to diseases such as smallpox and diphtheria decimated the tribes, and that along with the encroachment of settlers on tribal lands, was the cause of much strife between Native Americans and the incoming Europeans. The Land Donation Law, a government land giveaway allotting three-hindred twenty acres to white males and six-hundred forty to married white couples, gave impetus to the western expansion and the American idea of "Manifest destiny." This promotion of migration and families also allowed America to strentghen its hold on Oregon, in the interests of displacing British claims.
Schrijvers, Peter. Bloody Pacific: American Soldiers at War with Japan. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.