Lat
8° 52' 60S Long 147° 43' 60E Village in center of the Owen
Stanley Mountains, where the Kokoda Trail ends.
History
From July - November 1942,
a village on the Kokoda trail, from Buna on
the north coast thru the Owen Stanley Mountain Range to Port
Moresby. After Battle
of the Coral Sea
May 5-8, 1942 that resulted in the failure of Japanese sea borne assault
of Port Moresby, the Japanese Army 144th Infantry Regiment commanded
by General
Horii's attacked overland across the Owen Stanley
mountains, using the Kokoda Trail. On the trail the Australian
7th Division resisted the Japanese,
and the advance was halted within 30 miles of the city, and due
to losses, and lack of resupply, the Japanese began to fall back
towards their beachhead at Buna. Australian
forces re-occupied Kokoda on November 2, 1942.
Kokoda
Trail
Kokoda Trail is the name of the small track that linked the village of
Kokoda to Port Moresby. The track ran from Gorari and Oivi to the village
of Kokoda which stood on a small plateau 400 meters above sea level,
flanked by mountains rising to over 2,000 meters. It then climbed over
steep ridges and through deep valleys to Deniki, Isurava,
Kagi, Ioribaiwa, Ilolo and begining at Owens
Corner, linked with a motor road (Snake
Road) leading from plantations in the hills above Port Moresby down
to the coastal plains.
