Kokoda (3 JUNE)
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Kokoda series coming soon. FOB174 Digger US$47 The Kokoda “Track” or “Trail”? 8 mins read
That terrible track which is now known as the Kokoda Trail. George Johnston, New Guinea diary, 1943 In recent years, many hours have been wasted and much ink has been spilt debating whether the foot route across the Owen Stanley Range, in Papua New Guinea, should be called the “Kokoda Trail” or the “Kokoda Track”. Both terms were used interchangeably during the war, and at the time they were not considered to be mutually exclusive. Now, though, as Kokoda takes on an ever-increasing prominence in Australia’s military pantheon, second only to Gallipoli in the nation’s sentiment, the “track” versus “trail” debate has become an impassioned, and at times almost belligerent, argument. Supporters of “Kokoda Track” object to the use of the word “trail” on the grounds that it is considered to be an American word, whereas “track” is strongly associated with the language of the Australian bush. Those who favour “trail” are quick to point out that the “Kokoda Trail” is the title of the army’s battle honour and the name gazetted for the route by the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government. The foot path across the Owen Stanley Range was first used by Australians during the 1890s to reach the Yodda goldfield on the north coast. In 1899, the government surveyor H.H. Stuart-Russell spent three months marking out and mapping the route. It came into regular use in 1904, when a government station was established at Kokoda and an overland mail service between Port Moresby and the north coast began [1]. The central problem at the heart of the “track” versus “trail” debate is that this mail route over the mountains did not have a formal name before the Second World War. Pre-war records regularly used the word “road” as a way to distinguish regularly used paths in the territories, regardless of their actual condition. The British New Guinea Annual Report for 1921–22, for example, stated that there was “a pedestrian road” from Port Moresby across the Owen Stanley Range and noted that “the scenery en route is magnificent” [2]. The name “Kokoda Road” was used up until the early part of the Kokoda campaign, but with the influx of Australians new to the territory during 1942, the description “road” was largely replaced by “track”. This use of “track” is reflected in the new maps that were produced by army survey units in September and October; on these maps, all routes across the Owen Stanley Range were referred to as “tracks” [3]. The terrain study Main routes across New Guinea, printed by the Allied Geographic Section in October 1942, similarly describes the route from Port Moresby via Kokoda to Buna as a “track” [4]. The overwhelming majority of soldiers who fought the campaign also used “track”. In a survey of unit war diaries, letters and personal diaries written during the campaign, Peter Provis, a Memorial summer scholar, found that the word “trail” was used only once in a war diary, in the 2/31st Battalion on 11 September 1942. There were, however, also references to “track” [5]. Transported by lorries as far as UBERI track which was trafficable. Proceeded per foot along UBERI trail – through OWERS CORNER down to GOLDIE RIVER – up to UBERI where night was spent. This track was particularly tough – single file – mud up to knees. [6] Provis likewise found that “trail” was used only once in a soldier’s personal diary. On 25 July 1942 Warrant Officer II George Mowat, a Great War veteran serving with the 39th Battalion, wrote in his diary that the “Trail [is] rough steep and slippery”. But two days later he wrote: “Track slippery some places had to crawl. ” [7] Although both terms were used, it is clear that the diggers themselves preferred “track”. It is also reasonable to conclude that soldiers would have used “track” in their speech. It is worth mentioning, however, that rarely were the fuller expressions, “Kokoda Track” or “Kokoda Trail”, used. “Track” was usually used in a generic sense, in reference to a particular track leading to a village or between villages. It is commonly assumed that American war correspondents in Port Moresby were responsible for coining the term “Kokoda Trail”. The Australian correspondent Geoff Reading, however, has repeatedly claimed that he was the person responsible for this designation. His first use of the title was in a story for Sydney’s Daily Mirror, filed from Port Moresby on 26 October 1942, which carried the bold headline: “Kokoda Trail … a Diary of Death”. Reading’s motivation was entirely practical. I did it because along with the other correspondents at the time, I didn’t know what to call it … I got sick of typing descriptions such as “Imita–Ioribaiwa–Nauro track”. I called it Kokoda Trail to save typing. [8] The Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph, and the Melbourne Argus, been using “trail” since mid-September 1942 [9]. The “Kokoda road” also made the occasional appearance, but most Papua-based correspondents used both “track” and “trail”. By the end of October there was a move for Australia-based journalists to adopt “Kokoda trail” – with a lower case “t” [10]. According to historian Hank Nelson, it was these journalists, using communiqués from General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters, who began to adopt the American expression “trail” [11]. The use of both names continued after the war. In many manuscripts and published memoirs, veterans use both “track” and “trail”, depending on their individual preference. Even the authors of the multi-volume Australian official Second World War histories were split over the issue. Dudley McCarthy, the author of the relevant volume, South-West Pacific Area (1959), for example, uses “Kokoda Track”. The authors of the other volumes divide fairly evenly. Further complicating matters, however, McCarthy uses a map drawn by Hugh W. Groser, titled “The Kokoda Track” that has “Kokoda Trail” inscribed along the route [12].
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