Battle of Kokoda Trail polo with pocket

Scribed across the front and back of the Battle of Kokoda Trail Polo are the words ‘courage’, ‘endurance’, ‘mateship’ and ‘sacrifice’. These reflect the qualities of our honoured Australian soldiers throughout the Battle of the Kokoda Trail.

Following the fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Pacific War’s focus edged closer to Australia. Minutes before 10am on 19 February 1942, Darwin’s sky filled with 188 Japanese aircraft, bombing Pearl Harbour’s wharf and moored ships. Including the destroyer USS Peary, which sank, killing 88 people. Japanese forces captured the village of Kokoda with its valuable airstrip, then headed for Port Moresby. Navigating through the Kokoda Trail that snakes through the mighty Owen Stanley Range.

What followed was the Papua New Guinea campaign of July 1942 to January 1943. Australian troops fought through treacherous conditions against vastly superior numbers. Under-trained and unfamiliar with the unforgiving jungle warfare, the Australian Army were ill-prepared to confront the Japanese. This saw 600 Australian soldiers killed, 1,600 wounded and over 10,000 Japanese fatalities. In January 1943, Japanese resistance on Papau ceased, marking a pivotal moment in stopping Japanese advances across the Pacific and towards Australia.

Since WWII, the terms Kokoda Trail and Kokoda Track have been used interchangeably to capture this poignant time in history.

The hand-drawn design features Australian and Papua New Guinean flags as well as relevant Australian and allied aircrafts (such as Douglas Dauntless, P-39 Airacobra) and a stylised map of the Kokoda Track. The green background carries army uniform motifs that were worn during the campaign.

Papuan stretcher bearers often carried wounded Australian soldiers from the jungle battlefields through mountain streams to the hospital bases behind the lines. The compassion from Papua New Guineans for the wounded and sick earned them the eternal gratitude of the Australian soldiers, who at the time, referred to them as ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’. The design features them on the back by carrying an injured person through the rugged terrain.

Featured on the front, an Australian soldier carries a wounded comrade. A vivid image of the true mateship and unrelenting sacrifice laid bare during the Battle of the Kokoda Trail. On the back of the shirt, a hand-drawn compass representing the approximate direction of the Trail itself.