Teenagers on kokoda

15 Oct 2026 5:07 PM

Teenagers on Kokoda…..

There are plenty of things we can give our teenagers. The latest phone. The newest technology. Holidays. Sporting opportunities. Experiences that entertain them for a few hours or a few days. But every now and then, we have the opportunity to give them something that stays with them for the rest of their lives.

Walking the Kokoda Track is one of those experiences.

Because Kokoda isn't just a walk through the jungle. For a teenager, it can be a journey into history, a lesson in courage, and an experience that challenges everything they think they know about themselves. Imagine being 15, 16 or 17 years old, standing on the very ground where young Australian soldiers fought for their lives during the Kokoda campaign of 1942.

Many of those Diggers were not much older than the teenagers walking the Track today. Young men who had left home, said goodbye to their families, and found themselves fighting in some of the most brutal conditions imaginable. They were exhausted, hungry, frightened, sick. They were carrying heavy loads through unforgiving jungle, steep mountains and mud that seemed to go on forever. And they were facing a determined Japanese enemy who, at many points in the campaign, held significant numerical advantages and had the initiative.

Yet those young Australians kept going.

They fought for their mates. They fought to hold their ground. They fought when the odds seemed impossible. And many made the ultimate sacrifice.

When we take teenagers along the Kokoda Track, we don't simply tell them that story.

We take them to the places where it happened. We stand at Awala, Oivi, Gorari, Kokoda, deniki, Isurava and all other sites, an explain what unfolded there. We walk the ground around Brigade Hill and bring the events of the campaign to life.

We talk about the decisions, the suffering, the courage, the mateship and the sacrifices that shaped Australia's history. Our in-depth historical presentations help young people understand that these weren't mythical figures from a history textbook.

They were real people. They had families, friends, hopes and dreams. They were someone's son. Someone's brother. Someone's mate. And many were teenagers or young men themselves when they were called upon to do extraordinary things.

Something changes when a young person begins to understand that. History stops being something they memorise for an exam. It becomes something they can feel.

They begin to appreciate what those young soldiers endured, the decisions they faced, and the strength it took to keep moving when everything around them was telling them to stop. And then they look at their own lives. Their own challenges. Their own fears. Their own doubts about what they can achieve. And perhaps, for the first time, they begin to ask themselves a different question.

“What might I actually be capable of?”

That is one of the greatest gifts Kokoda can offer a teenager. Not the idea that they must be tough all the time. Not the belief that their struggles don't matter because others suffered more. But the understanding that they are capable of more than they might currently believe.

That courage isn't the absence of fear. That resilience isn't about never struggling. That mateship means looking after the person beside you. And that when life gets difficult, the next step is sometimes the most important one you can take.

There will be blisters. There will be exhaustion. There will be moments when the hills seem endless and the body wants to stop. There will also be laughter, friendships, conversations around campfires, and moments of quiet reflection that are difficult to put into words.

Years from now, these young people may not remember every detail of their school lessons or every gadget they owned. But they will remember standing on the Track.

They will remember the people they walked beside. They will remember the stories of the Diggers. They will remember the feeling of reaching a difficult destination when they weren't sure they could. And they may remember, most of all, the moment they realised they were stronger, more capable and more connected to something bigger than themselves.

That is what makes Kokoda such a powerful memory creator.

It connects our young people to our history, to the sacrifices of an earlier generation, to one another, and to something within themselves that the distractions of everyday life can easily conceal. We cannot promise that every teenager will return home transformed.

But we can give them an experience that challenges them, teaches them, connects them and gives them a story they can carry for the rest of their lives. And perhaps one day, when they face a difficult decision, a personal setback, or a moment when life feels overwhelming, they will remember those young Diggers.

They will remember what they endured. They will remember what they learned about themselves on the Track. And they might just find the courage to take another step.

Because Kokoda isn't only about understanding what the Diggers did in 1942.

It's about helping the next generation understand what is possible when ordinary people are tested by extraordinary circumstances. For a teenager, that lesson can last a lifetime.

And that is why I believe every young Australian who has the opportunity to walk the Kokoda Track should seriously consider taking it. Not just to walk through history. But to discover what history can teach them about themselves.

Kokoda. A connection to our past. A lesson for today. A memory that can shape tomorrow.

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