The Kokoda Story: Efogi to Myola to Templeton's Crossing to Eora Creek

On Thursday the 3rd of April we had a meeting night where we went through some final things before our trip as well as some of the history of Kokoda. All the students were put into groups of three or four and we each had a part of the track to research and then report back to the whole group. My group had to research Efogi to Myola to Templeton's Crossing to Eora Creek while making reference to Captain Sam Templeton. We had to present our findings in an interesting way and it needed to show the soldier's experiences. We wrote a story for ours and this is it. Enjoy.

As the 39^th Battalion left the small village of Efogi, the sun beat hard on their already tired bodies. On the other side of the valley the battalion could see Kagi, the village they knew would take yet another long hike to get to. As the soldiers reached the bottom of the valley they had to cross an infamous river by a narrow log. They had heard stories of how high the water could rise after a storm but fate seemed to be shining down on them as the river was just its usual roaring self.

One stoic soldier, who had become known as “uncle Sam”, worked twice as hard as the rest as he went up and down the line of beaten soldiers and even carried tired soldiers’ rifles. At some point, he was even seen to be carrying four rifles. The hardships Captain Sam Templeton now faced was a far-cry from his carpenter days back in his homeland; Ireland. It was also so different from his days on the H.M.S. Research during World War One with the British Navy. Templeton was a man respected by all who met him and all those under his command. While many of the other “thirty-nine liars” (those who lied about their age to be under the 39 age limit) had been unable to withstand the harsh tropics of Papua New Guinea, Sam had stayed and then earned the respect and admiration of his soldiers.

The battalion continued forward throughout the harsh conditions of day with a shaky promise of a meal at the end of it. Still, it was a goal and in these harsh conditions; a goal can see you through. The soldiers eventually reached the village of Myola, situated on a dry lake bed, which was been used as a forward supply depot and medical post. The soldiers passed a few of the patients been carried back to Port Moresby from here on their way up. There were talks, and some attempts, at cutting a landing strip for planes to evacuate the casualties but it was apparent that this was not to occur for a while yet.

It was another hard slog weighted down by up to 27 kilograms or more of equipment and packs to get to Templeton’s crossing. It involved climbing to the top of Mount Bellamy (at an altitude of 2190m) and then down the other side to reach Templeton’s crossing which at the time the 39^th Battalion first crossed it was just the Eora creek crossing. It was later named Templeton’s crossing in honour of Captain Sam Templeton and in remembrance of him.

It was on the 26^th of July 1942, near Oivi, that Captain Sam Templeton went missing, presumed dead and his body has never been found. Several soldiers heard the shots as their beloved Captain went back to retrieve the 16^th Battalion as back-up for their hold of Oivi and it was this that caused many to believe he was dead. It was later discovered through Japanese records that he had, in fact, been taking as a prisoner. One of his final acts saved many lives and assisted Australia greatly in achieving their victory over the Japanese. This act was making the Japanese believe that the Australian forces were ten times greater than they actually were. This gave pause to the Japanese and caused them to re-evaluate the situation; providing Australians valuable time. There is however, no doubt that, sadly, Captain Sam Templeton did not survive captivity. His folder now officially marked with ‘Believed Deceased on or after the 27^th of July 1942’ and his wife and four kids left with a hole in their hearts and home. His final acts of courage, mateship, endurance and sacrifice saved many lives and now, the portion of the track where Eora Creek crosses over the Kokoda trail is forever known as Templeton’s crossing.

However, the journey for the soldiers did not finish at Templeton’s crossing as they persevered over many more mountains and steep inclines to reach Eora Creek Village. There is no doubt that the Kokoda trail was tough for all and especially for those who never returned home. The values of courage, mateship, endurance and sacrifice which these soldiers embodied every day of the track is forever cemented in the history of the Kokoda trail and their sacrifice does not got missed. Without their continual acts of bravery, Australia would not be what it is today. Captain Sam Templeton, especially, is an Australian hero who will always be remembered. Lest we forget.

Just a reminder that this is a scheduled post and that I am away in Kokoda right now. See you tomorrow.

Random Thought Friday: Saturday Edition

So another week has passed and another Random Thought Friday has been missed due to reasons out of my control. Namely, losing track of time and basic forgetfulness. To make up for the lack of these posts I have decided to write one today, on a Saturday, to make up for all those we have missed. This is only the second Random Thought Friday post so enjoy and I hope to have another one up next Friday. However, I do not want to make any promises as sometimes circumstances escape my control. Hope you have a random weekend!

Source: http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/forgetfulness/question-1228853/?link=ibaf&q=&esrc=s

Thursday night was a pretty important night for my Leaders of the Future Program. As those of you who read last night's incredibly short post would know, Thursday night was the official launch of the program. It was a really great time as it did not go for too long (so we were not stuck listening to repetitive boring speeches) and the speeches they did have were all very interesting. We had our local member who took over Julia Gillard's area (the term escapes me) as well as a person high up in the Wyndham Police Force (Super-Intendant I think). We also heard from a past participant from a similar program over the other side of Melbourne and how the program changed him. It was a great night and I really enjoyed it. Talking about this program we finally started our group training sessions on Sunday with a hike up in the You Yangs. It was only ten kilometres but towards the end it got very steep. Still, I wish Kokoda was going to be like that. The You Yangs are going to be a stroll in the park compared to Kokoda. Still though, it is great to have a place like the You Yangs where we can go hiking and it is not too far away for us. Wednesday night we went Fartlek running which is where you run for a while, then walk, then run, then walk and so on. Ours went a little bit more along the lines of Run, Jog, Run, Jog, Run, Walk, Run, Jog, Walk, Run and so on so it was a little more challenging but it was a great time to continue cementing strong friendships with the others in this program. I said today would be a random thought post and, in a way it is, except for the fact that the central focus is on the Kokoda program. Still though, it was a lot of random thoughts on the topic that I never would have been able to stretch over a whole post.

I hope you guys see another Random Thought Friday this Friday. See you tomorrow!

Stupid Assignment = Short Post

So today's post is going to be short and picture-less. The reason? A stupid assignment for Science. In this assignment we have to make a timeline of plant and animal evolution that spans over the past 700 million years. The catch? Well, one centimetre has to be equal to one million years meaning each timeline (working in groups of 3) is 7 metres long and 3 A3 sheets wide. This means 51 sheets of paper! Luckily my group started right away or we would be struggling. Just tonight I finished ruling up the remaining half of the lines and adding all the names of the eras and periods. This means that tomorrow all we have to do is glue our information and pictures on which is going to not take too long. Luckily we have two periods to finish it and it is due at the end. I am optimistic that we will finish on time while I am not so sure about some other groups who only just started constructing their actual timeline which means they will be lucky to finish, at least with a passing grade. Anyway, I'm tired, it's late so goodnight!

Always plan to finish your assignments early so if it takes longer than expected it won't matter, see you tomorrow!

A Green School?

The school I go to claims to be a 'green' school but we all know that this is only partially true. A 'green' school is one in which little paper is used (and wasted) and things are mostly done on computers to save this paper. I will admit that our school does save a lot of paper through what we do on our laptops but there are many cases I can think of that go against this 'green' school ideal. I mean just a quick trip through some of the parts of our school would make you question it. Of course, there are lots of recycling and, more specifically, paper recycling bins around the school but there is a whole lot more paper that could be saved by my school. My school is certainly not a perfectly 'green' one.

Image Source: http://eurogrouprecycling.com/website/

The first major amount of Paper that could be saved around the school is the bits of paper that have our school values on it of "Respect, Aspiration and Contribution". You may be thinking that a few bits of paper with those words on it is no big waste of paper but I do not think you understand the extent of it. On every board around the school there are these pieces of paper on it with one value on each in large letters. Sometimes there are even two sets on the one board or an extra bit of paper nearby that has them all on it. It would save so much paper if it was just these posters everywhere around the school, four sheets of paper would be replaced by just one in all the different locations around the school. Then there are some of the worksheets we get in class which could just have easily being done on the computer with much less effort from the teacher. Of course, some of this does happen but a majority of the time it does not. So, as you can see, our school does waste a fair bit of paper and that is not even the end of it.

Image Source: http://www.thesocialleader.com/2011/03/counterproductive-compassion/

We only just received a Science assignment which is the biggest waste of paper I have ever experienced. Working in groups of 3 (there are 200 students in Year 10 and all are doing the assignment) we are to make an approximately 7 metre long timeline of the evolution of plants and animals with a scale of one centimetre for every one million years. Of course, this would be alright except on top of that it has to be in A3 paper and be three rows. That is exactly what is on the task sheet. Yeah, 3 rows of A3 paper which works out to 51 sheets of paper. That is 51 sheets per group! That is the biggest waste of paper I have known so far. They are only going to display the best from each class but due to the size the possibility of even that is slim. So all these sheets of paper are going to go back to the people who made them which, in turn, will promptly end up in the bin. What a massive waste of paper! It is the worst Science assignment ever, it would make more sense to do it all electronically but no, the Science teachers had to choose the dumbest option they could find. So, as you can see, however 'green' my school claims to be, there are many areas of improvement.

Wasting paper is wasting our future, see you tomorrow!