Education Centre

In 2023, the KTMW Board re-commenced their series of military history-related talks, called ‘Beyond the Battlefield’. The talks will continue in 2024.

The presentations have a military history focus, including the PNG/Kokoda campaigns.

Format

The talks are on Saturday mornings, and are approximately an hour in duration. They are held in the Ralph Honner Kokoda Education Centre, where a small admission charge ($5.00) applies to members of the public. If you are a Friend of Kokoda (FoK), admission is free. Light refreshments are also available.

See here for transport options to the Walkway.

Please arrive 30 minutes before the talk is due to commence.

RSVPs: those FoK attending should email admin@kokodawalkway.com.au a week before the talk, while others should complete the payment form and submit before the talk.

Payment: all non-FoK should complete the below payment form.

If you have any questions, comments or feedback/suggestions (after attending a talk) please contact us.

The 2023 talk series was well received. Thank you to those FoK and others who attended the three talks – we appreciate your support!

2024 Update

We plan to hold up to six talks in 2024, commencing in February. See our program for the first three talks.

The schedule for the February, April and June talks is:

• 10 February. Dr Tom Lewis OAM: ‘The 1942 midget submarine raid on Sydney’. (55m 23s)
• 13 April. John Tannock:  ‘The installation of a monument to commemorate the Battle of Oivi/Gorari’. (1h 04m)
• 15 June (10.30am). Dr Jan McLeod: ‘War Crime or Legitimate Act of War? The 1942 Japanese bombing of Allied medical establishments at Soputa in Papua’.

Further details will be announced soon for talks scheduled in the second half of 2024.

The Walkway thanks Big Sky Publishing (publishers of some of our speakers’ titles) for their support. A range of their publications will be prizes on the days!

2023 presentations:

• Dr Jan McLeod: ‘Stout-hearted men’ (1:16mins). Dr McLeod’s talk focussed on the photographs and diary writings of Private Lawrence Nicholas (Nick) Kennedy, and his experiences in Papua with the understrength 2/4 Australian Field Ambulance.
• John Hall (KTMW Project Officer): ‘Game to Give it a Go’: the Italian POW Rural Labour Scheme in Australia 1943-1945. (1:20mins) Faced with a labour crisis across many rural industries, the Commonwealth Government decided to use Italian POWs who had been transported to Australia following the capture of massive numbers of Italian forces in North Africa in 1940/41. From mid-1943 until late 1945, farmers in many districts employed former Italian soldiers to help with their labour needs.
• Dr David W. Cameron: ‘The other Isurava – the Battle for Abuari’ (58m 41s) Dr Cameron’s talk focused on the lesser-known, but just as vicious and costly battle at Abuari, east of Isurava in late August 1942.