Courage takes Ash across Kokoda Track

By Sarah Scully (24/07/2009 8:34:00 AM)
 

Fifteen year old Ash De Clifford is pictured with a memento from Papua New Guinea, after he completed trekking the Kokoda Track with fellow students from St Patrick's College in Ballarat.

 
Courage, endurance, sacrifice, mateship. The words engraved into the four pillars of Papua New Guinea's Isurava Memorial sum up the spirit of what was arguably Australia's most significant campaign of the second World War.

Fifteen-year-old Ash De Clifford, of Stawell, has just returned from trekking the Kokoda Track, the 96 kilometre trail that witnessed some of the bloodiest battles of World War Two.

Ash joined 32 students, parents and teachers from St Patrick's College Ballarat on their third biennial expedition to Kokoda.

Here they walked through Papua's dense and rugged terrain - the same terrain that saw more Australians die in seven months of fighting than in any other campaign.

On July 21, 1942, Japanese troops landed on the northern coast of what was then New Guinea with the intent of capturing Port Moresby.

They began marching over the Owen Stanley Ranges by the most direct route, a jungle pathway known as the Kokoda Track.

A progressively outnumbered Australian force spent the next seven months trying to push the Japanese back to prevent them from capturing the capital. Many of the soldiers were not much older than Ash is now.

The Japanese eventually withdrew and modern history has deemed the campaign as the first real battle by Australians for Australia.

Whether for patriotic reasons or because it is a personal challenge, Kokoda has become a popular pilgrimage for Australians, attracting an estimated 5600 Australians last year.

Ash, who attends Ballarat Grammar, only found out he would be joining the St Pat's contingent in Kokoda a couple of months ago when another student was forced to pull out.

Physical and mental fitness are pre-requisites for what can be an extremely difficult and arduous experience, and St Pat's started preparing last Christmas.

Once you start the walk there is really no turning back and usually the only way out is via emergency helicopter evacuation.

Ash's father, Bob De Clifford, is understandably very proud of his son's achievement and said that even though Ash only found out he was going on the trip a month or so before, he was up with the leaders the whole time.

 

Original article can be found here: http://www.stawelltimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/courage-takes-ash-across-kokoda-track/1576941.aspx