Oivi was a small village five kilometres along the track from Gorari, towards Kokoda.
After withdrawing from Gorari, where they had ambushed the advancing Japanese, Captain Sam Templeton’s two platoons and elements of the Papuan Infantry Battalion were joined by another platoon of the 39th Battalion which had recently flown into Kokoda.
Station 17 – The death of Captain ‘Uncle Sam’ Templeton
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Oivi was a small village five kilometres along the track from Gorari, towards Kokoda. After withdrawing from Gorari, where they had ambushed the advancing Japanese, Captain Sam Templeton’s two platoons and elements of the Papuan Infantry Battalion were joined by another platoon of the 39th Battalion which had recently flown into Kokoda. The Japanese attacked in the afternoon of 26 July 1942 and soon surrounded the Australian position. About 5 pm Templeton went to check the rear defences. There was a burst of fire from the gloomy jungle and Templeton did not return. Apparently he was captured and subsequently killed. Known affectionately as ‘Uncle Sam’, Templeton was the only officer in the 39th Battalion who had served in the First World War. After dark the Australian and Papuans, now under Major W. T. Watson of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, broke out of the perimeter and headed towards Deniki, beyond Kokoda, as it was considered the easier route.
Oivi also figured prominently during the counter offensive. After the Australians entered Kokoda on 2 November, Brigadier Lloyd’s 16th Brigade took up the advance along the track towards Oivi with two of his battalions, the 2/2nd and 2/3rd. His 2/1st Battalion had been attached to the 25th Brigade and began a wide sweeping movement through the jungle to the south.
On 5 November the 16th Brigade struck the main Japanese defences covering Oivi. Next morning the Japanese mounted a counter-attack, which was beaten off. By this stage the 16th Brigade had been reinforced by the 3rd Militia Battalion which patrolled the wide front extensively. It was clear that the Australians were facing the prospect of an expensive battle of attrition.
The divisional commander, Major-General Vasey, however, had other ideas and deciding ‘to risk having no backstop on this front’ sent the 25th Brigade to the south to cut off a possible Japanese withdrawal route. It was a successful manoeuvre, carried out with skill and enterprise. The 25th Brigade and the 2/1st Battalion fell upon the Japanese position at Gorari. Realising that their supply and withdrawal route had been cut the Japanese defenders at Oivi began to withdraw.
The 16th Brigade had been spared a lengthy battle by a skilful manoeuvre. But since leaving Owers’ Corner in early October they had sustained 471 battle casualties (with 145 deaths). The 2/1st Battalion, for example, had begun its operations in early October with a strength of 608 all ranks and when it reached the Kumusi on 16 November was down to 355 all ranks. It had sustained 137 battle casualties; the rest were lost from sickness, but since many of the sick had rejoined the unit, the actual numbers of sick were much higher.
Australian troops plodding through muddy, wet conditions on a stretch of the track from Kokoda to Oivi. (AWM 013620)
Captain Sam Templeton. Templeton was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1901 and had served in the Royal Navy Reserve towards the end of the First World War. He emigrated to Australia in the mid-1920s, and lived in Melbourne. He enlisted in September 1939.(Image courtesy Kokodahistorical.com.au)
November 1942. Unit mascot 'Curley', pictured here at Oivi, walked all the way from Port Moresby. Mascots in the campaign were rare, due to the harsh and unforgiving conditions that tested the men, let alone any animals. (AWM 013624)
November 1942: Australian engineers building one of the many needed bridges used as the troops progressed along the Track. (AWM 013599)
November 1942: Two Japanese soldiers captured during heavy fighting with Australian troops in the Oivi-Kokoda area are moved by military police to the rear for interrogation and eventual housing in a prison camp in Australia. The capture of Japanese soldiers during the bitter campaign rarely occurred, since most chose to die fighting rather than the prospect of a dishonorable surrender. Further, Australian troops showed little mercy to the Japanese following documented accounts of torture (and at times cannibalism) of captured Australians. (AWM 151094)
Frank Hodgkinson's portrait of an Australian infantryman lying on the ground in utter exhaustion following fighting along the Track. While physical exhaustion was common, the toll on mental health was equally devastating among the troops, although this is often overlooked when the overall campaign is examined. The term 'Not Yet Diagnosed Nervous' (NYDN) was the term used by medical authorities for psychiatric casualties, and studies have suggested it was widely underreported during the Kokoda campaign. (AWM ART28565)