On track for Kokoda

Back, from left: David Howell, Alan Jameson (vice-president 39 Battalion Association) , Bass MP Brian Paynter, Phyllis Bould and Mayor Brett Owen with, front, 2016 winners Mehdi Ahmadi (Pakenham Secondary College) and Jared Copey (Emerald Secondary College). 169509

Last year’s Harold Bould Kokoda Award recipients will take on the challenge of their lives when they walk the Kokoda Track next month. Pakenham Secondary College’s Mehdi Ahmadi and Emerald Secondary College’s Jared Copey, both in Year 10, will walk in the footsteps of the Australian soldiers who fought to hold off the Japanese during World War II. The 10-day trek from 7-17 July will cover 100km of difficult country, giving students a first-hand experience of some of the hardships soldiers endured while fighting in Papua New Guinea between 1942 and 1945.