Qualla: Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing

Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Some ground you fight over twice. In late August 1942, the Australians had held Eora Creek and Templeton's Crossing as they retreated south. By mid-October, they were climbing back up the same track, now pursuing Japanese troops withdrawing north. The same ridges, the same creek, the same defensive positions - but reversed, with the Australians attacking the ground where Japanese soldiers now sat in prepared fortifications. Sunday Telegraph journalist Barclay Crawford later called what happened here "the bloodiest and most significant battle of the Australian Army's campaign to retake the Kokoda Track." Between 11 and 28 October, fighting at Eora Creek-Templeton's Crossing would cost 412 Australian casualties, end a divisional commander's career, and mark the first Australian victory of the campaign - though a partial one, since the Japanese force they sought to destroy escaped north intact.

Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing: The Long Climb Back

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After the Japanese broke off the advance on Port Moresby in mid-September, their army began withdrawing north along the Kokoda Track. Major General Tomitaro Horii had been ordered to hold the Isurava-Kokoda area as a base for possible future operations. He left behind what he cal...

Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing: Four Positions in Depth

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Stanley Detachment's 986 men had prepared their defense carefully. The first two positions sat near the northern ends of two parallel tracks that ran from Kagi - the main Myola track and the older Mount Bellamy Track. The third position overlooked Templeton's Crossing where t...

Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing: A Grinding Advance

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The fighting opened on 10 October when a 2/33rd Battalion patrol contacted the forward Japanese position on the Myola track. Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Buttrose brought up the rest of the 2/33rd on 12 October. Attacks ran into the interlocking defenses and slowed. The 3rd Battalio...

Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing: The Cost and the Price of Command

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In the final phase from 22 to 29 October, 72 Australian soldiers died and 154 were wounded; Japanese losses were 64 killed and 70 wounded. Across the entire engagement from 12 to 28 October, total Australian casualties reached 412 against 244 Japanese. By any measure the Australi...

Second Battle of Eora Creek - Templeton's Crossing: Toward Kokoda and Beyond

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After Templeton's Crossing, the Australians pushed on. Aola was entered on 30 October. On 2 November, a 2/31st Battalion patrol entered Kokoda itself and found the village abandoned. The airstrip there, now back in Australian hands, finally eased the crushing supply problem that ...