The Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway was established as a living memorial in 1995 by war veterans with ties to the Concord Repatriation General Hospital and the Australia Remembers 50 Years of Peace 1945–1995 Committee. The walkway commemorates the bravery and sacrifices of Australian and Papua New Guinean forces in World War II. The walk features 22 stations along an 800-metre walkway between Rhodes Railway Station and Concord Hospital, with each stop commemorating a significant battle or event.

In 2015, Concord Hospital marked the centenary of the landings at Gallipoli in World War I at a special dawn service at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway. The event featured 5000 poppies and the world premiere of an original composition titled ‘Meeting the Sun’ by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

The Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway commemorates the bravery and sacrifices of Australian and Papua New Guinean forces in one of the most important battles for Australians in WWII. Fought between July and November 1942, our combined forces halted the southward overland advancement of Japanese forces, whose goal was to isolate Australia from the United States by seizing Port Moresby, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands, in preparation for a full-scale invasion. For six months, Australian and local forces fought a brutal campaign in awful conditions against the Japanese on the muddy, treacherous mountain path known as the Kokoda Track. Approximately 625 Australians were killed along the Kokoda Trail, with over 1600 wounded. It is estimated that casualties resulting from sickness numbered around 4000.

The Memorial Rose Garden features 365 plaques dedicated to service personnel and 52 to the units that served during the Second World War. The memorial walk features 22 stations along an 800-metre walkway between Rhodes Railway Station and Concord Hospital, with each stop commemorating a significant battle or event. The walkway has been planted with tropical vegetation resembling the original Kokoda Track conditions, leading to a granite wall memorial bearing images of the Kokoda campaign.

Next stop