Special Events

A Trip to Kokoda

For context:  Zephaniah Kunst was the winner of the Cowey-Selman Kokoda Scholarship in 2023/24. This scholarship, worth $9000, gave him the opportunity to hike the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea.

In order to win the scholarship, Zeph needed to do some research on the historical significance of the Kokoda Trail, particularly in relation to World War 1 and write an essay demonstrating his understanding of this.

The scholarship was instigated by the Mount Evelyn, Monbulk, Healesville and Lilydale RSL sub-branches, in conjunction with the 39th Infantry Battalion (1941-43) Association Inc. and Getaway Trekking Pty Ltd. 

Zeph trained for the trek with Getaway Trekking and successfully completed the challenge at the beginning of Term 2.

Congratulations Zeph on this exciting achievement!

Amelia Koole

Senior Secondary, Careers & VET Coordinator

Here is the report of the trip from Zeph Kunst with photos

I traversed over 96km over a mountain range waking up every morning at 4:30am. Highlights were: 

• Experiencing PNG's incredible culture and getting to know the boys (the locals that work for the tour company). 
• Getting to experience Anzac Day in PNG. At the dawn service both the PNG PM and the Australian PM spoke. 

It took us 8 days to get across the range and every minute was amazing. It was an adventure that I will never forget.

Zeph Kunst 

Year 12 Student