COWEY - SELMAN KOKODA AWARD
Lilydale High School
Year 11 Competition
The Cowey – Selman Kokoda Award, an initiative of the 39th Infantry Battalion (1941-43) Association Inc. and the Mount Evelyn, Monbulk and Lilydale RS sub-branches, is a competition held annually within the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
2022 is the 80th Anniversary of the Kokoda campaign. To commemorate this event, Year 11 students from all the secondary schools / colleges within the Shire of Yarra Ranges are invited to research the campaign and submit an entry, by early March next year using any medium desired (e.g. PowerPoint, Art, Poetry or Essay (limited to 600 words) addressing these two questions:
- “What was the importance of the Kokoda Campaign in the Battle for Australia?”, and
- “Why would you like to trek the Kokoda Trail?”
The winner will receive a fully sponsored, escorted trip to walk the Kokoda Trail and learn at first hand, something of Australia’s history.
More details will be provided at a later date.
The Diggers
The award is named after two Yarra Ranges’ residents, Jim Cowey and Geoff Selman who served with the 39th Infantry Battalion in Papua New Guinea.
James Cowey MC was born in 1890. In WW1 he served in Egypt, Gallipoli and across the Western Front. He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry on 18th/19th September 1918 near Hamel in Northern France. He re-enlisted for WW2 and served as a Staff Sergeant with the 39th Battalion.
A resident of The Patch, he is one of possibly only a handful of Australians to serve at Gallipoli and Kokoda. Jim passed away in 1968.
Harold Geoffrey Selman (“Geoff”) was born in 1921 and served as a Private in the 39th Battalion. A resident of Lilydale, he was Killed in Action at Gona on 14th December 1942.
Geoff is buried in Bomana War Cemetery, Port Moresby and remembered on the cenotaph in Lilydale.
Scholarship Sponsors
The organisers would like to thank the following sponsors without whose support the scholarship would not be possible.
The scholarship is supported by Yarra Ranges Council with funding provided via the 2020 Grants for Community program.
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Lest We Forget