chrisj.

I don't know any songs that refer to Kokoda but the battles there early in the Pacific war certainly have prominence in Aust. military history.
In early 42 Aust. was largely undefended as it's professional army, all volunteers, were fighting Rommel in North Africa, or had just been captured at the fall of Singapore.
The only military force in Aust. was the Militia comprising mainly of conscripted soldiers.One rule regarding their conscription was that they were only to serve in mainland Aust.. When the Japanese invaded Papua/New Guinea the degree of alarm was such that the legislation was changed so the Militia could serve in Aust. Mandated Territories, of which PNG was one.
The Japanese landed on the north coast of PNG and were pouring down the Kokoda Track to capture the capitol, Port Moresby, on the south coast. The Militia were rushed to Port Moresby and, seriously under equipped, pushed north up the K.T. They met the Japanese some 26 miles from P.M. and in a series of murderous battles in hideous conditions they defeated the Japanese and held them until some units of the Aust. volunteer army could come and assist. This was the first time the Japanese had been defeated in WWII and their army in PNG was a well seasoned outfit that had been campaigning since 1933. To be beaten by ill-equipped battalions of a part-time army must have been a blow to the Japanese morale.
And it surprised our professional volunteer army as well. They displayed a lot of animosity towards the Militia, saying, they weren't real soldiers because they didn't volunteer like us and what would they know about fighting etc. They berated them as Choco's ( chocolate soldiers )and I'm not sure if this is because they wore a different coloured uniform or wore a brown colour patch on their sleeve. Anyway, they certainly proved themselves real soldiers at Kokoda.
The Aust War Memorial website has a couple of dozen photographs that you can access on their database. www.awm.gov.au then click on photo database and in the window that comes up type the word kokoda. Good Luck.

JG / FME.