Fact of the Day

Fact of the Day : What what Australia's Cockatoo Island used for from 1839 to 1870? (from The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History)

Bulldog Track ran from Bulldog in Papua through mountainous and inhospitable terrain to Wau in New Guinea. The track, blazed early in 1942, was used to evacuate civilians from the Bulolo Valley and then to maintain Kanga Force, based at Wau.

It proved inadequate as a supply line, but in January 1943 construction of a jeep track between Bulldog and Wau began in order to meet the need for a north-south overland supply route across New Guinea.

Built by Royal Australian Engineers units and indigenous labourers, the Wau-Bulldog road was a massive and difficult undertaking which was not completed until August 1943. By that time fighting in the New Guinea campaign had moved on and air transport had improved, so the road was used for only a few months before being closed in mid-1944.

How to cite this entry:
"Bulldog Track" The Oxford Companion Australian Military History. Ed Peter Dennis, Jeffrey Grey, Ewan Morris, Robin Prior and Jean Bou. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 1 August 2011