Australian
Screen

Clip description

The eight soldiers begin the long, hot walk across rivers and kunai grass to the foot of Shaggy Ridge, in the Finisterre Range. They begin the climb, passing native carriers who take supplies up the switchback trail, bringing back the wounded. Once back with their unit, the Australian soldiers prepare their camp in the high jungle, cooking food and fixing shelters against the incessant rain.

Curator’s notes

This footage is remarkable in so many ways – it gives us a vivid picture of the kind of war the soldiers were fighting, a great sense of the terrain, and reassurance that the men are trying to take care of themselves. At the same time, it does not minimise the dangers. We see wounded soldiers being carried back by the faithful 'boong’ – a term that was already offensive to many Papua New Guineans – and the narration tells of typhus and other diseases. It may have been partly designed to allay fears of anxious families back home, but it’s also meant to challenge them – these men are suffering, what are you doing? There was a similar message behind Kokoda Front Line! (1942).

This section may also have been designed as a training film to be shown to troops in Australia, depicting both what to expect and how to proceed. Bill Carty, in an oral history recording made in the 1990s, said that the Russians had used Jungle Patrol as a training film. Tom Gurr says the same thing in his oral history. The mood of the film soon becomes grave as the men head out on patrol.