Perth Voice Interactive

DUAL Olympian and groundbreaking politician Nova Peris will give the 2024 Brigadier Arnold Potts Oration at the 16th Battalions’ Foundation at the Anzac Club in Perth on August 2.

Ms Peris’ great grandfather John (Jack) Marquis Charles Knox was a member of the 2/16th Battalion and saw action on the Kokoda Track.

Australia’s first female Indigenous federal parliamentarian when elected to the Senate in 2013, Ms Peris has previously walked the notoriously rugged track in honour of her grandfather, calling it “majestic yet gruelling country.

“It was spiritual but tragic to think of what went before,” she said of her trek.

“To finally somewhat understand what he must have been through, the bravery, just like every single digger that served.

“Jack’s, and every other digger who gave themselves and their lives had forever changed during their time defending Port Moresby on the Kokoda Track for the freedoms we now have.”

Bravery

From Scottish and Irish ancestry, Mr Knox was born in 1905 and arrived in the north-west of the Northern Territory with his brother William in the 1920s.

After enlisting in the Australian Army, he arrived at the Kokoda Track in August 1942, and his bravery earned him a mention in dispatches in December 1943.

Knox fought on the right flank on the Abuari Trail, which left the main track near a small village of the same name, with the Japanese attempting to outflank the Anzacs who’d temporarily halted their advance at Isurava.

One of his comrades was Maylands man Breton (Lefty) Langridge, who bravely accepted a suicide mission when two units were cut off by the Japanese, as recalled by former lieutenant colonel Ralph Honner:

“They knew they couldn’t do it. They knew they were going to die. 

“Langridge handed over his pay book and his dog tags to one of his mates. 

“He was a brave soldier.”

The efforts of the Anzacs to slow and eventually halt the Japanese campaign across the Owen Stanley Mountains is credited with saving countless other Anzacs, who otherwise would have arrived at the capital Port Moresby to a fiery reception from Japanese troops.

The Brigadier Arnold Potts Oration is at the Anzac Club on St Georges Terrace from 6.30-11.30pm on Friday August 2. Tickets are $65 from trybooking.com/CRVFE or 0409 085 987.

by STEVE GRANT