Anyone attempting a documentary on the battles on the Kokoda Track and the Beachhead in 1942 can draw on an extraordinary visual record. Damien Parer, one of the greatest cameramen of the Second World War, filmed much of the fighting withdrawal, while his friend and colleague, George Silk, left us a series of invaluable stills of the Australian attacks on the Japanese fortified positions at Gona and Buna. Moreover, Parer was able to film the earlier attempts to air-drop supplies for the AIF battalions that were to be sent to relieve the hard-pressed 39th Militia battalion fighting the Japanese at…