Vivian Bullwinkel (Mrs Frank Statham), matron of Fairfield Hospital since 1961, is to retire after sixteen years. Born in Kapunda, South Australia, Vivian did her training at the Broken Hill District Hospital from 1934-39, moving on to a private hospital in Hamilton, the Jessie McPherson Hospital, Melbourne, after graduation. She served with the 13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Imperial Force, from 1941 in Singapore and Johore Bahru, Malaysia. Vivian was the sole survivor of the [Banka Island Massacre], followed by three years as a prisoner of war (POW) in Sumatra and Banka Island. After the war Vivian was the matron of Heidelberg General Hospital from 1956-60. In 1963 she became trustee for the National War Memorial, Canberra, and was appointed deputy principal commandant of the Australian Red Cross Society.A newspaper clipping consisting of titles, four columns of text and a black and white photo of a middle aged woman outside a building.ww2, wwii, world war two, vivian st, vivian statham, perth, 13th agh, aif, army nurses, vyner brooke, banka strait, banka straits, florence night, florence nightingale medal

The newspaper clipping is the second of two extract from 'Prisoners of War: Australians Under Nippon', by Hank Nelson. The extract touches on the conditions the nurses serving in Singapore experienced, moving into the eventual evacuation. The first nurses were evacuated on February 10, [1942], with half of the remainder the following day, and the final nurses were evacuated February 13. These sixty-five nurses were aboard the Vyner Brooke with 300 other passengers, mostly women and children. The ship was spotted and bombed the next day. Sister Vivian Bullwinkel, clinging to the side of a lifeboat, came ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island. She became one of a group of twenty-two nurse, other Vyner Brooke passengers and twenty British soldier from another bombed ship. This group decided to surrender to the Japanese, who proceeded to kill all but one British soldier and Vivian Bullwinkel. After holding out for ten days the pair made their way to Muntok, hiding the evidence they had both survived a massacre. Of the sixty-five nurses to board the Vyner Brooke, twelve had drowned, twenty-one had been killed on the beach and thirty-two became prisoners of war (POW).A newspaper clipping consisting of four large columns of text and a small black and white photo of an older woman (head).'A[G]E / 26/4'[blue ink, top left]world war 2, wwii, ww2, world war ii, olive dorothy paschke, vyner brooke, vivian bullwinkel, sumatra, palembang, jean ashton, betty jeffrey, wah sui, empire star, micky syer, banka strait, private kingsley, cecil kingsley, 10th australian general hospital

Mrs Sally Alsop cherishes a treasure-trove of letters written by her aunt that she hopes will be collated into a book. Sally's aunt was Gwendoline Elmes, who died in the Banka Island massacre, shot by the Japanese. The Japanese had previously bombed and sunk the ship, Vyner Brooke, Gwen and 300 othe men, women, children and nurses were on, evacuating from Singapore. Sally gre up knowing little about her aunt, but when her mother became ill she heard about the letters and spent the night reading themA newspaper clipping of a large black and white photo with a title and five columns of text beneath. The photo shows a woman in glasses sitting in front of a window holding several sheets of paper'NC9' [blue ink, top left, sticky taped on]wwii, world war two, ww2, vivian bullwinkel, vivian statham (nee bullwinkel), banka strait, dorothy gwendoline elmes, bud, pacific war, sumatra, australian red cross