Informal portrait of SFX13419 Sister (Sr) Annie Merle Trenerry and SFX13431 Sr Lorna Florence ...

Informal portrait of SFX13419 Sister (Sr) Annie Merle Trenerry and SFX13431 Sr Lorna Florence Fairweather, both of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital. Sixty five Australian nurses, including Sr Trenerry and Sr Fairweather, and over 250 civilian men, women and children were evacuated on the Vyner Brooke from Singapore three days before the fall of Malaya. The Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk in Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. Of the sixty five nurses aboard the Vyner Brooke, thirty one survived the sinking and were taken Prisoner of War (POW). Sister Trenerry, aged 32, was one of twelve nurses who were lost at sea. Twenty two nurses (including Sr Fairweather) also survived the sinking and were washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island, where they surrendered to the Japanese along with twenty five British soldiers. On 16 February 1942, the group was massacred, the soldiers were bayoneted and the nurses were ordered to march into the sea where they were shot. Only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel and a British soldier survived the massacre. Both were taken POW, but only Sister Bullwinkel survived the war.