Group portrait of the nursing staff of 2/13th Australian General Hospital. c1941 - 1942
Built in 1928, SS Vyner Brooke was a British-registered cargo vessel of 1,670 tons. She was named after the Third Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke. Until the outbreak of war with the Japanese, Vyner Brooke plied the waters between Singapore and Kuching, under the flag of the Sarawak Steamship Company. She was then requisitioned by Britain's Royal Navy as an armed trader.
On the evening of 12 February 1942, Vyner Brooke was one the last ships carrying evacuees to leave Singapore after the Japanese invasion. Although she usually only carried 12 passengers in addition to her 47 crew, Vyner Brooke sailed south with at least 181 passengers embarked, although this figure has been estimated to be more than 300. The significant discrepancy in these figures is indicative of the chaos and fear which gripped Singapore, as many attempted to escape before the Japanese Army closed in. Among the passengers were the last 65 Australian nurses in Singapore. Throughout the daylight hours of 13 February Vyner Brooke laid up in the lee of a small jungle-covered island. The ship was attacked late in the afternoon by a Japanese aircraft, but fortunately there were no serious casualties. At sunset she made a run for the Banka Strait, heading for Palembang in Sumatra. Prowling Japanese warships, however, impeded her progress, and daylight on February 14th found her dangerously exposed on a flat sea just inside the strait.
Not long after 2 pm Vyner Brooke was attacked by several Japanese aircraft. Despite evasive action, she was crippled by several bombs; within half an hour she rolled over and sank bow first.
As the bombs exploded, the nurses prepared for an evacuation, rushing to treat the wounded as best they could, before abandoning ship with the rest. Some were helped into lifeboats, others clung to rafts.
Twelve Australian nurses died at sea following the bombing of Vyner Brooke. They were: Kathleen “Kit” Kinsella, Ellenor Calnan, Lavinia Jean Russell, Marjorie Schuman, Mona Margaret Wilton, Olive Dorothy Paschke, Annie Merle Trenerry, Caroline Mary Ennis, Louvima Mary Isabella Bates, Mary Dorothea Clarke, Gladys Myrtle McDonald and Hulda Millicent Maria Dorsch. These nurses were either killed during the bombing of the ship, or drowned after being swept out to sea.
Approximately 150 survivors eventually made it ashore on the nearby Banka Island, after spending between eight and 65 hours in the water. The island had already been occupied by the Japanese and most of the survivors were taken captive.
An awful fate awaited many of those who landed on Radji beach. There, survivors from Vyner Brooke joined up with another party of civilians and as many as 60 Commonwealth servicemen and merchant sailors who had made it ashore after their own vessels were sunk. After an unsuccessful effort to gain food and assistance from local villagers, a deputation was sent to contact the Japanese, with the aim of having the group taken prisoner. All but one of the civilian women, a Briton, followed.
A party of Japanese troops arrived at Radji Beach a few hours later. They shot and bayoneted the males and then forced the 22 Australian nurses, and the British civilian woman, to wade into the sea. The Japanese then shot them from behind.
From the whole party, there were only four survivors: Sister Vivian Bullwinkel; Eric Germann, an American civilian; Ernest Lloyd, a British sailor; and Private Cecil Kinsley, a British soldier. Bulkwinkel had been wounded in the diaphragm and lay on the beach for several hours after the massacre before making contact with Kinsley, who was also wounded. The pair hid in the jungle for several days, during which time Bullwinkel tended Kinsley’s wounds. However, starvation eventually prompted their surrender, and they gave themselves up to the Japanese. Kinsley died soon after their capture, and Bullwinkel spent the rest of the war as an internee.
The 21 Australian nurses who died during the massacre at Banka Island were: Elaine Balfour-Ogilvy, Alma May Beard, Florence Rebecca Casson, Irene Melville Drummond, Minnie Ivy Hodgson, Kathleen Margaret Neuss, Bessie Wilmott, Dorothy Gwendoline Howard Elmes, Rosetta Joan Wight, Florence Aubin Salmon, Clarice Isobel Halligan, Ellen Louisa Keats, Eleanor McGlade, Peggy Everett Farmaner, Esther Sarah Jean Stewart, Nancy Harris, Ada Joyce Bridge, Lorna Florence Fairweather, Mona Margaret Anderson Tait, Mary Beth Cuthbertson and Janet Kerr.
Thirty-two nurses, including Vivian Bullwinkel, became prisoners of war, held with civilian internees in camps on and around Palembang, in Sumatra. Conditions were grim, and over three and a half years of captivity the women suffered from tropical diseases and the effects of malnutrition.
Nurses who survived the sinking of the Vyner Brooke suffered three and a half years as prisoners of war. In September 1945, pictured, they arrived from Sumatra for repatriation.
Eight nurses died while prisoners of war; Captain Winnie May Davis, Pauline Blanche Hempsted, Dora Shirley Gardam, Wilhemina Rosalie Raymont, Irene Ada Singleton, Gladys Laura Hughes, Rubina Dorothy Freeman and Pearl Beatrice Mittelheuser.
After the war, many Japanese guards were charged with war crimes committed against prisoners and civilians. Hundreds of prisoners of war wrote statements describing what they had seen and endured. War crimes trials, in which Japanese guards were tried for acts of brutality, were held throughout south-east Asia. In Australian trials, 922 men were tried and 641 were found guilty. Of 148 sentenced to death, 137 were actually executed.
War crimes trials remain contentious, especially in Japan. Some suggest that Japanese soldiers were convicted under “victors’ justice” – convictions based on inadequate evidence. However, some known offenders were acquitted for lack of firm evidence.
Victims were perturbed to see many convicted war criminals released early, as part of the American effort to retain Japan in the Western sphere of influence during the Cold War.
Historians continue to examine the process, outcome and significance of the war crimes trials.
Captain Vivian Bullwinkel (left) sitting in a witness stand, giving evidence before the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo, Japan 1946.
Nurses who returned home after the war were: Vivian Bullwinkel, Iole Harper, Sylvia Muir, Agnes Betty Jeffrey, Violet Irene McElnea, Eileen Mary Short, Valerie Elizabeth Smith, Joyce (Tweedie) Tweddell, Cecilia May Delforce, Nesta Gwyneth James, Jean Keers Greer, Jess Gregory Doyle, Ellen Mavis Hannah, Kathleen Constance Blake, Wilma Elizabeth Forster Oram, Carrie Jean Ashton, Jessie Jane Blanch, Beryl Woodbridge, Janet Patterson Gunther, Ada Syer, Christian Sarah Mary Oxley, Florence Trotter, Jessie Elizabeth Simons and Veronica Ann Clancy.
In 2019 the Australian College of Nursing initiated the development of a sculpture to commemorate Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel (1915–2000) as a great Australian, a great leader, a great woman, and a proud nurse. The sculpture will be installed into the forecourt of Poppy’s Café and will be the first sculpture of an individual nurse or woman in the Memorial’s grounds.
The Memorial has commemorated several of those on the Roll of Honour who were killed during the sinking of the Vyner Brooke or during the Banka Island Massacre. Recently we commemorated the service and sacrifice of Sister Nancy Harris. Watch the ceremonies using the links below.
Bullwinkel was the sole survivor when a group of nurses were machine-gunned by their Japanese captors.
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The first six Australian nurses were captured at Rabaul in January 1942.
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