Biography on Vivian Bullwinkel

Synopsis
Vivian Bullwinkel was one of the nurses on the SS Vyner Brooke, survived the 1942
Banka Island massacre and was a survivor of World War II. She was able to
overcome many hardships the most devastating being captured by the Japanese.
Vivian received many awards, including the Florence Nightingale Medal which
recognises extraordinary courage and loyalty to victims of war/ natural disaster. It
also recognises honorable service/ a new spirit in public health or nursing education.

Early Life
Vivian Bullwinkel was born on the 18th of December, 1915 in South Australia,
Kupunda. Her father (George Francis Bullwinkel) worked for a mining company and
her mother (Eva Shegog) had two children - John and Vivian Bullwinkel.
She trained as a nurse at Broken Hill. She completed her training in 1938 and
finished her Midwifery. She then moved to Hamilton, Victoria before moving to the
Jessie McPherson hospital in Melbourne 1940, where she met Wilma
Oram Young.
In 1941, she volunteered as a nurse in the Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF), but was unsuccessful because she had flat feet. However,
Vivian and Wilma enrolled together into Royal Australian Army Nursing
Corps (RAANC) and they were both accepted. The RAANC then
assigned them, with a mission to sail to a mysterious, unknown
destination which was later known as Singapore.
The original RAANC logo

Unfortunately, they were tracked down, captured and forced into the Prisoner of War
camps (POW camps) and the Sumatra camps by the Japanese. Vivian and 21 other
nurses boarded the SS Vyner Brooke. Two days later, the ship was sunk by
Japanese aircraft. 22 nurses and a large group of men, women, and children made it
to the shore at Radji Beach on Banka Island. They were joined the next day with
about 100 British soldiers.
Some Japanese soldiers came and killed the men, then made the nurses wade into
the sea. They then machine-gunned the nurses from behind. Vivian was struck
above her left hip and pretended to be dead. She threw herself into the waves,
where she floated. The current slowly brought her ashore. Finally, she sat up and
looked around. There was no one around. Walking towards a little cave and laying
down, she fell asleep. Incidentally, the next day she found wounded Private Pat
Kingsley.
Bibliography
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1348893/Vivian-Bullwinkel.html
http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/women-in-wartime

Vivian and Pat hid in the jungle. She looked after Pat and tended his wounds. The
two of them surrendered to the Japanese after twelve days. They were taken into
captivity again. She was the only one who survived the the Banka Island massacre.
Vivian was reunited with the nurses from the SS Vyner Brooke. Kingsley died due to
his wounds soon after. She was in captivity for 3 and a half years before retiring from
the army.
24 out of 65 nurses on the SS Vyner Brooke survived the war. Twelve were believed
to be drowned at the time of the shipwreck, twenty-one massacred on Radji beach
and eight died as POW's in the camps.

Achievements
In 1947, Vivian was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal
(FRCNA)) for her services to Nursing. It was given every two
years by the International Committee of the Red Cross as the
highest distinction a nurse could receive. She was awarded the
Royal Red Cross Medal on March 6, 1947 for her services to
veterans and ex-prisoners of war communities.

Florence Nightingale Medal

On 6th March, 1949 Vivian was made an Associate of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC).
In 1963 she was made the first woman trustee in Canberra and in 1969 she was
made an Efficiency Decoration (ED Australian Military). She was also made a
Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).
On the 1st of January, 1973 Vivian was invited to meet the Queen Mary for a 40
minute conversation and signed photograph and was in the Queen's New Year's
Honors List in 1973 for her services to Nursing. In April 1975
she led a group of nurses on a rescue mission to Vietnam to
rescue orphaned Vietnamese. On the 26th of January, 1993 she
was made an Order of Australia (AO).

Impact on others
Vivian Bullwinkel influenced a group of nurses in April, 1975 by
leading them into Vietnam to rescue over 80 Vietnamese
orphaned children and babies. Would she be influential today?

Later Life

Bibliography
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1348893/Vivian-Bullwinkel.html
http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/women-in-wartime

Vivian retired from the army in 1947 and became Director of Nursing at Melbournes
Fairfield Hospital and continued for 16 years until 1977. She raised funds for a
nurse's memorial and served numerous committees,
including a period as a member of the Council of the
Australian War Memorial, and later president of the
Australian College of Nursing.
She married Colonel Francis West Statham in 1977 and
returned to Banka Island in 1992 to unveil a shrine to the
nurses who had not survived the war. Vivian Bullwinkel
died of heart attack on 3 July 2000 at 84 years, 6 months,
15 days old in Perth, Western Australia.
Vivian Bullwinkel with her mother
after the war

Other Facts
Did you know that Vivian wore a hot water bottle to hide her wound on
her hip, when she was in captivity.
Her nickname was Bully.
Her original nurses dress and diary is in the Australian War Memorial.

Conclusion
Vivian Bullwinkel was not afraid to give up to the Japanese. She handled three and a
half years in captivity and to survive the massacre. She showed amazing courage.
and was a remarkable woman.

Bibliography
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1348893/Vivian-Bullwinkel.html
http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/women-in-wartime