Vivian Bullwinkel (nurse)
Vivian Bullwinkel was an Australian nurse and army officer, born on December 18, 1915, in South Australia. After training as a nurse and midwife, she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service in 1941 and was deployed to Malaya during World War II. In early 1942, as Japanese forces advanced, she and other nurses were evacuated to Singapore. However, their ship, the SS Vyner Brooke, was sunk, and while many perished, Bullwinkel survived and was taken prisoner. She endured over three years in harsh Japanese POW camps, witnessing the massacre of her fellow nurses but managed to hide her knowledge to survive.
Following the war, Bullwinkel played a significant role in nursing education, advocating for reforms that shifted training to universities. She also became involved in humanitarian efforts, notably organizing the rescue of Vietnamese war orphans. Bullwinkel received numerous accolades for her service, including the Florence Nightingale Medal and the Order of Australia. She remained active in veteran and nursing organizations until her passing on July 3, 2000. Recognized as a leading figure in Australian nursing history, Bullwinkel's legacy continues to inspire future generations through her bravery and dedication to the profession.
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Subject Terms
Vivian Bullwinkel (nurse)
Australian army nurse during WWII, sole survivor of the 1942 Bangka Island Massacre
- Born: December 18, 1915
- Birthplace: Kapunda, South Australia
- Died: July 3, 2000
- Place of death: Perth, Western Australia
Also known as: Vivian Statham
Education: Broken Hill and District Hospital, South Australia
Significance: The sole survivor of the Bangka Island massacre in 1942, Sister Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel was interned at a Japanese POW camp for three years. Surviving the war, she went on to testify at a war crimes court in Tokyo in 1947. After the war, Bullwinkel dedicated herself to the nursing profession and many humanitarian causes.
Background
Vivian Bullwinkel was born on December 18, 1915, in Kapunda, South Australia. She grew up in Broken Hill and Adelaide. Her parents were George Francis and Eva Bullwinkel, and she had one brother, John. Bullwinkel was educated as a nurse and midwife at the Broken Hill and District Hospital, graduating in 1939 before moving to Victoria to begin working as a nurse. In 1941 she enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) to provide medical assistance for the Australian efforts in World War II, joining the 13th Australian General Hospital.
Bullwinkel was one of 124 women of the AANS who were sent to Malaya as nurses in 1941. Because of the looming danger posed by the advancing Japanese troops, the nurses were evacuated to Singapore in January 1942, where they worked under ceaseless bombardment. In February 1942, it was decided that it was too dangerous for the nurses to remain, and they were evacuated on the SS Vyner Brooke. The ship sank after three direct hits from Japanese bombers. Bullwinkel survived by hanging onto the side of a lifeboat, which landed on Bangka Island (Indonesia); approximately eighty survivors of the wreck came ashore; were followed shortly by a lifeboat from another sunken ship.
Life's Work
After sending the civilian survivors to a local village, the nurses surrendered to the Japanese; however, all but Bullwinkel were massacred. Bullwinkel was shot but survived by feigning death. She hid for twelve days before surrendering again while tending to a wounded British serviceman who passed away shortly afterwards. She went on to spend more than three years in the infamous Japanese POW camps on Sumatra.
Determined to survive to bear witness to the massacre, Bullwinkel tended to her own wounds so that her captors would not realize what she had seen, which would have put her in danger as a witness to a war crime. Due to the inhumane conditions of the camp, Bullwinkel weighed only four stone at the time of her release.
After WWII ended in 1945, Bullwinkel was freed from the POW camp. In 1947, she retired from the army and provided testimony in regard to the massacre at a Tokyo war crimes court in the same year. The officer believed to have ordered the massacre committed suicide, and one of the camp commandants was given a fifteen-year jail sentence.
Upon her return to civilian life, she received her Diploma of Nursing Administration in 1959, and became the Director of Nursing at the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, post she held until her retirement in 1977. During her time at Fairfield, Bullwinkel organized a rescue mission for eighty Vietnamese war orphans, supervising their recoverys before they were adopted within Australia. She also established a scholarship for Malaysian nurses to train in Australia. In 1978, the Vivian Bullwinkel School of Nursing was opened at Fairfield Hospital.
Bullwinkel also served as the President of the College of Nursing, Australia, and she played an important role in the development of nursing education in Australia, including involvement in the establishment of the "Goals in Nursing Education," which was critical to the shift from nurse training being provided in hospitals to being provided in universities.
In the decades to come, Bullwinkel received many honors and awards, including the Florence Nightingale Medal, an MBE and the Order of Australia. She also served as a lieutenant colonel from 1955 to 1970 in the Royal Australian Nursing Corps Training Unit. She became involved with many veterans, philanthropic, and nursing organizations; her activities included a tour of the state of Victoria with fellow POW Betty Jeffrey, raising funds for a nurses' memorial. Bullwinkel was also the first female trustee of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra from 1964 to 1969. She was an honorary life member of the Australian Red Cross Society for Western Australia and the founder and later president of the Soroptomist Club of Deakin.
In 1992, she returned to Bangka Island for the first time to select a site for a memorial to be placed for the victims of the 1942 massacre. Bullwinkel passed away on July 3, 2000 at age 84, in Perth, Western Australia.
Impact
Described by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as "Australia's most distinguished war nurse," Bullwinkel remains an inspiration to many Australians today for her bravery during the war, her courage during her camp internment, her important role as a witness to war crimes, and her many contributions to the nursing profession and humanitarian causes.
Personal Life
In September 1977, Bullwinkel married Colonel Francis West Statham OBE, ED, changing her name to Vivian Statham. Her husband passed away in December 1999.
Bibliography
"Bullwinkel, Vivian (1915-2000)." Trove. National Library of Australia, /nla.gov.au/nla.party-783063. Accessed 17 Nov. 2016.
Francis, Adrienne. "Australia's Most Distinguished War Nurse Vivian Statham Remembered at Australian War Memorial." ABC News, ABC.net.au, 18 Dec. 2015, www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-18/remarkable-sole-survivor-ww2-massacre-statham-remembered/7042440.
McAllister, Margaret. "Vivian Bullwinkel: A Model of Resilience and a Symbol of Strength." Collegian: The Australian Journal of Nursing Practice & Research, vol. 22, no. 1, 2015, pp. 135–41.
Norman, Elizabeth M, and Dorothy Angell. "Vivian Bullwinkel: Sole Survivor of the 1942 Massacre of Australian Nurses." International Journal of Nursing Practice, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 345–53.
"Obituary: Statham, née Bullwinkel, Vivian; Matron." Australian War Memorial. www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/nurse‗survivors/bullwinkel.asp. Accessed 17 Nov. 2016.