Bullwinkel, Vivian (1915 - 2000)

After completing her nursing training, Vivian Bullwinkel volunteered for the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) in May 1941 and sailed to Singapore. Aged 26 she survived 'The Banka Island Massacre', where she was shot in the back and pretended to be dead until the Japanese soldiers left. She then hid in the jungle before surrendering and being taken to a prison camp, where she spent more than three years. After the war, Bullwinkel spent 16 years as matron of Melbourne's Fairfield Hospital, retiring to Perth in 1977.

Vivian Bullwinkel was appointed to the Order of Australia (AO) on 26 January 1993, appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 1 January 1973 and awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal on 6 March 1947 for service to the veteran and ex-prisoner of war communities, to nursing, to the Red Cross Society and to the community. She was also the winner of the Florence Nightingale Medal.

• Statham, Vivian (married name, September 1977 - )

Chronology

1939 - 1940	Staff member of the Hamilton Private Hospital, Victoria
1940 - 1941	Staff member of the Jessie McPherson Hospital, Melbourne
1941	Staff member of the 13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Infantry Forces
16 February 1942	Sole survivor of Banka Island, where 22 Australian army nurses were massacred by Japanese soldiers
6 March 1947	Royal Red Cross Medal
1956 - 1960	Assistant Matron of the Repatration General Hospital, Victoria
1961 - 1977	Matron of the Fairfield Hospital, Victoria
1963 - 1977	Trustee of the National War Memorial, Canberra
1964 - 1973	Deputy Principal of the Commandant Australia Red Cross Society
1972 - 1974	President of the Soroptimist Clubs, Victoria
1 January 1973	Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
1973 - 1974	President of the College of Nursing Australia
1973 - 1977	Member of the Council College of Nursing Australia
1973 - 1978	Member of the Council of Directors of the Royal Humane Society
September 1977	Married Col. F W Statham OBE, ED
1988 - 1989	Warden of Western Australian State War Memorial (first woman to be appointed)
1992	Honourary Life Member of the Australia Red Cross Society
26 January 1993	Order of Australia (AO)

Membership

• Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific (SISWP)

  President Division Union of Soroptimist Clubs Victoria (1972-1974)

Related Corporate Bodies

• Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) (1903 - 1948)

  Service no: 31029F (VX61330)

  [1941 - 1947]

• Australian Red Cross Victoria (1914 - )
• Community Services, Australian Red Cross

  Australian Red Cross Honorary Nursing Advisor

  [c. 1970 - ]

Related Cultural Artefacts

• Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial

  Service no: 31029F (VX61330)

  [1941 - 1947]

Related People

• Jeffrey, Agnes (Betty) (1908 - 2000)

  travelled throughout Victoria, speaking at hospitals to raise funds for a memorial to military nurses

  [1946 - ]

Journal Articles

• Scott, Bruce, 'Vivian Statham, nee Bullwinkel - eulogy of state funeral, St Georges Cathedral, Perth, Monday 10 July 2000', Sabretache, vol. XL1, no. 3, 2000, pp. 40-41. [ Details... ]

Newspaper Articles

• 'Heroic wartime nurse Vivian Bullwinkel dies in hospital, aged 84', Canberra Times, 4 July 2000, p. 3. [ Details... ]
• 'WWII nursing heroine dies', Australian, 4 July 2000, p. 3. [ Details... ]
• 'Tributes pour in for the hero of Paradise Road', Australian, 5 July 2000, p. 7. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

• 'Nurse survivors of the Vyner Brooke', in Encyclopedia, Australian War Memorial, http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/nurse_survivors/bullwinkel.htm. [ Details... ]
• Angell, Dorothy, 'Vivian Bullwinkel AO; MBE;ARRC; ED; FNM; FRCNA 18.12.1915 - 3.7.2000 Survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre', in BRAVE WOMEN, http://www.angellpro.com.au/Bullwinkel.htm. [ Details... ]
• Department of Veterans' Affairs, 'BULLWINKEL, VIVIAN', in World War 2 Nominal Roll, 2002, http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/script/veteran.asp?ServiceID=A&VeteranID=790630. [ Details... ]

See also

• Service nurses honoured with long awaited memorial, Professional News, Originally published online, Australian Nursing Federation, 1999. [ Details... ]
• 'TRANSCRIPT OF THE EULOGY GIVEN BY THE HON BRUCE SCOTT, THE MINISTER FOR VETERANS AFFAIRS AND MINISTER ASSISTING THE MINISTER FOR DEFENCE ON BEHALF OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA AT THE STATE FUNERAL FOR THE LATE VIVIAN STATHAM nee BULLWINKEL', Department of Veterans' Affairs, Department of Veteran Affairs, 10 July, http://minister.dva.gov.au/media/speeches/2000/july/bullwinkel.htm. [ Details... ]
• RSL RETURNED SISTER’S SUB BRANCH Thanksgiving Service, 100 Years of Australian Army Nursing, 29 June, http://www.perthcathedral.org/. [ Details... ]
• Angell, Barb, Brave Women, http://www.angellpro.com.au/women.htm. [ Details... ]
• Angell, Barbara, A Woman's war : the exceptional life of Wilma Oram Young, AM, New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sydney, 2003, 328 pp. [ Details... ]
• Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 'Where are the Women in Australian science?', 22 August 2003, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/wisa/wisa.html. [ Details... ]
• Burchill, Elizabeth, Australian nurses since Nightingale 1860-1990, Spectrum Publications Pty Ltd, Richmond (Vic.), 1992, 258 pp. [ Details... ]
• Escott, Beryl E, Twentieth-Century women of courage, Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire (UK), 1999, 282 pp. [ Details... ]
• Faigan, Julian, Uncommon Australians: Towards an Australian Portrait Gallery, Art Exhibitions Australia, The Rocks, NSW, 1992, 163 pp. [ Details... ]
• Neto, Maryanne (researcher) (ed.), Who's who in Australia 1998, 38 edn, Information Australia Group Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1997, 1720 pp. [ Details... ]
• Reid, Richard, Just wanted to be there : Australian Service Nurses 1899-1999, Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs, Canberra, 1999, 121 pp. [ Details... ]
• Warnock, Steve and Chapman, Barry (Photographer), 'Nurses revisit war hell (Bangka Island, Singapore)', Sun-Herald, 31 January 1993, p. 5. [ Details... ]