Eighty years after one of the “darkest chapters of World War II”, when dozens of Australian Army nurses were raped and gunned down in modern-day Indonesia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has paid his respects.
The Bangka Island Massacre occurred on February 16, 1942, when Imperial Japanese soldiers machinegunned and sexually assaulted 22 Australian Army nurses.
Sixty Australian and British soldiers and crew who had survived the sinking of Vyner Brooke by Japanese bombers were also gunned down.
South Australian nurse Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel was the only Australian to survive the massacre.
Mr Morrison said on Wednesday the massacre represented one of the darkest chapters of the war, but the “tenacixjmtzywty and compassion of the victims and survivors” lives on today.
“The memory and legacy of the victims and survivors will never be forgotten,” Mr Morrison said.
“On this day we remember the one who survived, the 21 who fell, the 5000 nurses who served in the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and other theatres of the Second World War as well as the many thousands of Australian nurses who have served in wartime over a century and more.
“We remember their devotion to their patients, to their country and to their duty.”
On February 12, 1942, SS Vyner Brooke left Singapore just before the city fell to the Japanese. On-board were many injured service personnel and 65 Australian Army nurses as well as civilians.
Two days after departure, the ship was bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft, killing 12 nurses on-board.
After spending between eight and 65 hours in the water, about 150 survivors made it ashore to Bangka Island, including one group that met up with survivors from other sunken ships at Radji Beach.
On February 16, Japanese troops arrived and separated the men who were then shot and bayoneted.
The 22 nurses and one civilian woman were ordered into the surf and were machinegunned from behind when they were waist deep.
It was uncovered in 2019 that most of the women had been sexually assaulted before they were killed.
Only one nurse, Sister Bullwinkel, and one British soldier, Private Cecil Kinsley, survived the massacre, spending 12 days in the jungle.
Private Kingsley died not long after, but Sister Bullwinkel survived the war.
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Andrew Gee said the attack stood out as one of the worst wartime atrocities against Australians.
“It is difficult to imagine the horrors faced by those who were attacked while trying to escape the conflict, including those army nurses killed in the massacre on Bangka Island,” Mr Gee said.
“Of the 65 nurses who embarked upon the SS Vyner Brooke, only 24 survived the war, all of whom spent years as prisoners of war, living through deprivation and disease.”
