Vivian Bullwinkel
Vivian Bullwinkel was one of the 65 nurses on board the Vyner Brooke. After it was attacked and sunk, Bullwinkel drifted for hours clinging to a lifeboat before she struggled ashore on Banka Island with other survivors.Vivian Bullwinkel was one of the 65 nurses on board the Vyner Brooke. After it was attacked and sunk, Bullwinkel drifted for hours clinging to a lifeboat before she struggled ashore on Banka Island with other survivors.
Betty Jeffrey
Betty Jeffrey trained as a nurse at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, graduating in 1939. In 1941 she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service and was posted to the 2/10th Australian General Hospital in Malaya. The 2/10th was moved to Singapore on 18 February 1941.
Her Diary
While a P.O.W., Betty Jeffrey kept a diary, recording the physical and mental battle for survival, and the death of friends. Extracts from her diary were published in the Sunday Mail in 1954.
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