Bullwinkel, Vivian (1915–2000)
Bullwinkel, Vivian (1915–2000)
Australian nurse and prisoner of war. Name variations: Vivian Stathem. Born in Kapunda, South Australia, Dec 1915; died in Perth, July 3, 2000; dau. of George Bullwinkel (mining company employee); educated in Broken Hill and District Hospital, 1938; m. Colonel Frank W. Statham, 1977 (died 1999).
Completed midwifery training (1939); served as staff nurse at Kiaora Private Hospital, Hamilton, Victoria (1939–40); served as staff nurse at Jessie McPherson Hospital, Melbourne (1940–41); joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), as part of the fledgling 13th Australian General Hospital (AGH), and sailed to Singapore on a hospital ship (Sept 1941); when Singapore was attacked by the Japanese and evacuated, boarded the Vyner Brooke, which was bombed and sunk by the Japanese in the Banka Strait; with other survivors, reached Banka Island, but was the only woman survivor of the massacre on the beach; interned at Japanese prisoner-of-war camp (1941–44); named president of the College of Nursing (later the Royal College of Nursing), Australia (1970s).
See also Women in World History.