Today marks the day of the 81 anniversaries of the sinking of the Vyner Brooke and Bangka Island Massacre.
To mark the anniversary, Australian College of Nursing (ACN) CEO Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN met with artist Dr Charles Robb in Brisbane to view the progress of Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel AO, MBE, ARRC, ED, FNM, FRCNA sculpture.
The sculpture will be the first sculpture of an individual nurse or woman on the grounds of the Australian War Memorial.
Lieutenant Colonel Bullwinkel was a volunteer nurse with the Australian Army and the sole survivor of the 1942 Banka Island massacre. Vivian and her nursing colleagues were forced into the sea and shot by soldiers. The only survivor of the massacre, Vivian feigned death after being struck by a bullet.
Learn more about Vivian's legacy, Adjunct Professor Ward was interviewed on ABC Radio.