The Australian nurses who never came home

Artes Christi will present Mozart’s Requiem at Sydney Town Hall on 8 November to honor Australian military nurses. The candlelit tribute, titled A Candlelit Tribute to Our Military Nurses, features an 80-member choir and orchestra. The event supports the Australian Remembrance Foundation and commemorates nurses killed in the Bangka Island massacre, as well as those serving in current military generations.

The commemoration honors 21 Australian Army nurses killed on 16 February 1942. After Japanese aircraft sank the SS Vyner Brooke on 14 February, survivors reached Radji Beach on Bangka Island. There, Japanese soldiers ordered 22 nurses into the sea and opened fire, killing 21. Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of the shooting. Bullwinkel later testified at a war crimes tribunal and worked to preserve the memory of her colleagues.

Organizers are requesting approval from the Department of Defence to allow 21 serving military nurses from the Navy, Army, and Air Force to lay wreaths. A representative from the family of Vivian Bullwinkel has also been invited to participate in the service.