The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX76279 Sister Janet Kerr, 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Australian nurses and over 250 civilian men, women and children evacuated on the Vyner Brooke from Singapore, three days before the fall of Malaya. The Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk in Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. Of the sixty five nurses on board, twelve were lost as sea and thirty two survived the sinking and were captured as Prisoners of War (POWs) of which eight later died during captivity. Sister Kerr, aged 31, was one of the remaining twenty two nurses who also survived the sinking and were washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island, where they surrendered to the Japanese, along with twenty five British soldiers. On 16 February 1942 the group was massacred, the soldiers were bayoneted and the nurses were ordered to march into the sea where they were shot. Only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel and a British soldier survived the massacre. Both were taken POW, but only Sister Bullwinkel survived the war. Sister Kerr was the daughter of Ida Maud Kerr of Woodstock, NSW. (Photograph copied from original photograph attached to attestation form, lent by Central Army Records Office.)
WA. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of WX3439 Sister Bessie Wilmott, 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Australian nurses and o
Informal portrait of SFX13419 Sister (Sr) Annie Merle Trenerry and SFX13431 Sr Lorna Florence Fairweather, both of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital. Sixty five Australian nurses, including Sr Tr
Informal portrait of VX38812 Matron Olive Dorothy Paschke and a number of nurses of the 2/10th Australian General Hospital (AGH), known as the 10th AGH at the time. Matron Paschke, five other nurses a
Vic. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of VFX61126 Sister Kathleen Kinsella, 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Australian nurses
NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NFX70520 Sister Marjorie (Schuie) Schuman, 2/10th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Austra
Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of WX11169 Sister Louvima (Vima) Mary Isabella Bates, 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Aus
