Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Chin up, girls. I'm proud of you and I love you all.' These were the last words of Matron Irene Drummond as she and 21 other Australian nurses were marched into the sea at Radji Beach, Bangka Island, and the machine guns fired on them. Only one survived. Many terrible fates awaited survivors of the SSVyner Brooke shipwreck. Bangka Day commemorates the fate of the Australian nurses. I recently represented the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Matt Keogh, at Bangka Day for the 82nd commemoration of the massacre.

The Women’s Memorial Playing Fields in my electorate looks over Adelaide to the sea, and is an appropriately reflective place to honour the sacrifice made by the Australian nurses. Twenty-one shining silver poles stand tall—one for each of the nurses who died that day. One shining gold pole represents Sister Vivian Bullwinkel, the sole survivor, who came back to tell of their deaths. I would like to thank Helen Fischer, the President of the Women's Memorial Playing Fields Trust, Sturt Devils lacrosse team, the Flinders United Women's Football Club, RSL SA, the 3rd Health Support Battalion and the Army band for the service and the commemoration event, and Dr Annette Summers AO RFD, who gave this year's oration. Lest we forget.