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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-09-20 Daily Xml
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DEFENCE FORCE NURSING OFFICERS

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (12:21): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises the importance of nursing officers and physiotherapists in the Australian Defence Force and Australian Defence Reserve, including women who previously served with—

(i) the Australian Army Nursing Service;

(ii) the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service;

(iii) the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service;

(iv) the Australian Army Medical Women's Service;

(v) the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps;

(vi) the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps; and

(b) acknowledges the considerable sacrifice nursing officers have made in defence of our country at home and overseas in operations that span from the Boer War to Afghanistan;

(c) notes the public service many returned nursing officers continue to provide after active service;

(d) particularly commends the service of Sister Gwen Henderson and physiotherapist Audrey Abbey who, as colleagues of Sister Vivian Bullwinkel MBE, rendered distinguished service in World War II; and

(e) notes all servicewomen are commemorated every year at the Bangka Service held at the South Australian Women's Memorial Playing Fields on the Sunday closest to 16 February, the anniversary of the Banka Island Massacre in 1942.

I would like to speak today with great pleasure about the motion I have put forward, which is to recognise the importance of nursing officers and physiotherapists in the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Defence Reserve. As the member for Taylor, I am grateful that I have been given the opportunity over recent months to be involved in the defence and veterans' affairs portfolios and I have developed a strong interest in these portfolios, particularly in relation to the nursing officers I have met during this time.

While the structure of the nursing services has been reformed throughout Australian history, their commitment to defending our country on home soil and overseas has always remained strong. I speak on this motion today because their efforts need to be commended and formally recognised. Australian nurses have been at the forefront of conflicts for more than 100 years and I would like to share some of the rich history that relates to this.

Even before Australia had an organised military nursing body, the Australian nurse Sister Mary Jane Armfield was sent to South Africa in July 1879 during the Zulu War. There she treated hundreds of casualties with limited supplies in run-down, makeshift hospitals. Sister Mary Jane Armfield is believed to be the first Australian nurse to receive a Royal Red Cross, a military decoration for exceptional services in military nursing. More than 80 Royal Red Crosses have been awarded to outstanding Australian nurses since this time.

Australia's first military nursing body was the New South Wales Army Nursing Service and it was made up of 14 nurses who spent three years in South Africa during the Boer War. The nurses were mostly unmarried and well educated women aged between 25 and 40. Many Australian nurses showed immense dedication to their work, serving across several wars. Nellie Gould was one of the nurses posted to South Africa and went on to enlist during World War I in 1914 at the age of 54. She went on to travel to Egypt, France and England, and she too received a Royal Red Cross.

Throughout World War I, over 3,000 Australian civilian nurses volunteered for the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). They worked in military hospitals, ships and trains in Britain, India, France, Belgium and the Middle East in terrible conditions. Following the Gallipoli campaign, endless streams of casualties were ferried to the Greek islands of Imbros and Lemnos, as well as to Malta, Egypt and Britain, and these nurses assisted them throughout the journey with limited supplies whilst battling diseases, seasickness, overcrowding and poor ventilation in their workplaces.

Matron Grace Wilson, in August 1915, was sent to the Greek island of Lemnos to help casualties from Gallipoli. The equipment and medical supplies that were meant to be there were delayed by three weeks. She persevered with no sanitation and limited water, and her team treated over 900 troops, despite the harshest conditions. There was only a 2 per cent mortality rate. She was awarded a Royal Red Cross for distinguished service in the field as a result of this work.

Between 1916 and 1919 over 500 Australian Army nurses were stationed in the British hospitals throughout India, where they nursed hundreds of Turkish prisoners of war and British troops that were wounded. Australian nurses were sent to India as British nurses were considered to be unable to adjust to the hot working temperatures.

During World War I there was an enormous amount of dedication and ingenuity displayed by Australian nurses. In 1914, 300 nurses left for Egypt to aid the casualties being sent there from Gallipoli. Having limited hospital spaces, they assisted in turning an Egyptian amusement park into a 1,500-bed hospital. It was during World War I in 1916 that the AANS nurses were given officer status, which was a very important achievement. A matron held three stars, a sister two stars and a staff nurse one star. Although this was a great achievement, nurses continued to receive half the pay of their male equivalents, and it would take a long time before this changed.

Throughout World War I the AANS did not allow married women to serve, so many Australian nurses were determined to find a way to assist the cause and signed up to travel with the Red Cross. The Red Cross Bluebirds were a group of Australian nurses who were posted to France in 1916, and some of these women joined to be closer to their loved ones already fighting in the war in this area.

By the end of World War I, Australian nurses had proved themselves to be an undeniable necessity to the medical military services that we provided to our troops, and in World War II 5,000 Australian nurses served throughout the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Britain, Asia, the Pacific and Australia. Seventy-eight of these nurses died, mostly due to conflict or as prisoners of war.

More and more military nursing services were established as a result of the increasing need. The Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service was formed in 1940, followed by the Royal Australian Navy Nursing Service in 1942. In 1948, the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps was also created. The greater demand for nurses never deterred their spirit or commitment to giving the best possible patient care standards. A testament to this is the story of Matron Best, who was stationed in Greece in 1941. When the fighting in Greece intensified, she was ordered to evacuate some of her nurses. When she asked who wanted to leave their posts and go, they all replied with a resounding no.

After Japan entered the war, most Australian nurses serving in the Middle East were sent home to work in military hospitals in every state, as northern Australia was being prepared for an inevitable attack. In 1942, as Singapore fell to the invading Japanese army, nurses such as Sister Vivian Bullwinkel put themselves in extreme danger to secure the wounded onto evacuation ships at the docks. The ships carrying the wounded and evacuees were targeted by Japanese bombers in the Bangka Strait the following night as they attempted escape.

The SS Vyner Brooke, carrying Sister Bullwinkel, was sunk as survivors clamoured ashore. As Japanese soldiers arrived on the beach, they rounded up the collection of surviving nurses and servicewomen and massacred them in cold blood. Sister Bullwinkel was badly wounded and was the sole survivor. She endured another three years of capture, internment and brutality before she could tell her story.

Another example of the commitment to nursing in our history was on 19 February 1942 when the Japanese bombed Darwin, killing 252 people. The hospital ship Manunda was hit, but continued to aid the wounded. Sister Margaret de Mestre was the first Australian nurse to die from enemy action on home soil during this attack. The following year, in 1943, the hospital ship Centaur was sailing to New Guinea when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The attack killed 268 people, despite the ship being clearly marked with a red cross. Only one Australian nurse survived out of the 64 passengers.

The wreckage of the Centaur was not discovered until 2009, 60 kilometres off Moreton Island. Not only was the Centaur used to raise support for the war at the time, but the discovery of the wreckage is a more recent reminder of the devastation and hardship serving Australians put up with during wartime over many years. Those nurses who did make it to New Guinea were stationed in Port Moresby, and there they treated the wounded on the Kokoda and Milne Bay campaigns.

Following World War II, the world was gripped by a cold war that spanned nearly 30 years. During this time Australian nurses were sent to Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Indeed, I have very many Vietnam vets in my electorate. The Vietnam War saw Army, RAAF and civilian nurses sent to South Vietnam, where they mostly attended to traumatic amputations caused by mine explosions. Between 1967 and 1971, 150 military nurses and 200 civilian nurses were working in Vietnam. Nurses recall working 14 days straight during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Even though they put their lives at risk, they returned home and were often met with anti-war sentiments and protests, despite their healing capacities. With the Vietnam War came advancements in medical and military technology. This is evidenced when you look at the casualty figure survival rates, with 8.5 per cent of casualties dying after reaching hospital during the Second World War, compared with 3 per cent during the Vietnam War. At the time, nurses were being trained as Medevac nursing officers who did aeromedical evacuations between Vietnam, Malaya and Australia.

The 1970s brought some changes to the nursing officers. They had progression of the status of women in the military. Female nurses were given the same pay as their male equivalents and were able to remain in the service after marriage or having children. It was also a time that the first male nurses began to serve. This was largely due to the lobbying of Group Officer Betty Docker, the director of the RAAFNS between 1970 and 1975, and in recent times Australian nurses have served in war and peacetime in the first Gulf War, Rwanda, Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Bougainville, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan.

The extraordinary story of Squadron Leader Sharon Cooper of the RAAF demonstrates the exemplary dedication nursing officers have to their work. In 2004, she was involved in a helicopter crash while serving in East Timor. Her recovery involved learning how to walk again, but by 2005 Sharon Cooper was assisting aeromedical evacuations from the devastating Bali bombings in Indonesia. Following this, she was made the officer in charge of the Australian treatment facility in Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan for three months in 2008, and during her time her team experienced the largest number of Australian casualties in one attack since the Vietnam War. About her time in Afghanistan she says:

There is little more confronting than treating one who wears your uniform. I struggle with the knowledge that I cannot deliver my team to their families in the same condition I received them.

Her words reiterated the need to recognise the important contribution nursing officers have made to the defence of our forces and our nation and how they show incredible understanding and hard work in the most intense and unfamiliar circumstances that many of us would struggle to fully comprehend or understand.

Today, both men and women serve as nursing officers and continue to give the highest level of care to those who need it the most, for civilian and military people in our nation and overseas and our neighbours, whether their countries have been destroyed by war, natural disaster or civil unrest.

I would like to finish my speech today by recognising and honouring Sister Gwen Henderson OAM, who sadly passed away in August this year at the age of 103. She was one of South Australia's last surviving World War II nurses. She had served in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Port Moresby. After returning from war, she spent decades contributing to the Returned Sisters Sub-branch of the RSL, which eventually saw her receive a well-deserved Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to the veteran community.

The stories I have told today are simply a snapshot of the broad captivating and heroic contribution nursing officers have made to the Defence Force. They are stories that need to be told as they continue to work tirelessly to protect Australians and our neighbours. I would particularly like to thank those honourable women who personally have shared their stories with me over the past months, and they include Pam Ward, Kerrie Barrett, Gaynor Tilley and, from my own local Two Wells RSL sub-branch, Jennifer Dowling and Cheryl Fittock. I also thank all nursing officers who have served our country and, more importantly, the lives and wellbeing of our servicemen and women, both past and present. I commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:29): I will make a brief contribution. I commend the member for Taylor for bringing this before the house as it is important that, whilst we generally focus on the contribution of men in the armed services, we should not overlook the fact that for a long time, over 100 years, we have had many women serving in the various arms of the Defence Force. Without debating the merits of some of the wars that we have been involved in—the Boer War is one that, I think, we could debate and raise a few questions about—we are focusing on the service of people in these battles and wars and, in particular, the contribution of those in the health professions.

I currently have a female relative who is a health professional serving in one of the combat areas. I will not be too specific because it can put them at risk, but I have always had a very high regard for nurses, not just those in the military. With very few exceptions, I have always found them to be very fine, dedicated, caring people.

On my recent trip to Western Australia, I met by accident a lady who knew Vivian Bullwinkel. If people who suggest that females might be a bit reticent, delicate or sensitive and unable to stand up for themselves met some of these people, including this lady from the town of York in Western Australia, it would dispel any notion that somehow women are not capable of doing tough things and enduring.

One of the things she said about Sister Bullwinkel was, in that atrocious massacre of the nurses, the nurse in charge, before they were shot, told the nurses to face the enemy and stand tall, which they did. Vivian Bullwinkel survived because a dead nurse fell on top of her and the Japanese thought she was dead, but she actually survived because a colleague who was dead fell on her and the Japanese did not detect that. I did not meet her personally, but she was apparently an outstanding person, not only in terms of nursing but in all aspects of her character.

I think it is important that we remember that, as I say, whilst most of the people who served have been men, there have been a lot of women who have served and some of them have paid the ultimate price, including those who were massacred. There were not many nurses killed in World War I. I think there was one royal nurse who got hit by a shell in a tent while administering care to the soldiers but, irrespective of the numbers, we acknowledge their commitment and the sacrifice they have made—not only people like Sister Vivian Bullwinkel, but all of those women who have served in the health professions for well over 100 years.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (12:37): I, too, would like to speak to this motion. I had the honour of attending the funeral of Sister Gwen Henderson, one of the last remaining World War II nurses here in South Australia. In the past few months, South Australia has lost Betty Bradwell at the age of 96, Edith Eadie at the age of 104 and Gwen who was also 104. These women led extraordinary and long lives. I would like to put on the record the statement that the Premier asked me to read on his behalf to Gwen's family:

The State and people of South Australia mourns the loss of Miss Gwen Henderson O.A.M., one of South Australia's last surviving World War Two nurses.

Sister Henderson's story is one of sacrifice and service.

She enlisted in 1940 and served at Woodside Camp Hospital and Wayville Camp Hospital until drafted for service overseas.

Sister Henderson served in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and in Port Moresby and Lae in New Guinea. This included service at the desert site hospital of Buseilli, Egypt, treating casualties from the Battle of El Alamein.

After the war, Sister Henderson continued nursing before retiring as Senior Sister, Out Patients Department, Daws Road in 1968.

Sister Henderson joined the Returned Sisters Sub Branch of the R.S.L. in 1947 and after decades of tireless work was made a life member of the R.S.L.

She was subsequently awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to veterans through the Returned Sisters Sub-Branch of the Returned and Services League of Australia.

Sister Henderson made a unique contribution to our nation and her fellow Australians, both in and out of uniform. Her selfless dedication will never be forgotten.

The loss of Sr Henderson comes shortly after the loss of Sr Betty Bradwell, OAM and Sr Edith Eadie, AM. The loss of these three great ladies sees the passing of a unique era.

The State and people of South Australia recognise and thank Sr Henderson for her service, and extend their condolences to her family.

Lest we forget.

Sister Henderson is survived by her nephews and nieces Janet, Trevor, Warren, Julie, Roger, Graham, Paul and their families. It was a pleasure to meet them at the ceremony in the Florey Chapel. We do mourn the loss of such a great woman.

I was also able to get an obituary on Sister Edith Eadie AM (nee Butler) from The Advertiser of 18 August. She is important, of course, because both Sister Eadie's grandfather and uncle were premiers of South Australia, and her father, Colonel Charles Butler, became well known for running the South Australian rural weekly The Chronicle.

Edith Eadie joined the Australian Army nursing service in 1940 and sailed for England with 20 other South Australian nurses, and she had a long and distinguished career in the services. She married a Japanese prisoner of war survivor, Dr Norman Eadie, on her birthday in 1950. Through their shared experiences of the war, they had become close. Norman died in 1984, and Edith continued to live at Glen Osmond until three years ago. Edith is survived by her nephews David and Philip Marshall and their families.

This unique service by these wonderful women is something we do not see quite as much of these days, and we certainly do not hear as much of it. I commend the motion to the house and look forward to its passing.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Hon. M.J. Wright): The ever popular member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (12:41): Thank you, sir. I do not know about the first bit, but anyway. Thank you for the opportunity to say a few words on this motion. I think it is a good motion, and I support the member in her desire to get it through the house. There is no question that it will get support from both sides of the chamber.

For me, there are a couple of names that come to mind. I have to remember Sister Patsy Darke. When I went to boarding school at the tender age of 12½, Patsy Darke was the boarding house matron, and she was mother to some 120-odd boys, I think, at that time. She was ruthless in a very friendly manner. Patsy Darke, who had been a nurse during World War II, had never married. She went on to live a long and full life. Patsy was a wonderful women. As boarders, we used to shoot down at about half past eight, from memory, and Patsy was normally having a few tipples by that time of night with a couple of the other school masters. I remember Patsy with a great deal of respect.

The other one I will mention is Sister Lilla Lashmar. Lilla Lashmar was on the Vyner Brooke, along with Vivian Bullwinkel. She was not much more than a girl, as I understand it, from Antechamber Bay on Kangaroo Island. She perished on that day, along with the others who were butchered by the Japanese on that sad occasion. Because of her, I always followed the life of Vivian Bullwinkel with a great deal of interest.

The member for Florey talked about others who have gone recently. They are a generation that has all but disappeared, I would suggest. They did a magnificent job. However, in fairness to the mover of the motion, the motion recognises nursing officers and physiotherapists, etc. who have served from the Boer War right through to today, so we should not forget what women who are performing nursing and physiotherapy roles in Afghanistan are going through as we speak. I have pleasure in supporting the motion.

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (12:44): I, too, join with other members of the house in supporting the motion the member for Taylor has brought to the house. The member for Taylor raised five specific points in her motion, and she also highlights the respective services nursing officers and other service people have served in. Obviously, I support all the remarks made by the other members. In my role as shadow minister for veterans' affairs, it is clearly very important that we do identify, highlight and pay tribute to the nursing officers and other members of the Defence Force in those respective capacities for the assistance and care they provide. Clearly, they played a critical role right through all the different areas of operation. In the motion the member for Taylor talks about those operations both at home and overseas that stand from the Boer War to Afghanistan, so they cover a significant part of the history of our country.

One point I would like to make is that in attending the ANZAC Day march we see all the returned servicemen but you also see the returned servicewomen march in the ANZAC Day parade. There are people who march on that day who are obviously from the area of nursing, because you see these ladies march in their old uniforms, and that illustrates the broad nature of service that people have provided to our country.

In the motion, the member for Taylor specifically highlights Sister Vivian Bullwinkle and also the commemorative Banka service held at the Women's Memorial Playing Fields every year. I recall from a previous role working for the member for Schubert some years ago that a memorial garden in the Lower North, the outer Barossa Valley, had been established in the township of Kapunda to commemorate Vivian Bullwinkle. That person has had a strong connection to the Kapunda community. It is my understanding that it is a lovely garden established in Kapunda to commemorate Vivian Bullwinkle. We know there is a lot of history and significant other issues concerning that matter.

I have not yet had the privilege to attend the Bangka service, but I look forward to attending it, hopefully in 2013. I have only just recently been appointed the shadow minister for veterans affairs (late last year) and have not attended that service. However, in speaking to people who have attended the Bangka service, I understand it is a very moving event and it pays to due tribute to those whose memories are commemorated there. Obviously on this side of the house we unreservedly support the motion, and I look forward to contributions from other members.

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (12:49): I also wish to support the member for Taylor and commend her on bringing the motion before the house and recognise the excellent words spoken by all members of the chamber who have contributed to the debate. I wish to talk about a person who has not been mentioned yet and who is involved in some way. I am very proud of the fact that the Yorke Peninsula football and netball leagues now celebrate ANZAC Day with a special commemoration medal that goes to the best player in A grade netball and football.

They do so in recognition of two Yorke Peninsula people who paid the supreme sacrifice. As it relates to nursing, one is Lieutenant Annie Merle Trenerry, who was part of the Bangka massacre, but in a slightly different context. Annie was a lieutenant in the 2/13th Australian General Hospital. She had been in Singapore for five months. She was with 65 nurses, who were part of the Vyner Brooke, with 240 women and children. When they were strafed by the Japanese and forced into small dinghies to try to escape to the closest islands—some 10 miles away, I understand—Annie was actually part of a group that was never sighted again. So she was not part of the Banka massacre, the disgraceful killing of 22 brave Australian women, but she was with some other nurses, with women and children, tending to the wounds of those who had suffered as a result of being shot at by the Japanese. Sadly, like many others in all theatres of war, their remains were never found.

I am particularly proud that Yorke Peninsula celebrates her contribution to our society and our life, and her contribution to the Australian Defence Force overseas. It displays it in a very respectful way; there is a memorial at the Morchard Cemetery, and there is a medal presented each year to the best player in A grade. I actually think that the last recipient was Amy Brokenshire, who is the daughter of the Hon. Rob Brokenshire from the other place, who was playing for Paskeville. It is done out of great respect.

I think it is indeed wonderful that this chamber has been brought together to talk about sacrifices made by Australians to ensure that our world is a safer place. So, member for Taylor, well done.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (12:51): Very briefly, I commend the member for Taylor. The member for Kavel just reminded me—and my memories are now flooding in—of when we commemorated Sister Vivian Bullwinkel in Kapunda. I have actually forgotten the name of the four ladies who where present on that day, with a large gathering of the community. Those four ladies, who commemorated this at the memorial down in the main street of Kapunda, were very highly decorated. I remember who one of them was, because she was the world famous White Mouse. Nancy Wake was there; an absolutely extraordinary woman. What she achieved, and lived! What they said about Vivian Bullwinkel was just fantastic. My memory does not allow me to recall who the other women were, but they were extremely decorated women.

As the member for Kavel just said, they created a special garden in Kapunda at Dutton Park, and I suggest members go there. It is absolutely beautiful. There is a bust of Sister Vivian Bullwinkel, and all the story is there. The way the Kapunda people maintain this garden just tells us how much the community very much respects what these people did. I commend the member for Taylor for bringing this motion to the house; we certainly support it.

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (12:52): I would like to thank all the members here today who contributed their feelings and thoughts on the importance of this motion to the house, and their recognition of the nursing officers who have assisted our Defence Forces as well as our nearby neighbours in peacekeeping, natural disasters and war time over the past years of our nation's history—and even before we were a nation, in the time of the Zulu War. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

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