Trish Cook (Bullwinkel, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 18 August I had the honour of joining the Northam RSL to mark Vietnam Veterans' Day. It was a moving occasion where we remembered the courage and sacrifice of more than 60,000 Australians who served and we honoured those who never came home. As part of that beautiful ceremony I also reflected on Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel's role in the war. She was a nurse and a World War II hero, and the sole survivor of the Banka Island massacre in 1942, where 21 of her fellow nurses were murdered. She endured 3½ years as a prisoner of war, and when she returned she devoted her life to nursing, supporting veterans and honouring those who had perished. As many of you know, the electorate of Bullwinkel is named in her honour.

Vivian's story didn't end there; in 1975, as the Vietnam War drew to a close, she led a team of nurses in Operation Babylift, a mission to rescue orphaned and surrendered Vietnamese Australian-fathered babies and children. Around 300 of those children were brought to Australia in cardboard boxes on the aircraft floor. It was far from ideal, but it saved their lives. So, on 18 August at the RSL in Northam, I honoured our Vietnam veterans, support personnel and nurses like Vivian Bullwinkel, whose courage reminds us that service comes in many forms. Lest we forget.