Sister Pat Gunther, Australian Army Nursing Service
Pat Gunther trained at the Prince Alfred Hospital
in Sydney. Along with many of her companions who knew about the
war in Europe she volunteered for the AANS, Australian Army
Nursing Service, and was called up on 27th November 1940,
transferring to the Camp Hospital in Tamworth NSW in early
December. She returned to Sydney for embarkation leave
preparatory to being posted overseas. She left Sydney on 4th
February 1941 in a convoy which included the Queen Mary and
Aquitania. They collected more troops in Melbourne and their
nursing duties started. They called at Freemantle and continued
the journey alone to Singapore arriving in February 1941
Ω.
After arriving in Singapore they moved to Malacca, on the west
coast of Malaya, where they set up their hospital, 2/10th AGH
(Australian General Hospital) and a relatively pleasant
existence prevailed. With the Japanese air raids on Singapore
and Kota Bahru on December 8th 1941, they were evacuated to
Johore Bahru near Singapore
Ω.
Casualties started arriving in large numbers. About the second
week of January 1942, they were moved again, into Singapore,
where the demands on the nurses increased again. In mid
February, their principal matron received orders that half of
the nurses were to be evacuated from Singapore. When she asked
for volunteers to remain, as a body, they volunteered to stay
Ω.
The remainder were later ordered to leave on the ship Vyner
Brooke. On February 14th, in the vicinity of Banka Island,
Sumatra, they were sunk. Clinging to wreckage, later a life
raft, the Japanese invasion fleet passed through them. Having
seen the bonfire on the beach that signalled the arrival of the
lifeboat, they were later picked up by the Japanese
Ω.
After being given their accommodation and food they were
interrogated and marched into Muntok
Ω.
They were initially accommodated in the cinema with many others
before being moved to a more permanent camp. Two more nurses
joined them and then, wounded, Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, the only
survivor of the infamous Banka Island massacre. They then knew
that of the original 65 nurses who had embarked on the Vyner
Brooke, only 32 had survived
Ω.
After some time at this camp, military personnel were
transferred to Singapore. Details of what had befallen the
nurses were given to an officer on the understanding that it
should only be given to the nurses’ own CO. The nurses were very
conscious of their vulnerability
Ω.
When the men had gone, the women were transferred to Palembang
on Sumatra. Initially they were well housed since the Japanese
were intending to use them as prostitutes. Using various ploys,
they were able to avoid this. While visiting another house,
which still had a radio, they learned that the other half of the
original group of nurses, who had been evacuated to Australia,
had arrived safely
Ω.
With the realisation that the nurses would not cooperate, they
were moved to much poorer housing and slept on the floor
Ω.
In the permanent camp a routine of committees and organisation
was established and Pat helped to earn a little from the
drawings that she did
Ω.
The following extracts have been taken from an incomplete
audio tape entitled “Eastern Interlude”
ed: we have tried to make the tape more audible by electronic
manipulation but in the process Pat's vocal characteristics have changed considerably.
After they arrived at the permanent camp, good news was mingled
with the distress of searching for missing people
Ω.
The routine of camp became established and although difficult,
life was manageable. The arrival of the Kempetai heralded the
start of a much harsher regime
Ω.
In September 1943, a message from the men’s camp warned of a
camp move. In fact they only moved to the men’s camp and
continued the routine of camp life, although the Japanese took
all the best produce from their vegetable garden. In November,
after a terrible sea voyage they arrived back at Banka Island
Ω.
With arrivals from other camps, lice and bed bug infestation
became universal. Deaths began to increase from tropical
diseases and malnutrition. They were later transferred back to
Palembang and beyond to the “Coolie Lines” of a rubber
plantation. Camp routine continued with burial parties becoming
part of the established routine – four more nurses died
Ω.
Of the 65 nurses who had assembled in Singapore in early 1942,
only 24 were to return to Australia.
This recording was made by the Australian War Memorial in
1998 and we acknowledge our grateful thanks to them for
permission to reproduce parts of it.
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