Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Australian College of Nursing's Kylie Ward explains what is was like for nurses in the war

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Australian College of Nursing's Kylie Ward explains what is was like for nurses in the war · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is the Australian College of
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  Speaker 1: Nursing CEO Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you Kylie.
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  Speaker 3: Today Katie and I got it wrong the first time,
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  Speaker 3: so it's a Vina Brooks.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you the Viner brook I do apologize. So
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  Speaker 1: commemorating a number of different things. Tell us exactly what
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  Speaker 1: you are going to be commemorating.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, certainly it's fair to say that nurses from
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  Speaker 3: all over Australia have embarked on Darwin this week. They're
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  Speaker 3: in town that's lying in today. But today is an
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  Speaker 3: important day because more than one hundred nurses from across
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  Speaker 3: Australia will be paying their respects to the nurses who survived,
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  Speaker 3: but those who lost their lives in the sinking of
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  Speaker 3: the Viner Brooks, the bombing of Darwin and the Banker
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  Speaker 3: Island massacre and our military nurses are actually in a
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  Speaker 3: room right now having a day of professional development. So
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  Speaker 3: it's great to see so many milk nurses in town.
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  Speaker 3: Two oh.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know, when you talk about nurses, very often,
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  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, our minds sort of goes straight to
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  Speaker 1: hospitals or those clinical settings. But when you think about
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  Speaker 1: our military nurses, what an incredibly difficult job theres would be.
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  Speaker 3: They're so brave, they're so courageous. I mean, nurses to
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  Speaker 3: me represent the best of humanity. And then you get
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  Speaker 3: these incredible human beings that then go and take their
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  Speaker 3: nursing expertise and join the military and serve and sacrifice
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  Speaker 3: and protect our nations, not only in humanitarian efforts that
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  Speaker 3: obviously in more conditions and in conditions of danger. They're
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  Speaker 3: very remarkable.
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  Speaker 2: And what is planned today for that service?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're going to meet up at the Dawin Museum
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  Speaker 3: and have a service in honor of the nurses he
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  Speaker 3: lost their lives. As I mentioned, there were sixty five
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  Speaker 3: nurses eighty years ago who boarded the viner Brook. It
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  Speaker 3: was the last ship to leave the shores of Singapore,
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  Speaker 3: and there was not quite two hundred people, most of
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  Speaker 3: them were civilians. But the reason that there were so
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  Speaker 3: many nurses. They were actually supposed to board the ship
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  Speaker 3: before and they would have made it back to Australia,
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  Speaker 3: but they wouldn't leave their patients. And that says everything
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  Speaker 3: about nurses, doesn't it. It really does, It really does.
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  Speaker 3: And so twelve, when so they left on the twelfth
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  Speaker 3: of February. Fourteenth of February, two days later, when the
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  Speaker 3: Viner Brook was bombed at sea by the Japanese, twelve
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  Speaker 3: nurses lost their lives and then the others swam to
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  Speaker 3: swam to shore. So the nurses that lost their lives,
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  Speaker 3: their bodies were never found, you know, families never just
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  Speaker 3: been left with a little bit of you know, that
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  Speaker 3: emptiness inside. But the others swum to two shores. But
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  Speaker 3: those that made it to the shore. Twenty two nurses
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  Speaker 3: made it to the shores of Radji Beach and they
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  Speaker 3: were unfortuntionally witnessed soldiers and civilians bayonetted to death. And
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  Speaker 3: then the nurses were told to line up on the
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  Speaker 3: shore of the water and had to march into the water,
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  Speaker 3: knowing that the soldiers, Japanese soldiers behind them had machine
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  Speaker 3: guns and they were walking into their depths. Now we
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't know this story only that Lieutenant Colonel Vivian balwick
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  Speaker 3: Or was shot in the hip, baked her death, laid
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  Speaker 3: in the water until she couldn't hear any noise, and
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  Speaker 3: then got herself to shore founder an English soldier who
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  Speaker 3: was injured. She cared for him for three days, even
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  Speaker 3: with her own wound, moved them and then surrendered and
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  Speaker 3: was a prisoner of war for three years. And that's
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  Speaker 3: the only way we know that this is the worst
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  Speaker 3: massacre in austraight as history.
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  Speaker 1: That is incredible, absolutely, you know, an incredible story.
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  Speaker 2: And I've no doubt that you know, even you know
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  Speaker 2: at this.
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  Speaker 1: At the service, there's probably going to be quite a
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  Speaker 1: few emotional nurses when you think, you know, when you
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  Speaker 1: think about what those military nurses have been through, but
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  Speaker 1: here a story like that, it's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 3: You know, we're going to have military nurses that have
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  Speaker 3: served in Afghanistan, that have been injured, that have had
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  Speaker 3: their own sacrifices living today are absolute heroes for the profession.
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  Speaker 3: But you're absolutely right. I mean, I don't ever want
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  Speaker 3: while I'm in the position that I'm in leading the
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  Speaker 3: nurse in profession industry, I don't want to ever lose
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  Speaker 3: sight of the past. You know, the nurses that died
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  Speaker 3: on the banks of Raji Beach on that day on
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  Speaker 3: the sixteenth of February, and even those that didn't make
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  Speaker 3: it to the beach, and those that died in as
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  Speaker 3: prisoners of war they back then, eighty years ago, Katie,
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  Speaker 3: nurses couldn't marry, couldn't have families. If you chose nursing,
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  Speaker 3: you gave that up or you weren't allowed to do
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  Speaker 3: it to be a nurse. So they're not survived by
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  Speaker 3: loved ones or children. And if we don't keep them
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  Speaker 3: memories alive. Now it's eighty years, they're in their twenties
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  Speaker 3: and thirties, are at the cunning, at the edge of innovation.
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  Speaker 3: They went and fought for their country. I worry that
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  Speaker 3: we'll lose their memory forever, which is why I've started
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  Speaker 3: the full Winkle Project to make sure that we cement
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  Speaker 3: them in history. And we should never forget the women
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  Speaker 3: who fought for us as well as the men.
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  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I could not agree with you more. My
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  Speaker 1: mum's a nurse and has been for fifty years, so
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  Speaker 1: I always have a special place in my heart for nurses.
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  Speaker 2: I think they do an incredible job.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, but then when you you know, when you actually
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  Speaker 1: look at the vital role that our nurses have played
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  Speaker 1: during the various wars, it is it's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 3: And look, my mum's a nurse. They bring up pap
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  Speaker 3: great kids.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you what, there's no faking being sick, is there, Kylie?
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  Speaker 2: When your mum's a.
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  Speaker 3: Nurse is no, No, you don't miss around.
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  Speaker 2: You've pretty much got to be falling apart exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, just tell us how many people are you expecting
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  Speaker 1: to attend? I know that it's not only obviously about
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  Speaker 1: the service sets prepared that is being organized, but it's
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  Speaker 1: also you know about this conference that's happening.
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  Speaker 2: How many people are attending.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I'm really excited to say because we couldn't
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  Speaker 3: actually in February honor the nurses of Diviner Brook because
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  Speaker 3: of COVID and so it was really important that we
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  Speaker 3: didn't let this go by. But you're right. As of
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  Speaker 3: tomorrow our National Nursing Forum starts. There will be over
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  Speaker 3: six hundred nurses here and another couple of hundred online.
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  Speaker 3: So some of these nurses, Katie, have not had a
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  Speaker 3: break since COVID began, or really you know, the last
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  Speaker 3: year and a half two years, a lot of nurses
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  Speaker 3: got pulled back on their annual leave and so some
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  Speaker 3: of them are self funding and taking annual leaves to
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  Speaker 3: come here and get the professional and personal development. For others,
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  Speaker 3: it will be the first break that they've had in
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  Speaker 3: a couple of years. So, you know, Darwin's a beautiful
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  Speaker 3: destination and I can already feel it giving us a
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  Speaker 3: big hug with the warm weather, and it's really nice
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  Speaker 3: to get back in the room with our colleagues and
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  Speaker 3: share some stories and support each other.
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  Speaker 1: Oh how wonderful is this the first time that it's
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  Speaker 1: happened in Darwin.
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  Speaker 3: It is absolutely yeah. And I've actually wanted to bring
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  Speaker 3: it to Darwin last year and we couldn't. We could
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  Speaker 3: only hold it online. So it's been really important because
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  Speaker 3: Darwin's always welcomed the Australian College of Nursing. The Northern
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  Speaker 3: Territory is very important to us. Years ago the Royal
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  Speaker 3: College of Nursing hosted its annual conference in Alice. This
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  Speaker 3: is a first for Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: How awesome.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of nurses this is their first time here,
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  Speaker 3: so it's a bit of a breakaway and get to
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  Speaker 3: see different parts of Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it sounds like it's going to be fantastic. Kylie
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  Speaker 1: just very quickly on the on the event that is
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  Speaker 1: happening around the remembering all of the nurses that we
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  Speaker 1: have lost. Is that something that's open to the public
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  Speaker 1: or is that just for our nurses to attend.
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  Speaker 3: Now, look, if people can get there today at three
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  Speaker 3: o'clock at the Darwin Museum, I would love for the
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  Speaker 3: public to join us, and I think the nursing profession
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  Speaker 3: would appreciate and welcome that come and mingle. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: everybody I talk to you knows the nurse has a
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  Speaker 3: connection with nursing. Probably sometimes sometime in our lives we're
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  Speaker 3: going to be cared for by a nurser. Yeah, whatever
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  Speaker 3: reason you want to come out this afternoon and join us,
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  Speaker 3: please do it and been honor.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wonderful stuff.
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  Speaker 1: So great to speak with you this morning, Kylie. I
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, thank you for your time, Katie, and give you
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  Speaker 3: a give my love to your mom.
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  Speaker 2: You too look after yourself. Thank you.