Broken Hill nurse and midwife, Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, has been honoured, with the drill hall at Broken Hill High School now named after the World War II veteran this last weekend.
The sole survivor of the World War Two 1942 Banka Island massacre, Ms Bullwinkel attended the school where she was made school captain in 1933, after her family moved to Broken Hill from South Australia.
Described by two members of staff at Broken Hill High School as “inspirational” and “influential” for taking on a profession aimed at helping people and sacrificing their life to serve others, and knowing her to be “the most gracious, kindest person”, Ms Bullwinkel’s significant contribution to the community and country will be remembered forever.
The ceremony included speeches from Lieutenant Naomi Thomson, a Nursing Officer with the Australian Army, and Vietnam veteran Annie Hall.
A silver angel candle was also presented to the school by Noni Wilson from the Golden Oldies.
The day was organised by P&C Vice-President, Life Member and School Learning Support Officer at Broken Hill High School, Margaret Burrowes, who collected archives of Ms Bullwinkel’s time at the school and across her military service and invited the guests, to create an event that would hold plenty of meaning now, and into the future.
“We think it’s historical. It’s just an important thing that we could do for Vivian Bullwinkel, being a war hero,” Ms Burrowes told the Barrier Truth.
Broken Hill High School Principal, Ross Mackay, told us it was important the school recognise the achievements of past students and continue to tell their stories.
“I think the significance of the school recognising past students that have done something historically significant is an important thing that we need to do to encourage our students to recognise and honour the achievements and the sacrifices that some of our students have made,” Mr Mackay said.
“We do a pretty good job of honouring our past students who have attended military conflict, we have some honour boards up in the school for each of the past students that have served overseas and we think it’s really important to continue to honour these people and pay recognition to the contribution to not only Broken Hill High School, but the community as well.”
Lt Thomson, an ex-Broken Hill High School student herself, leapt at the opportunity to return and pay respects to Ms Bullwinkel and the naming of the hall.
“Vivian Bullwinkel was such a heroic woman in the Australian Army and military in itself so to be out here and to honour such an iconic woman is very special and so for someone like myself – I attended Broken Hill High School – it’s nice to return as a nursing officer in the Australian Army and then to represent them and also in honour of Vivian,” she told us.
“Vivian creates a basis of our nursing core, essentially. She’s someone that went through such a great deal of traumatic events unfortunately, and then her passion and her drive for nursing, and then creating a better outcome or a better future and supporting those nurses around her relates quite closely to the current serving nursing core. She’s someone that we idolise and look back to at any given day, just understanding what she’s gone through so it’s quite special. She’s someone that’s very, very well-known in the Australian Army, particularly the nursing core in general. We honour her regularly.
“I think growing up, during my time, I wasn’t quite aware of the significance of Vivian Bullwinkel. I think understanding your history, as the Principal Ross [Mackay] was mentioning, the foundations and the future, we should be remembering those people and what they’ve gone through in the past, so I think it’s incredibly important.”
