Thursday 3 July is the anniversary of one of Australia’s most courageous heroines in World War II, Sister Vivianne Bullwinkel who died of a heart attack on July 3, 2000, aged 84.
Fittingly acclaimed military historian and ‘history detective’ Lynette Ramsay Silver, released her new book Sister Bullwinkel: The untold, uncensored story (Sally Milner Publishing) which exposes long- suppressed truths about one of the most significant and traumatic episodes in Australia’s wartime history this week.
In February 1942, 21 Australian army nurses were massacred by Japanese troops on Radji Beach. For 80 years, the public only heard a carefully censored version of events—one that survivor Vivian Bullwinkel was ordered to uphold.
Now, Silver’s meticulous research reveals:
• That the nurses were sexually assaulted before being murdered—facts omitted from all official accounts.
• That Bullwinkel was silenced by military officials and even her own biographer.
• New firsthand sources have emerged, helping Silver complete a fuller portrait of Bullwinkel’s
experience and legacy. For over five decades, until her death on 3 July 2000, Bullwinkel maintained a brave silence about the full horror of what she witnessed and endured after surviving the massacre and spending three and a half years as a prisoner of war in Sumatra.
This book is the first uncensored and comprehensive story of what really happened.
Silver, who uncovered the full scope of this tragic event states, “I refuse to stay silent, to be a party to any further cover-up. It is time to tell the real story of the life of this amazing Australian woman. Vivian wanted a voice. I am proud, finally, to be able to give it to her.”
Sister Bullwinkel: The untold, uncensored story is a powerful historical account of one of Australia’s most courageous heroines in World War II. Silver’s extensive research exposes the truth about the massacre and the subsequent cover-up, while also providing an intimate look at Bullwinkel’s life, from her nursing training at Broken Hill, to war years to her legacy as a leader in the Australian nursing community.
With previously unreleased details, this definitive book honours the legacy of a woman who endured unimaginable trauma and yet went on to inspire generations.
The author Lynette Ramsay Silver AM, MBE is an author and military historian. Often referred to as a “history detective”, she is a recognized expert in delving into untold aspects of Australia’s colonial and military past, resulting in a large number of ground-breaking publications, some of which overturn long- accepted historical accounts. She is also a recognised expert in identifying graves of servicemen killed in action or who died as prisoners of war and to date has identified the graves of 41 military personnel who were buried as ‘unknown’. Each Anzac Day she organises a tour for POW relatives to Sabah and also accompanies trekking groups along the Sandakan-Ranau death march track, ‘lost’ for 60 years and which she located and re-established with trekking expert Mr. Tham Yau Kong.
Lynette has received a Defence Forces Commendation and Medal from Special Operations Command Australia, for her work during the 60th Anniversary of a wartime mission known as Operation Jaywick, the first civilian ever to receive this prestigious award. In January 2004 she was also awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours for her services to veterans and their families for her work on Sandakan. This was followed in 2009 by a Ministerial Special Award from the Sabah Government for her research in tracing the fate of more than 2,500 POWs who died in Borneo.
In 2019, Lynette was made a Member of the Order of Australia; with her husband Neil Silver for initiating several philanthropic and educational projects in Sabah to better the life of the localpeople. In 2022, Lynette was made Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), an appointment made by Her Late Majesty the Queen, in recognition of Lynette’s services to British personnel who died in WW2 and their families.
She lives in Sydney and has two children and is the grandmother of three. When not researching and writing Lynette’s time is fully occupied in consultative work with various organisations, raising money for her projects, public speaking, and accompanying tour groups to Singapore and Sabah. When she is ‘retired’, she hopes to take up painting again.
Other books include A Fool’s Gold?, The Battle of Vinegar Hill, Fabulous Furphies, The Heroes of Rimau, Krait the Fishing Boat that went to War, Sandakan: A Conspiracy of Silence, The Bridge at Parit Sulong, Marcel Caux: A Life Unravelled, Blood Brothers, Deadly Secrets: The Singapore raids 1942-45, and In the Mouth of the Tiger co-authored with Derek Emerson-Elliot and Billy: My Life as a Teenage POW co-authored with Billy Young, Angels of Mercy: Far West Far East and At War with My Father.
Sister Bullwinkel The untold, uncensored story by Lynette Ramsay Silver (Sally Milner Publishing) is out now. Rrp: $39.99
Available at all good book stores and online from 01 July 2025
