Courage Be My Friend: The Vivian Bullwinkel Story

Sister Vivian Bullwinkel was the only survivor of the Bangka Island massacre during World War II. Her evocative story is told through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Edith ’ Edie’ Kenneison. Sister Bullwinkel enlisted in the Australian Army Nurse Service at the outbreak of World War II and was posted to Singapore. In February 1942, she and hundreds of others attempted to escape the advancing Japanese army but was captured and held as a prisoner of war. Vivian spent the next three years in captivity, working tirelessly to help her fellow prisoners. One of those prisoners was young Edie. Their remarkable friendship would help them survive and became the basis of a lifelong bond.

Born in Surrey, England, Jenny Davis lives in Perth with her husband and has had a forty-year career in theatre in Australia, appearing in many leading roles for all the major theatre companies in Perth, and has also toured around Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. She has worked to bring generations together, inspired by the seniors in her life and her own children and grandchildren.