Back to Bangka: Searching for the truth about a wartime massacre

by Georgina Banks

Bangka Strait, Indonesia, 1942 . Allied ships are evacuating thousands in flight from Singapore, the island having fallen to Japanese Imperial forces. Facing terrifying assaults by fighter planes, one ship, the Vyner Brooke , is badly bombed and sinks. Its survivors swim or paddle for hours to the nearest land, a beach on Bangka Island, parched, many dreadfully injured.

One of the survivors is Australian Army nurse Dorothy ‘Bud’ Elmes, the great-aunt of Georgina Banks. Bud makes it to the island, where she, colleagues and a matron tend to the wounded as a plan is formulated. But it is soon discovered the place is occupied by Japanese forces, and two days later they arrive on the beach.

Seventy-five years on, Georgina receives an invitation to a memorial service for her great-aunt. She knows little of the national history buried in her family but as she retraces Bud’s steps in Indonesia, and then deep in archives back in Australia, she is left making sense of half-truths and confronting the likelihood that she may never know exactly what unfolded on the beach on that devastating day.

Back to Bangka is a deeply moving intergenerational family story; a gripping retelling and investigation of events that throw a spotlight on women in wartime – in their vulnerability and profound strength.

Genres: Nonfiction, Historical

327 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 20, 2023

About the author

First time writer, long time storyteller.
Born in Sydney, Georgina moved to New York at nineteen to study acting at the renowned Neighbourhood Playhouse and then worked as a performer throughout her twenties. Following her interest in what makes people tick, she changed direction and went back to university to study Applied Psychology. In her consulting business, Changeable, Georgina combines her psychology background and facilitation skills to enable meaningful change for individuals, teams and organisations. As a performer, Georgina worked mainly in theatre for companies such as Sydney Theatre Company, Playbox and Theatre South, and in television for shows like 'A Country Practice' and 'Outback'. Now Melbourne based, she has two daughters in their early twenties. When she has time she likes to escape to their block of land near Kyneton with her husband.

Reviews

[Karren Sandercock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allied ships are evacuating thousands of women, children and older people from Singapore, the island is on the brink of falling to the Japanese Imperial forces and why did they leave it so late? The Vyner Brooke is one of the last ships to leave and it's overcrowded, aboard are sixty five Australian nurses who are trying their best to stay calm and help.

Two spotter planes fly over the Vyner Brooke, and it’s just a matter of time before others return, it’s bombed and sinks. The survivors swim and paddle for hours in the ocean, taking turns to rest in the few life rafts that weren't destroyed, they eventually make it to Radji Beach on Bangka Island, Indonesia.

One of the survivors is Australian Army nurse Dorothy ‘Bud’ Elmes, she did her training at Corowa Hospital, New South Wales, and she decided to join up. Bud is a real character, she has an older sister Jean and her mum and dad and she has funny nicknames for them all. Bud is sporty, she likes to play tennis in her spare time, she’s strong and dependable.

Bud and her colleagues and Matron Irene Drummond tend to the wounded, gather wood for a fire and try to work out what they should do next. A group of women and children set off on foot for Muntok, they don’t have a lot of choice, and two days later the Japanese soldiers arrive at the beach.

Georgina Banks is the great-niece of Bud, as a child she remembers seeing a photo of an army nurse and she’s knows very little about her great-aunt Bud. Seventy-five later, Georgina receives an invitation to a memorial service for her great-aunt and her husband encourages her to attend. Georgina retraces Bud’s footsteps in Indonesia, she arrives back in Australia with a sense she doesn’t really know what happened to Bud and her fellow nurses on the sixteenth of February 1942.

Back to Bangka is a moving and very emotional inter-generational family story; the facts about the Vyner Brooke leaving Singapore, the ship being sunk, and the survivors making it to Radji Beach on Bangka Island is all well documented and it’s what happened afterwards that Georgina wants to uncover.

So many unanswered questions, one person who knew what occurred was Lieutenant Vivian Bullwinkle, she survived the atrocity, gave evidence at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in 1947 and did the Australian government make her keep somethings a secret from the public?

A fascinating and well written biography, it included letters from Bud, family photographs and the telegrams sent to her parents, a sad chapter in Australian wartime history, I will never forget the bravery and sacrifice of Dorothy Elmes, and her fellow nurses and five stars from me.

[Miriam Zolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading Back to Bangka on the train home to north east Victoria last night, and sat watching the dark night fly past the windows for the last half hour of the journey, so moved by what I'd read that I wanted to stay in the moment, as long as I could.

Back to Bangka is a story straight out of Australian history, so we know how it ends. But author Georgina Banks has crafted the narrative so deftly that we're keep wondering how it really ends… the drama and suspense are there until the final page, through characters created with empathy and insight.

This poignant story of family tragedy, of sacrifice in war and of caring and compassion, also asks a tough question in piercing ways. Is it necessary to uncover the truth? Even when the truth hurts like hell?

From the first page, I found the book impossible to put down. Congratulations Georgina, on a beautiful and important book!

[Ned Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back to Bangka is a beautiful and surprising book that manages to combine an historical story with a deeply personal contemporary one. The research that has gone into creating this book is quite breathtaking. It is a cleverly written book switching as it does between eras and experiences. Back to Bangka is an important book as it sheds light on a controversial moment in Australian history as well as revealing the long term impact such moments have on future generations.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sister Dorothy Gwendoline Howard Elmes, NFX 70526, 2/10th Australian Hospital Group, was born in Armadale,Melbourne, on 27 April 1914 to Robert Maynard and Dorothy Jean Elmes (nee Howard). She had one elder sister, Beatrice Jean Howard Banks, and was known as Benda or Bud to her family and Buddy to her friends.She spent most of her life in Melbourne and Cheshunt in Victoria’s King Valley. She was the personality of the family, an outgoing, attractive, confident young woman with a quirky sense of humour. She trained as a nurse at Corowa Community Hospital on the banks of the Murray River for 4 years, graduating in May 1939.Dorothy was appointed to the Australian Army Nursing Service in November. She disembarked in Singapore on 18th February 1941. Her last letter to her parents was on 8 February 1942 from “Abroad”. “We have been fairly busy,but on duty over 12 hours a day…. Sorry this is so short, but there is nothing to write about these days”.Bud was evacuated from Singapore on 12 February 1942 on the ‘SS Vyner Brooke’ and, following the sinking of the ship, somehow swam to land. Two days later, on 16th February 1942, she was marched into the water at Radji Beach and executed by the Japanese soldiers with the other nurses, civilians, and military personnel.Her family searched frantically for information,but it was not until June 1944 that the Red Cross advised that “S/Nurse G Elmes is now officially listed as missing believed to have been killed on or after 11/2/42”.
For decades, details that the Japanese troops raped the Australian nurses before they were murdered were suppressed. It was never reported at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in 1947 or any other subsequent post-war re-tellings of the massacre. Evidence that the Australian women had suffered violent sexual assault before their deaths was only reported in 2019 after being uncovered by research.Vivian Bullwinkel said she was told by the authorities to never speak of Bangka.The reactions would be that of relief,shock,upset, anger, betrayal, and frustration.Some might take the view that its better to focus on how they lived,rather than the true circumstances surrounding their deaths.

[Aryani Siti · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a touching story about different generations in a family. It explores the experiences of women during wartime, highlighting both their vulnerabilities and incredible strength.

[Liz Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Georgina has managed to write a tragically harrowing story about a true life event with such emotional tenderness. Her personal journey within the discoveries she encounters with her research helps make this book one you don’t want to put down for long. Without giving too much away, the struggle between exposing hidden tragic truths and telling the story of such bravery and courage of young Australian nurses (one being her great aunt Bud) captured by Japanese soldiers on Bangka Island in WW11, and the moral dilemma the author goes through, is written with immense sensitivity. An amazing book.

[Tricia Voss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read many books about these remarkable women and as always it just makes me incredibly sad. I’m so glad that Georgina has been able to shed some more truths on a terrible moment in history even if it’s hard to hear. I do think at the time it would have been been another stab in the hearts of family members to hear the added horror of what happened to these women. A wonderful but tragic story and tribute. Bud and Sister Ennis have a plaque at the hospital where I work.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading ‘Back To Bangka’. Wow! An incredibly important historical story so beautifully told, with an almost unnerving relevance to today. Brilliant, deep, and inspiring to read, I highly recommend it!!

[Wendy Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing amount of work went into writing this book.Thousands of people, civilians, army personnel including nurses are being evacuated from Japanese invasion of Singapore. The Vyner Brooke is sunk in the Bangka Strait. This concentrates on the army nurse, Dorothy ‘Bud’ Elmer’s by her great niece, Georgina Banks. It starts when Georgina is invited to the 75th memorial service of this happening. It leads to Georgina spending years investigating what really happened to the nurses, including her great aunt. She finds there had been quite an amount of coverup to how they were treated & died. Whether this was to protect the remaining families, or some other reason, still has questions over it.

I score 5 stars 🌟

[Karen Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This family saga reads like a detective story. With astounding tenacity, Georgina digs into and uncovers uncomfortable truths about secrets in her family and the puzzling and conflicting details surrounding the murders of Australian nurses on Bangka Island during WWII. “Does staying silent, protect the victims or the perpetrators?” the author asks, at a time war crimes against women and children continue to occur - in occupied Ukraine, in Sudan and more. This book so aptly demonstrates both the dangers of sanitizing history and the healing bonds that can form between families, and even nations, by exposing the truth.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of this incident from world war 2, so I was glad to learn something new by listening to the audio book. The story is about a great niece who is tracing the story of her great aunt.

I am sad but not surprised that the one surviving witness to this massacre was silenced by the US and Australians governments, even when it came to testifying at the war tribunal. Just another case of governments prolonging and intensifying a persons pain by not allowing them to speak freely. A cover up basically, makes you wonder how many other things have the authorities attempted to hide, during wars, invasions, covid, in psychiatric homes, hospitals, orphanges, churches??

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books are meant to be listened to as an audiobook. I really liked how Georgina split the narration with Jane (whom has such a beautiful voice). Sometimes audiobooks are difficult for me to pay attention or to picture in my mind as I can if I’m reading the book myself - definitely not the case with Back to Bangka. I couldn’t stop listening. Georgina has such a gift and I hope she explores to write and narrate more books in the future.

[Katrina Hac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I heard it as an e-book and it was so evocative of the context during the 2nd world war during the evacuation of Singapore. The interweaving of letters, first person narrative and description of the author's research was wonderful and made this tragic story easy to read. I cried several times but feel like i've learnt so much about what these amazing women endured.

[Jan Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story much previously untold. This haunted me. So many issues that needed such careful consideration from the authors point of view. A very heartfelt reminder of what these women really sacrificed- a must read.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The massacre on Bangka Island of WWII has intrigued me since I first read a small plaque about it in a museum. I'm grateful for authors like Georgina Banks who dedicate years of their lives digging into the archives to bring wartime stories like these to light. 🙌🏼

[christiana colquhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written story of the tragic massacre of our Australian nurses that was carried out by the Japanese in world war 2.

[Mercedes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary story - very moving, can’t believe it’s true, what an extraordinary woman.

[Michelle Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

My timing of reading this is quite uncanny. Such a fascinating read, something i previously had no knowledge of.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a tragic story of cruelty during the war and loss.

[Gina Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and engaging true story that is meticulously researched and powerfully written. Couldn't put it down.

[Caitlyn Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every nurse needs to read and know this story!

Georgina has blessed us with the opportunity to hear and learn about the tragedy of the massacre not only through real excerpts of Bud's letters or the beautiful story-telling of the series of events, thoughts and feelings that may have occured, but in her own journey in searching to know more about Bud and her fellow nurses.

As a Corowa girl, I felt an even more intimate connection to Bud somehow, having been in the same hospital she trained in and walking the streets she would have too.

What an honour it was to read this!

[Katy Sadler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this book, beautifully written by a friend about a horrific event that happened during the war to nurses on Bangka Island one of whom was a relation to her. It’s an important book which if it had not been written I would have had no knowledge about this event. This is why it’s important to have books and movies to tell the stories of those who have gone before us. Well done Georgina.