A nurse who died in the 1942 Bangka Island Massacre on Radji Beach during World War II has inspired a novel and had a Perth park named in her honour.
Minnie Hodgson was among a contingent of nurses who evacuated Singapore on a naval ship but were later bombed, imprisoned and murdered.
The War Nurses, by Minnie’s great-niece Anthea Hodgson, is an historical fiction based on the story of Minnie, who was aged 33 when she was killed, and her nursing colleagues.
After the fall of Singapore, among the hundreds evacuated on the Red Cross ship SS Vyner Brooke, were the last 65 Australian nurses who stayed behind to tend to the wounded. When the naval ship was bombed, 21 of the nurses, including Minnie, were raped and murdered on Bangka Island after surrendering to Japanese forces.
The full details of the massacre were suppressed by the Australian government and the truth was only made public in 2019.
The remaining nurses who survived the sinking of the Vyner Brooke were interned as prisoners of war. Before the war was over, eight more nurses died from the inhumane conditions in the camps.
Anthea said she wrote her novel because she did not think the nurses had been recognised for their bravery, loyalty and sacrifice.
“I had grown up with the family story that my aunt Minnie had died in the Bangka Island Massacre, but it was never regarded as a big deal – she was ‘only a nurse’ and not a soldier on the front lines.”
“I wrote The War Nurses for all the girls, because I wanted to bring them to life again.”
Since the book was released, a community park in West Leederville has been named in Minnie’s honour.
The move to rename the park on the corner of Woolwich and McCourt streets was put forward by the Town of Cambridge’s Deputy Mayor Kate Barlow at a council meeting last August.
Born in 1908, Minnie grew up in the area, living in Tate Street, Leederville (as it was then) and attended Presbyterian Ladies College.