WWII Accounts of Mentok Tragedy Donated to Indonesian Archives

Families connected to victims of the Second World War have formally presented five historically significant books detailing the 1942 Mentok tragedy to the Regional Library of Bangka Barat Regency, Indonesia. This presentation, marking the 84th anniversary of the events, underscores a continuing commitment to historical preservation and cross-cultural dialogue between Indonesia and Australia. The donation ceremony took place on February 16, 2026, with the texts formally accepted by Farouk Yohansyah, the Head of the Bangka Barat Library and Archives Agency, ensuring these primary sources remain accessible for future scholarship and public education.

The collection includes seminal works such as *White Coolies* and *Sister Viv*, which offer firsthand narratives from survivors of the aftermath of the SS Vyner Brooke sinking near Radji Beach. These literary artifacts document the profound suffering endured by Allied military personnel and nursing staff following the initial attack. The *Vyner Brooke*, a British-registered cargo vessel constructed in 1928, had been requisitioned by the Royal Navy and was carrying 65 Australian Army nurses among 181 passengers when Japanese aircraft bombed it on February 14, 1942.

The commemoration focused on the 84-year milestone since Japanese forces executed 50 British soldiers and 22 Australian nurses on Radji Beach following the evacuation from Singapore. Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, born December 18, 1915, in Kapunda, South Australia, emerged as the sole surviving nurse from that specific massacre, having been shot but feigning death. Bullwinkel survived three and a half years in captivity at the Palembang prisoner of war camp after initially hiding with a wounded British private for 12 days.

Yohansyah stated that the acquisition is a profound honor for the institution, emphasizing that the volumes will serve as irreplaceable resources for safeguarding the history of the tragedy, which resulted in the surviving nurses being interned as Prisoners of War across Sumatra. The memoir *White Coolies*, penned by survivor Betty Jeffrey based on a secretly maintained diary, sold over 70,000 copies in Australia. Jeffrey, posted with the 2/10th Australian General Hospital, was among the 32 nurses taken prisoner, eight of whom did not survive the subsequent internment.

The broader context involves the swift Japanese advance through Malaya, which necessitated the evacuation from Singapore. Of the 65 nurses who boarded the *Vyner Brooke*, 12 perished at sea, 21 were killed in the beach massacre, and eight of the 32 internees died in captivity, leaving 24 survivors, including Bullwinkel and Jeffrey, to return to Australia. The donation strengthens the historical record, which is also documented in literature such as Grantlee Kieza's *Sister Viv*, released in 2024, and the narrative that inspired the film *Paradise Road*. The gesture reinforces the library's role in fostering cross-cultural understanding through the sober recounting of shared, difficult history.