Colin Burgess

 Sisters in Captivity

by

Colin Burgess

The incredible account of Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the Australian war nurses who survived the bombing of evacuation ship SS Vyner Brooke in February 1942, and subsequently spent three years in Japanese prison camps in Sumatra.

During those perilous years surviving in squalid conditions, Sister Jeffrey kept a secret diary of day-to-day events which, after the war, was turned into a hugely successful book and radio serial: White Coolies. She would often write of the powerful sisterhood that evolved as the prisoners of war took strength from each other, even forming a vocal orchestra. White Coolies was a major inspiration for the 1997 film Paradise Road.

Sisters in Captivity builds on those diaries to not only re-live the years the nurses spent as POWs but also recounts the early life and influences that encouraged Betty Jeffrey into the field of nursing as a lifelong endeavour. A tireless advocate for returned nurses, she co-founded the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre with sole survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, fellow POW, and her longtime friend Vivian Bullwinkel.

Featuring 32 pages of photos including personal mementos of Betty Jeffrey, courtesy of her family, and her drawings from the prison camps, this is a powerful account of women’s resilience amidst the devastating brutality of war.

I bought this book some time ago, started it, and for reasons I can’t even remember, set it aside. When I finally picked it up again, I immediately wished I hadn’t waited. This is a tragic and deeply moving account—not only of Betty Jeffrey, but of a group of nurses who served in World War II. From the sinking of the Vyner Brooke to the massacre on Radji Beach and the brutal years in captivity that followed, Colin Burgess has crafted a powerful and fitting tribute to a group of extraordinarily determined women. Nurses who watched their friends die around them, powerless to intervene.

One of the most heartbreaking moments is a simple black‑and‑white photograph of eight nurses from the same unit—only one of whom would ever return home.

Yet even after surviving the horrors of war, Betty Jeffrey and her friend Vivian Bullwinkel—the sole survivor of Radji Beach—went on to achieve remarkable things in both their lives and their profession.

I’ve read accounts of POWs before, but nothing has ever struck me as deeply as this.

5/5 plus more.