On ANZAC Day, few Australians would realize just how many small, but significant, services are conducted overseas in a country such as Indonesia.

In the true spirit of ANZAC, Australians, New Zealanders and others, commemorated the spirit born during the landings at Gallipoli in 1915 across this Asian archipelago. There were ADF representation at services in Jakarta, Balikpapan, Bangka Island, Bandung, Denpasar and Surabaya. Sadly, due to the ongoing unrest, no service was held at Ambon Island this year.

The Jakarta service saw some 150 people join together at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, which holds 1200 remains of those who have fallen across Java. Balikpapan and Surabaya were sites of major battles during the war and the subsequent struggle for independence by the Indonesian nation.

While a small group of Australians gathered at Mentok, Bangka Island to conduct an ANZAC Day service at a memorial few people knew existed. The memorial commemorates the Australian Army Nurses who died at the hands of the Japanese during World War II on Bangka Island and Sumatra.

In February 1942, 65 nurses were evacuated aboard the SS Viner Brooke. Their ship was bombed and sunk by enemy aircraft, 12 drowned with the surviving nurses struggling to make it to the shores of Bangka Island. One group came ashore and was forced to surrender to the Japanese. They were ordered to walk into the sea where they were shot. Sister Vivian Bullwinkel survived the massacre and spent the next three-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war. Only 24 of the original 65 nurses returned home to Australia.

This memorial is located against a backdrop of four sunken vessels (around 60 were sunk in Bangka Straight) washed ashore more than 50 years ago.

By FSGT Julie Willes