Vivian Bullwinkel (left) and Betty Jeffrey (right)
The Australian Nurses Memorial Centre will hold its ANZAC Commemorative Service on Sunday 21 April 2024 to honour all nurses, past and present, who have given their lives for their country.
The service will commence at 2pm at the memorial to nurses, located at 431 St Kilda Road, Fawkner Towers forecourts, and will feature a wreath-laying ceremony, a catafalque party, bugler, piper and the Keytone Choir.
Following the service, Dr Stephanie Sprogris, the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre 2021 Vivian Bullwinkel Scholar, will present a talk followed by afternoon tea.
Dr Sprogris is an ICU nurse and research fellow in the Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research – Eastern Health Partnership. Her research interests are patient safety with a focus on clinical deterioration and workforce development of specialist critical care nurses.
Register for the service at australiannursesmemorialcentre.org.au.
The Australian Nurses Memorial Centre
The Australian Nurses Memorial Centre (ANMC) was founded by nurses Betty Jeffrey and Vivian Bullwinkel. Bullwinkel was the only survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre that saw 21 of her fellow WWII nurses gunned down. Following the massacre, she ended up in a prisoner of war camp for over three years.
The Centre is a ‘living memorial’ to the heroism and sacrifice of the 77 Australian nurses who died in WWII, or who survived years in prisoner-of-war camps during that time. It honours their sacrifices not just by remembering but by continuing the ongoing professional development of nurses through education.
To this end, the centre offers postgraduate education scholarships to nurses and midwives annually. These scholarships are the:
- $20,000 ANMC Vivian Bullwinkel Award
- $15,000 ANMC Betty Jeffrey Award
- $5000 ANMC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurse/Midwife Scholarship
- $5000 ANMC Mental Health Scholarship
- $5000 ANMC Commemorative Scholarship
In addition to the above ANMC scholarships, the centre also administers or collaborates on the following scholarships:
Rosemary Norman Foundation grants
- The ‘Babe’ Norman Scholarship ($40,000 per annum for three years) for nurses or midwives undertaking a full-time clinical research doctorate at an Australian university
- Rosemary Norman Research Grants (ranging from $10,000 to $40,000), providing opportunities for applicants in the later stages of their PhD or who are undertaking other nursing or midwifery postgraduate courses.
Other scholarships and grants
- The Beth Cuthbertson Scholarship ($10,000) for nurses or midwives practising in regional or rural Victoria
- The Prince Henry’s Affiliates Scholarship ($5000) for nurses undertaking further qualifications in patient-centred acute care nursing
- The Michael Dent Scholarship ($5000) for a nurse or midwife practising in Victoria
- And, in collaboration with the Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women, scholarships for nurses undertaking postgraduate study involving care of the older person or palliative care ($5000)
Visit australiannursesmemorialcentre.org.au for details.
