21 HEARTS: the story of the most incredible woman you’ve probably never heard of

Posted on 21 July, 2025

The story of Vivian Bullwinkey and the Nurses of the Vyner Brooke is the focus of 21 HEARTS, making its way to the Australian War Memorial theatre later this month.

Rebecca Davis is visibly moved as she talks about the audience members who arrive at a performance of 21 HEARTS: Vivian Bullwinkel and the Nurses of the Vyner Brooke clutching old photographs – faded images of themselves receiving nursing awards from Vivian Bullwinkel, or standing beside her at memorial services. Some have kept these pictures for decades, and now they’re bringing them to share with the cast.

“That’s the kind of person she was,” says Rebecca, the actress who portrays Vivian in THEATRE 180’s powerful production. “She was an Australian hero, an icon that we just cannot forget.”

For many Australians, Vivian Bullwinkel’s name might not immediately ring a bell. But her story – one of survival, courage, and a lifetime dedicated to ensuring her fallen colleagues were never forgotten – deserves to be told in every household.

Image of Vivian Bullwinkel and Betty Jeffrey in 1950 from Australian War Memorial

In February 1942, Vivian was one of 65 Australian nurses fleeing Singapore aboard the Vyner Brooke when Japanese bombers sank their ship. After many hours in the water, she was washed up on Radji Beach, where she was one of 22 nurses forced into the ocean and machine-gunned by Japanese troops. Vivian was the sole survivor.

What happened next – three and a half years as a prisoner of war, followed by decades of advocacy to honour her murdered colleagues – is the focus of 21 HEARTS, making its way to the Australian War Memorial theatre later this month.

Image: Theatre 180

For Rebecca, this story began 30 years ago. As a 20-year-old helping with Perth’s 50th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War Two, she found herself interviewing Vivian for the first time.

“It was absolutely life-changing,” she recalls. “We walked away and said, ‘One day, we have to turn her story, the nurses’ story, into a theatre piece.’ But we just didn’t know when the right time would be.”

The stars finally aligned when multiple books about Vivian and the nurses were published simultaneously, Vivien’s statue was unveiled at the Australian War Memorial, and THEATRE180’s artistic director Stuart Halusz had a group of extraordinary female performers ready for a challenging new work.

But 21 HEARTS isn’t just a war story. Writer Jenny Davis was adamant that the production wouldn’t simply remember these women for how they died, but rather celebrate who they were as individuals. “Without giving too much away,” Rebecca explains, “some of the characters of the nurses come back as older women, so we’re talking to them about what they could have become had they survived.”

Image: Theatre 180

The production uses a unique “cine-play” format – a blend of live performance with cinematic elements projected on a large screen behind the actors. It’s an approach that attracts audiences who might never normally attend theatre, creating what Rebecca describes as “a 3D effect of a cinema movie experience, but with actors on stage.”

The response has been overwhelming. Their initial two-week Perth season sold out months in advance, leading to a second season that also sold out immediately. Now on a regional Western Australian tour, they’re selling out venues weeks before arrival, with people flying in from across Australia and even internationally to see the show.

What makes this story particularly resonant is Vivian’s post-war mission. She didn’t simply survive and retreat into private life. Instead, she spent decades fighting for recognition of her colleagues’ bravery. With fellow survivor Betty Jeffrey, she drove throughout Victoria, speaking at every town with a hospital, raising funds for the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre in Melbourne. It was, Rebecca notes, “the biggest crowdfunding campaign of its time.”

Vivian continued this work until her final days, helping establish nursing at university level and working tirelessly to improve conditions for nurses everywhere.

“If it wasn’t for Vivian, I wouldn’t be a nurse today,” is a refrain Rebecca often hears from audience members touched by this remarkable woman.

Image: Theatre 180

Performing this story at the Australian War Memorial feels like the perfect homecoming. Vivian’s nursing uniform – the one she wore during the fall of Singapore, on the Vyner Brooke, and when she was shot – is on display there. The nurses in the camps vowed to wear their uniforms again if they were ever liberated, and that’s exactly what they did – Vivien walked proudly out of the camp in the grey dress bearing the entry and exit holes from the bullet that failed to kill her.

“It is absolutely the place we needed to take it to,” Rebecca says.

In a modern world that has witnessed the dedication of nurses throughout the pandemic, Vivian’s story feels particularly relevant. 21 HEARTS dedicates every performance to nurses, asking them to identify themselves in the audience – and there are always many hands raised.

What Rebecca hopes audiences take away is simple but profound: “The power and the strength of women, particularly in times like this, and the resilience. Out of the adversity of war, as horrific as that is, come extraordinary stories of hope and bravery and courage.”

In remembering these women for who they were and not just for what happened to them, 21 HEARTS pays tribute to their humour, their friendship, and their unbreakable bonds. It’s a story that demands to be witnessed, and one that will leave you understanding why people still carry photographs of Vivian Bullwinkel in their wallets, decades after meeting her.

Some stories change you. This is definitely one of them.