HISTORICAL CONTEXT

‘THE SHOEHORN SONATA’

By: Tazdaz Teaching

World War II

The play ‘The Shoe-horn Sonata’ is heavily based on the real-life experiences of Australian nurses who were taken as POWs (Prisoners of war) by the Japanese Army after the fall of Singapore in l942.

https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/nurses/ww2/

Facts about WWII in the Pacific

The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and

the Pacific and was already at war with the

Republic of China in 1937.

WWII is said to have begun on the 1st September

1939.

The war lasted from 1939 – 1945.

It was the most widespread war in history and

directly involved more than 100 million people from

over 30 countries.

A crash course on Women in WWII

Nursing Services

From the beginning of WWII:

AANS – Australian Army Nursing Service

From 1940:

RAAFNS – The Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service

From 1942:

RANNS – Royal Australian Navy Nursing Service

Nurses in captivity

The truth

When the Japanese captured Rabaul, New Britain, in January 1942, six AANS nurses were taken prisoner. After six months’ internment at a mission hospital at Vunapope, they were moved to Japan, where they remained in various camps till after the war’s end.

A month later, as Japanese soldiers advanced towards Singapore, the Australian nurses in the region were ordered to evacuate. Seventy-two nurses embarked with hundreds of patients and civilians aboard the Empire Star and the Wah Sui. They finally made it back to Australia, having suffered heavy bombardment on the way.

Not so fortunate were the 65 nurses, evacuated, along with many civilian women and children, on the SS Vyner Brooke. Twelve lost their lives when the ship was sunk, and 21 of the survivors were executed on Banka Island; the remaining 32 became prisoners of war. The captured nurses hoped their non-combatant status, symbolised by their now tattered uniforms, would protect them. It did not. For the next three and a half years, they were kept as prisoners under appalling conditions. Eight died in captivity.

https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/nurses/ww2/

Pictures

Three women who suffered different fates at the hands of the Japanese in 1942.

...

After their release. Nurses who had survived the sunken ship and the Japanese camps.

Prison camp life in Sumatra:

Sister Betty Jeffrey

The Australian survivors of the Vyner Brooke sinking

were sent to Palembang camp on the island of Sumatra, where they joined 300 other women and children captured after the fall of Singapore.

During the early days of their captivity, the nurses kept busy with educational activities and musical concerts. However, conditions worsened with each transfer to a new camp. Food and medical supplies were hopelessly inadequate, and the death toll rose.

Throughout this ordeal, Sister Betty Jeffrey kept a secret diary, later published as White coolies (1954). In her diary Jeffrey recorded the physical and mental battle for survival, the unrelenting obsession with food, the death of friends, and the fading of hope.

Inspiration for Misto

It was stories such as those recorded by Jeffrey which led to the detailed play written by Misto.

Misto believed that the women

of war should also be recognised

(as well as men) for their efforts

and their suffering in war time and

fought to have a memorial erected

in their honour.

Resources

https://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/nurses/ww2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-

2591309983/women-pows-sumatra-

19421945.html