Australian War Memorial unveils Vivian Bullwinkel statue with help of Australian College of Nursing Foundation

For artist Charles Robb during the installation of the new sculpture of Australian Army nurse Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel at the Australian War Memorial, it was a mix of satisfaction of seeing his artwork craned into place after years of work, and anxiety that it does the subject - and history - justice.

"I think artists tend to probably be their harshest critics," Robb said.

"There's also something about a memorial sculpture, though. Unlike maybe an ordinary sculpture ... there's a poignancy to that because it's a memorial. It's there to be in the public realm, and bearing testimony to, in this case, nurse Bullwinkel.

"So there's always a poignancy, and I enjoy reflecting on that because you realise at that point, it's passing from your hands as the artist over to the public or the institution. And that's a wonderful thing."

The statue, which was unveiled on Wednesday, has been a long-time coming, and made possible through a collaboration between the memorial and the Australian College of Nursing Foundation, which fundraised for the statue.

READ MORE:

Colonel Bullwinkel, who died in 2000, is among the most well-known nurse veterans to have served Australia in World War II.

Still many, including Robb, don't know anything about her story. This is why, when Robb was preparing his initial design pitch, he spent most of his time reading all he could about her.

"The thing that struck me through that process was how I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard about this really important and significant figure," Robb said.

"And that was also emphasised or doubled because as I would go into the world telling people I was working on this commission, and so many people, particularly anyone who had anything to do with the nursing profession, were full of immediate recognition and immediate affection, and awe.

"I realised that she garnered this incredible sense of love, admiration, and profound respect from anyone who had anything to do with the nursing profession in the post-war period up until more recently. That was quite a revelation to me."

Colonel Bullwinkel volunteered and served in World War II, where in February 1942 she and other nurses escaped Singapore by boat before it fell to Japanese forces.

However, their ship was sunk by Japanese aircraft, and the nurses and a large group of men, women, and children made it ashore at Bangka Island. As a group left to find someone to surrender to, the nurses, including Colonel Bullwinkel, stayed behind to tend to the wounded.

On the night of February 16, 1942, Japanese soldiers found and massacred the group. It was then that Colonel Bullwinkel was struck by a bullet and pretended to be dead, before realising she was the sole survivor. After hiding with a wounded soldier for 12 days, she surrendered and spent three-and-half years in captivity.

Robb's statue includes 22 stainless steel discs arranged at the base of the sculpture to represent those who died during the massacre and also, as a reflection of the stars that would have been visible in the night sky on February 16, 1942.

"It's always about finding that balance with these works. Ultimately, the thing needs to function as a portrait of a woman, of a person who was in the world. And so you want to hope that thing captures the likeness, but also something of the way she carries herself as a public figure too," he said.

"When you're working in public statuary like this, as a public portrait sculpture, my focus tends to be on the person's persona, their public persona, rather than anything more private than that, which is probably the domain of painting or some other medium, maybe, or a different type of sculpture. And so, in this instance, the thing that came through strongly through her life story, but also through the stories that people told about her, was her warmth, but also her incredible strength of character - she was a formidable boss and very exacting, but also capable, extremely generous, extremely loving, and kind.

"She would remember nurses that she trained decades later, and would remember details about their lives, that stayed with her as well, and so she had this incredible humanity as well through that."