Introduction

Sisters of War is a telemovie based on the true story of two Australian women, Lorna Whyte, an army nurse and Sister Berenice Twohill, a Catholic nun from New South Wales who survived as prisoners of war in Papua New Guinea during World War II.

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Outline

In January 1942, the Japanese war machine thundered across South East Asia. In its path lay a tiny Catholic mission station, Vunapope, on the island of New Britain. Here a handful of Australian nurses, led by Matron Kay Parker took refuge along with a number of wounded Australian soldiers. Abandoned by their commanding officers, they were left to face the Japanese alone.

When the Japanese arrived at Vunapope, the nurses and their patients were saved from massacre by the mission’s leader, Polish-born Bishop Leo Scharmach. This astonishing man bluffed the Japanese into believing that he was a personal friend of Hitler and that the mission was Hitler’s property.

In the dark days that followed, Sister Berenice and Lorna found themselves facing starvation, beatings and torture. Their beliefs were constantly tested, as was their friendship. Sister Berenice idolised Bishop Scharmach: Lorna was convinced he was a collaborator. The tiny mission became a setting for betrayal, heroism and death. And all the normal rules of war were broken. After six months, Lorna and Sister Berenice were separated.

The Australian nurses were sent to Yokohama as part of a prisoner exchange. But the exchange programme collapsed and the nurses found themselves trapped in wartime Japan, freezing and ravaged by disease. At the same time Sister Berenice, Bishop Scharmach and the nuns were taken to a dark, uninhabited jungle valley where they would be safe from air raids. Two nurses, Lorna and one unnamed nurse tried hiding out inside an air vent after soldiers took the camp. She crawled out and was surprised to see an Australian mam and she cried for the first time in 6 months

Years later she returns to the convent where she reignites her friendship with the nun she left behind (who for years thought she was killed).

Cast

• Claire van der Boom as Sister Berenice Twohill. Born in Murwillumbah, most of her early life was spent at Tumbulgum on the Tweed River. She was the eighth of 11 children with eight brothers and two sisters. Sister Berenice joined the missionary order of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in 1934.
• Sarah Snook as Lorna Whyte. Born in Hay, New South Wales, Whyte was the youngest of eight children. She attended the Hay War Memorial School before training as a nurse at the Corowa Hospital. Joining the army in 1941, she was selected as one of the Australian Army Nursing Service nurses to be part of Lark Force, arriving in Rabaul on 25 April 1941.
• Susie Porter as Kay Parker. Parker was the much-admired matron of the military nurses who were evacuated to the mission at Vunapope when the Japanese invaded Rabaul on 23 January 1942. She showed extraordinary leadership, often standing up to the Japanese to protect the Rabaul women under her care.
• Gerald Lepkowski as Bishop Leo Scharmach. Polish-born, Bishop Leo Scharmach was the charismatic leader of the Catholic Mission at Vunapope, the headquarters of the Sacred Heart Mission which covered New Britain, New Ireland and Manus. In 57 main stations, 60 priests looked after the needs of 60,000 Catholics. Vunapope was the centre of this extensive mission and the Bishop took up residence there in 1939.
• Paulini Curuenavuli as Sister Marie.
• Khan Chittenden as Len.
• Anna Volska as Sister Cordula.

Trivia

• Sisters of War was inspired by real events and based on Rod Miller’s manuscript The Lost Women of Rabaul. At the heart of those events were the stories and experiences of Lorna Johnston and Sister Berenice Twohill.
• It made its debut at the Brisbane International Film Festival on 11 November 2010.
• It premiered on television on 14 November 2010 on Australian channel ABC1.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Brendan Maher.
• Producer(s): Andrew Wiseman.
• Writer(s): John Misto.
• Distributor(s): ABC1.
• Release Date: 14 November 2010.
• Running Time: 95 minutes.
• Country: Australia.
• Language: English.