Vin hits the right note to capture the Anzac spirit in song
Vin Healy is a master songwriter and teacher who honours veterans with works that tell the stories of Australia’s brave and fallen.
On 13 March, in the lead up to Anzac Day he released a new song, Sister Ella Tucker, that pays tribute to the service of Australian nurse Ella Tucker on board the Hospital Ship Gascon off Anzac Cove during the Gallipoli campaign.
Ella, from Scottsdale Tasmania, enlisted into the Australian Army Nursing Service in November 1914 and at the age of 28 soon found herself an eyewitness to the horrors of the campaign as she tended the wounded.
In her diary of 25 of April 2015 she wrote:
Red Letter Day. Shells busting all around, we are off Gaba Tepe. The soldiers have commenced to land, there are Men of War and Transport Boats in every direction around us. The wounded commence to come on board about 9 am. Four die in the first boat that comes over, the patients just pour into the wards.
For her service, she was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class on 5June 1917 by King George V at Buckingham Place.
In writing about Ella, Vin said he wanted the next generation to learn that war affects all and it is not just about the “young men” dying in battle.
‘Not much is written about the nursing sisters who sacrificed so much,’ Vin said.
‘It was the diary entries of Sister Ella Tucker that struck my attention and inspired the song.
‘The final message of the song is that “life can be unfair”… a simple recognition that some generations can sacrifice so much while others live in relative peace. The sacrifice of our nurses during war cannot be forgotten.’
The song is performed with local musician Matiss Schubert and produced by Zac Schubert–Youston. The video incorporates the artwork of award-winning Sydney artist Sue MacLeod Beere and includes a photo of emerging actress Amber Liddicoat as the “Gallipoli Backpacker” mentioned in the third verse.
Vin will perform the song and other compositions in a concert at Villers Bretonneux, France, after the town service on Anzac Day.
Vin, whose father served in Papua New Guinea during the Second World War, has also written songs about Kokoda (Big Haired Angel) and Long Tan (The Mist of Long Tan and The Long Tan Cross).