A former Australian nurse, now living in New Zealand, has become the first Australian female ex-Prisoner of War to receive an official apology from Japan.

Lorna Johnston, now 96, was captured while working as an Army nurse and held as a prisoner of war for three years from 1942.

Then Lorna Whyte, she trained as a nurse before joining the Army in 1941 and was one of six nurses sent to Rabaul, on the island of New Britain in New Guinea, where she worked at a military hospital before the fall of Rabaul.

The Japanese captured and transported three groups of Australian civilian, missionary and Army nurses on January 23, 1942, before transporting them on the Naruto Maru to Japan in July 1942.

The nurses were imprisoned at the Yokohama Boat Club for 18 months, where they endured horrific conditions before finally being rescued by American troops after Japan surrendered in August 1945.

Ms Johnston, originally from Hay in New South Wales, moved to New Zealand in 1948 and later married. She now lives in the Auckland coastal suburb of Kohimarama.

Her inspiring story of survival, and that of Catholic nun Sister Berenice Twohill, was showcased in the 2010 telemovie Sisters of War, in which Ms Johnston makes a guest appearance.

The Japanese Government invited Ms Johnston to return to Japan as part of an ex-POW program.

According to media reports, Ms Johnston met with Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba on November 29, who offered her an official apology.

“Minister Gemba expressed deep remorse and a heartfelt apology anew…for causing tremendous damage and suffering ,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.