Jan (John) Mees, a longstanding volunteer and representative of the Dutch-Australian community in New South Wales, passed away at Abel Tasman Village on 1 August 2026, aged 97.
Born in Amersfoort in the Netherlands on 10 December 1928, Jan subsequently made his home in Australia. He lived for many years in Earlwood in Sydney and, in July 2022, moved to Abel Tasman Village at Chester Hill.
Jan devoted a significant part of his life to supporting Dutch community organisations. He was a longstanding member of the Dutch Society Concordia in Newcastle and the Hunter region, serving for many years as its treasurer. He was subsequently made a life member of the society in recognition of his contribution.
Representing Concordia and the Dutch community
Jan also represented Concordia within the Federation of Netherlands Societies in New South Wales. In this role, he helped maintain the connection between the Newcastle and Hunter Dutch community and the wider network of Dutch organisations across the state.
Federation records show Jan reporting on Concordia’s activities and keeping other organisations informed about its functions, membership and community life. His work formed part of the less visible but essential administration through which Dutch clubs remained connected and continued to support their members.
For the postwar generation of Dutch migrants, organisations such as Concordia offered much more than social activities. They provided friendship, familiarity and mutual support while migrants established new lives in Australia. Volunteers such as Jan helped these organisations survive as their members grew older and the Dutch-Australian community changed.
Preserving Dutch culture and heritage
Jan was also involved with the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre. He served as a DACC board member and continued to assist the organisation as a volunteer. DACC newsletters from the 2010s record him among those responsible for supporting the Centre’s work of collecting and preserving the history of Dutch migration and community life in Australia.
His involvement extended beyond administration. Jan participated in Dutch cultural traditions and appeared as Sinterklaas at community celebrations. A photograph preserved in the DACC collection shows Jan in this role, while a Dutch-language account written by him in 1994 records a Sinterklaas celebration in Newcastle.
These activities may have appeared modest individually, but together they helped pass Dutch traditions to children and families in Australia. They also created the photographs, newsletters, reports and personal memories that now form part of the historical record of Dutch community life.
A quiet and enduring contribution
Jan belonged to a generation of volunteers whose sustained work provided the foundations for many Dutch-Australian organisations. Through his service to Concordia, the Federation of Netherlands Societies and the DACC, he helped connect local community life with the broader effort to preserve Dutch heritage in Australia.
By the end of his life, Jan was Concordia’s oldest member. More importantly, he was remembered as a highly valued life member who had given many years of loyal service to the organisation and to the Dutch community well beyond Newcastle.
As Concordia expressed it in announcing his passing:
“It’s hard to forget someone who gave us so much to remember.”
Jan Mees leaves an enduring place in the history of Concordia and in the wider story of Dutch community life in New South Wales.
Further research into Jan’s migration, family and working life is continuing. Additional information and personal recollections will be added to this record when they become available.
Sources
- Dutch Society Concordia, announcement of the passing of Jan Mees, August 2026.
- Concordia newsletters and committee records.
- Federation of Netherlands Societies in New South Wales, meeting reports.
- Dutch Australian Cultural Centre newsletters and organisational records.
- Jan Mees, “Sinterklaas in Newcastle”, 1994.
- Dutch Australian Cultural Centre, collection of Sinterklaas celebrations at Dutch clubs in Australia.
