The following is an English translation of the original Dutch account. The complete Dutch document is attached below.
Kuindert Ruis, who was also known within the family as Kuin Ruis, was born in Sliedrecht on 7 November 1908. He was the son of Willem Johannes Ruis (1880–1962) and Aagje Cornelia Ruis-van der Graaf. His father worked as a stoker.
The family lived in Sliedrecht, initially at Wijk D 319. Following a later renumbering of the addresses, this became Wijk D 288.
Kuindert grew up in a family of eight children. His immediate family included his sister Maartje Ruis.
Marriage and family
On 21 July 1934, Kuindert married Annigje Cornelia Baan in Sliedrecht. Annigje had been born in Rotterdam on 7 November 1910.
The couple lived at several addresses in Sliedrecht. They initially resided at Wijk C 515. This address was later changed to Wijk D 273 and subsequently renumbered as Wijk D 603. During a later period, Kuindert and Annigje lived at 15 Molenstraat in Sliedrecht.
Their son, Maarten Ruis, was born in Sliedrecht on 2 May 1938. The family subsequently suffered a great tragedy when Maarten died in Sliedrecht on 1 January 1945, while still a young child.
Journey to Australia
Kuindert worked as a stoker and belonged to the group of dredging workers from Sliedrecht who travelled to Australia in 1950 to undertake dredging work. According to the available family information, approximately one hundred dredging workers travelled to Australia by air.
His departure meant that he was temporarily separated from his family. His wife, Annigje Baan, later followed him to Australia by ship, accompanied by Kuindert’s mother, Aagje Cornelia Ruis-van der Graaf, and his sister, Maartje Ruis.
Photograph caption in the Dutch article: On the way to Australia, 22 June 1950. Kuindert Ruis is third from the left.
Kuindert’s journey forms part of the broader history of Sliedrecht’s dredging community. During the twentieth century, Sliedrecht had a strong dredging tradition, and many of its residents found employment on projects outside the Netherlands.
The journey undertaken by Kuindert and his family to Australia was part of this international expansion of the Sliedrecht dredging industry.
Illustration caption in the Dutch article: Certificate presented to Kuindert Ruis for crossing the Equator.
His final years
Following his working life, Kuindert remained connected with Sliedrecht. He died there on 17 December 1977. His wife, Annigje Cornelia Baan, died in Sliedrecht on 1 July 2000.
Kuindert Ruis belonged to a generation of people from Sliedrecht whose working lives extended far beyond their home town and who participated in the internationally oriented Dutch dredging industry.
His life story connects the everyday experiences of a Sliedrecht family with the remarkable history of Dutch dredging and the movement of Dutch workers to Australia in the years following the Second World War.
Source of family information: Family recollections and family photographs made available for this research.
Photographs: Courtesy of Alie Ruis-Brandwijk, Sliedrecht.
Acknowledgement: This account was supplied through the Historische Vereniging Sliedrecht as part of its research into the Dutch dredging workers and their families who travelled to Australia in 1950. The complete original Dutch account is attached.
