Cornelis Adrianus Verhoef and Marinus Verhoef were among the Dutch workers who travelled to Australia in 1950 in connection with the major post-war dredging project at Williamstown. The wider history of the project and the men recruited for it is described in From Sliedrecht to Williamstown: Dutch dredging workers in post-war Australia.
Cornelis Adrianus Verhoef
Cornelis Adrianus Verhoef was born in Sliedrecht on 29 July 1922. He was the son of Willem Verhoef (1882–1955), who worked as a stoker, and Lijntje Boulonois (1884–1958). The family lived at 5 Noorderstraat in Sliedrecht.
Cornelis travelled aboard the KLM aircraft Groningen from Amsterdam to Melbourne. The flight departed on 22 June 1950, and his seat number was D1.
Marinus Verhoef
Travelling beside Cornelis was his relative Marinus Verhoef. Marinus was born in Sliedrecht on 28 December 1928 and died in Australia on 20 April 2004.
He was the son of Dirk Verhoef (1897–1972) and Aartje Vermeulen (1897–1994). The family lived at several addresses in districts D and A in Sliedrecht. Their final recorded address there was 25 Hugo de Grootstraat.
The available family information indicates that Cornelis and Marinus belonged to different branches of the same Verhoef family. Their fathers descended from two sons of Willem Verhoef (1828–1907) and Neeltje van Hofwegen (1828–1913).
No information about a wife or subsequent family has yet been located for either man.
This account was supplied by the Historische Vereniging Sliedrecht as part of its research into the Dutch dredging workers who travelled to Australia in 1950. Further information from descendants or others who knew the two men would be very welcome.
