Teunis Cornelis Paans, generally known as Toon, was born in Nijmegen on 20 January 1918 aboard his parents’ vessel. His father, Cornelis Adrianus Paans, was a skipper and engineer, and Toon grew up within the Dutch inland-shipping community. He later worked as a mechanic.
Following an earlier marriage to Tonnie Krol, with whom he had two children, Toon married Lena Geertruida van Loon in Utrecht on 5 July 1945. Toon and Lena had two further children, creating a family of six.
In 1959, Toon, Lena and the four children emigrated to Australia aboard the migrant ship SS Zuiderkruis. Australian archival records identify Toon as an engineer and record the family’s arrival in Sydney on 25 November 1959.
The family subsequently settled in South Australia. Toon died at Mount Barker in 2008, aged ninety, while Lena died in Adelaide in 2011.
Ships formed a remarkable thread through Toon Paans’ life. He was born aboard his parents’ vessel, grew up in a skipper’s family and, more than forty years later, crossed the world by ship with his own family to establish a new life in Australia.
The following account is based on family-history and migration research undertaken by Fred Stuy.
Read the broader story of the organised 1950 migration in From Sliedrecht to Williamstown: Dutch dredging workers in post-war Australia.
For related company histories, migration accounts and personal stories, visit the Dutch Dredging in Australia Research Portal.
