Bernardus Johannes Meertens was born in Kruiningen, Zeeland, on 29 April 1920. He was the son of Leendert Jacobus Meertens and Geertruid Elsman.
On 22 June 1950, Bernardus departed from Schiphol aboard the first KLM flight carrying Dutch workers associated with the organised dredging project in Australia. He occupied seat G2 and arrived in Sydney on 27 June.
Bernardus was married to Dana Anna Geervliet, who was born around 1923. She was the daughter of Willem Geervliet, a skipper born in Bergen op Zoom, and Jannetje Tannetje van Vijven, who had been born in Papendrecht. Shortly before emigrating, Dana lived in Dordrecht.
Unlike Bernardus, Dana travelled to Australia by sea. She arrived in Melbourne aboard the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt on 8 October 1950 and was reunited with her husband several months after his arrival. Dana subsequently returned briefly to the Netherlands and arrived back in Sydney by air on 24 March 1951.
Bernardus and Dana had two children in Australia, Diana and John. The family established a new life there while retaining connections with the Dutch places from which their families originated.
Bernardus died in Merewether, New South Wales, sometime before 2016. Dana died in Mirboo North, Victoria, on 10 October 2016, aged 90.
Their experiences illustrate how post-war family migration did not always take place in a single journey. Bernardus travelled ahead by air, Dana followed by sea, and their subsequent lives connected Zeeland, Dordrecht, Sydney, Melbourne and regional Australia.
This account is based on family-history and migration research undertaken by Fred Stuij. Documents and photograph: National Archives of Australia.
For the wider history of this organised migration project, see From Sliedrecht to Williamstown: Dutch dredging workers in post-war Australia.
More related company histories, archival sources and personal stories are available through the Dutch Dredging in Australia Research Portal.
