The story of Jan (Johannes Wilhelmus Theodorus) and Toos (Catharina) Janssen is a vivid reflection of the Dutch migrant experience in Australia after the Second World War. Together, their recollections offer a rare and intimate portrait of growing up in the Netherlands during the turbulent 1930s and 1940s, the challenges of emigration, and the building of a new life in Australia.
The three pdf below tell the stories related to this emigration.
Toos’s memoir, From Tulips to Gumtrees: Chapters of My Life, traces her journey from a bustling, music-filled household of thirteen children in Leeuwarden, through wartime hardships, and eventually to the joys and struggles of establishing a home and family in Australia. Her recollections capture the resilience, warmth, and humour that defined her life across continents.
Jan’s life story, Een Ongekend Leven – A Life Untold, complements Toos’s narrative with a perspective shaped by his upbringing in Eindhoven, his wartime memories, and a remarkable career in technical and information technology fields in Australia. His account of migration in 1951 under the Netherlands–Australia Migration Agreement shows both the courage and uncertainty of leaving one’s homeland for an unknown future.
Jan’s arrival in Sydney
The final document below is the archival record of Jan’s immigration, preserved in the National Archives of Australia, provides the official framework behind these personal stories. It documents the practical steps of postwar migration: medical checks, travel arrangements, and settlement procedures that underpinned the broader Dutch-Australian migration story.
Together, these three sources offer a rich narrative tapestry of memory and history—personal reflections grounded in family heritage and national archival records—illustrating how Dutch migrants like Jan and Toos Janssen became part of Australia’s postwar social fabric.
