The following is an English translation of the original Dutch account. The complete Dutch document is attached below.
Jan Willem van Zon was born in Sliedrecht on 7 December 1926. He was the son of Arie van Zon (1893–1956) and Arigje van Noorloos (1893–1938).
Jan Willem travelled to Australia on the flight that departed on 22 July 1950. He arrived in Melbourne on 26 July 1950.
The above is according to the Dutch text. However, the 22 July flight plan terminates in Sydney and appears to carry a handwritten Sydney arrival notation for 27 July. His seat was A2. He may have travelled onward to Melbourne, but that should be distinguished from the KLM flight itself.
His wife, Adriana de Vries, subsequently followed him to Australia. Adriana had been born on 12 December 1930. She travelled by air and arrived in Sydney on 22 May 1952.
Their daughter, Matthijsje Janna Maria van Zon, was born in Geelong, Victoria, on 16 December 1955.
Jan Willem was buried in Sliedrecht on 6 October 1992. Adriana died in Sliedrecht on 7 July 2014.
Photograph caption: Jan Willem van Zon as a young man.
Photograph caption: The gravestone in Sliedrecht.
Further genealogical information is available from Alblasserwaard Genealogy.
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.
For the wider history and related company, project and personal stories, see the Dutch dredging in Australia – Research Portal.
