The story of Sinterklaas (Sint Nicolaas) is of course well known, there is plenty of information on the internet about this typical Dutch tradition. Although it has changed over the years due to changes in society e.g. the arrival of radio, television, internet as well as an increasingly more multicultural Dutch population, it is still very uniquely Dutch and a mix of the old and the new.
In the DACC archives is a photograph of Sinterklaas celebration at the home of Johanna Stas with Cor Merckx as Sinterklaas. (Cor Mercks a well-known figure in the Dutch community as president of the NSW Klaverjas Federation).
Sinterklaas at the home of the Budde family in Roseville, Sydney, in 1984. Sinterklaas is Peter van Bruinessen en Pieterman is Astrid van Bruinessen.
Hendrik and Johannis Boele grew up in a Sliedrecht family whose life was closely connected with shipping and the river. Their father, Klaas Boele, was a skipper who operated his own vessel, the Cornelia, built Read more
The history of Korevaar Marine Group in Australia began with the organised migration of Dutch dredging workers and their families from Sliedrecht in 1950. Among those families were Teunis Korevaar, his wife Annigje Visser and Read more
Gerrit Goedknegt was born in Vlaardingen on 17 January 1907, the son of Teunis Goedknegt and Gerritje Bal. His childhood was marked by tragedy when his father drowned at sea in 1918, leaving Gerrit fatherless Read more
