Following the rapid collapse of the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) in early 1942, a significant number of Dutch military units, merchant ships, civil servants, and business leaders managed to escape to Australia. The resulting concentration of Dutch assets in Australia formed the backbone of the Netherlands’ wartime presence in the Pacific and laid the foundation for the NEI Government-in-Exile. This article offers a snapshot of the Dutch military and civilian inventory present in Australia by March 1942.
Army
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) presence in Australia was relatively modest, but included valuable technical and staff personnel. Approximately 200–300 officers and enlisted men had made their way from Java and other islands before Japanese occupation. Key units included:
- KNIL engineering and signals personnel, some of whom were redirected from Java via Darwin or air evacuation
- Former artillery and infantry officers reassigned to staff functions in Melbourne and Brisbane
- Medical personnel, including surgeons and field hospital staff, who later assisted both Dutch and Allied evacuees
In addition, KNIL troops who remained behind in the Indies—particularly on Timor and in Dutch New Guinea—formed active guerrilla resistance forces. The most notable of these was the group that fought alongside Australian Sparrow Force on Timor, maintaining contact with Australia until early 1943.
Navy
The Royal Netherlands Navy (KM) was the most substantial Dutch military force relocated to Australia. After the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea, surviving ships were diverted to Australian ports, particularly Fremantle and Sydney. As of March 1942, the following vessels and naval assets had arrived:
- Light cruisers: HNLMS Tromp (damaged but operational)
- Destroyers: HNLMS Van Nes, HNLMS Witte de With (only briefly before being lost), others lost en route
- Submarines: Several K-class submarines reached Fremantle, including K IX and K XII
- Minesweepers and support craft: including the Abraham Crijnssen, famous for escaping disguised as an island
Naval personnel also formed the basis of a new Marine Armoured Battalion. This unit, initially assembled in Australia, was later transferred to the United States and expanded into the Mariniersbrigade—a Dutch amphibious force trained in Camp Lejeune and Camp Davis in North Carolina.
Air Force
The Royal Netherlands Military Aviation Service (ML-KNIL) suffered heavy losses in the NEI, but several aircraft and crews escaped to Australia via Darwin and Broome. As of March 1942, 39 aircraft had been recorded in Australia these are some of the ones:
- 1 Do 24 flying boat (X-20) damaged in Broome
- 1 DC-3 Dakota transport (PK-ALW)
- 1 Lodestar transport aircraft
- 1 Glenn Martin 139 bomber
- 2 Catalina flying boats evacuated from Ambon (X-18 and X-24)
- Various airplanes on board of ship that were later assembled in Australia
- B25 bombers on order from the USA, delivered shortly after the Fall of NEI
These aircraft and their crews were later incorporated into joint Dutch-Australian air operations. Dutch pilots also flew missions from bases in Queensland and Western Australia throughout 1942 and 1943.
Merchant fleet
A major component of the Dutch escape was the merchant fleet. By March 1942, at least 27 Dutch KPM (Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij) and SMN (Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland) ships had reached Australia, often rerouted while at sea. Confirmed vessels include:
- Bantam
- Bontekoe
- Van Heutsz
- Van Heemskerk
- Generaal Verspijck
- Zaandam
- Marella
- Mongola
These ships were later incorporated into the Netherlands Indies Government Shipping Service (NIGSS) and played key roles in Allied supply operations, including Convoy ZK8 and Operation Lilliput.
Civilian and administrative personnel
Several prominent NEI government officials and business leaders evacuated to Australia by ship or air in early March 1942. Notable evacuees include:
- Hubertus J. van Mook, former Lieutenant Governor-General designate
- Charles van der Plas, Vice-Governor of East Java
- J. J. A. Spoor, Dutch military staff officer and future commander of Dutch forces
- J. A. S. Hoogstraten, head of the Justice Department
- A. H. J. Lovink, Director of the Department of Economic Affairs
- J. C. van Helsdingen, Secretary of the Department of the Interior
- J. L. Rens, economic advisor and planner
- H. J. van Weerden Poelman, head of the Bureau for Political Intelligence
- Iskander Tedjasukmana and J. A. Latuharhary, prominent Indonesian nationalists
- G. Schuurman, President of the NEI Postal Bank
- Mr. G. M. Versluys, director of the trading house Geo. Wehry & Co.
- G. Schepers, KPM representative
- J. D. Gobée, head of NEI broadcasting
- F. K. Posthuma, director of the NEI Chamber of Commerce
- Multiple Indo-European civilians, intelligence personnel, and specialists in transport, radio, education, and press
Some of these men had boarded merchant vessels such as the Bantam or were flown out via emergency routes during Operation Accountant. Many of them would go on to establish government departments, exile media, and business operations in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Operation Accountant and gold shipments
The Dutch also managed to evacuate part of the NEI’s gold reserves to Australia during early 1942. This became known as Operation Accountant. The reserves were used to fund Dutch operations in exile and played a critical role in maintaining financial independence. However, the shipment of gold created tensions around security, sovereignty, and Allied oversight.
Significance
This March 1942 inventory illustrates how, despite the collapse of its colony, the Netherlands succeeded in relocating essential personnel, financial resources, and military capacity to Australian soil. This laid the groundwork for an active role in the Allied war effort and the later formation of the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile.
Australia, for its part, became host to a key European partner in the Pacific War, creating a complex but enduring diplomatic and military relationship that shaped the region’s postwar trajectory.
Related articles
- Between secrecy and survival: Australia’s frustration with Dutch neutrality on the eve of war
How Dutch hopes of neutrality and secrecy clashed with Australia’s urgent need for regional defence cooperation in 1941. - Divided in exile: tensions between Batavia and London in the Dutch war effort
The fractured wartime relationship between the Dutch government-in-exile in London and the autonomous NEI administration in Batavia. - Reform or restoration? Political tensions over the future of the Netherlands East Indies during wartime exile
The ideological rift between Dutch reformers like Van Mook and colonial traditionalists in exile, and how these shaped Allied relations. - Wartime reform and Indonesian voices: Dutch–Indonesian political tensions in exile
Indonesian aspirations and Indo-Dutch reformist voices during exile—and how these were received by both Dutch and Allied leaders. - The Dutch purchasing mission and wartime supply issues in Australia
Administrative roadblocks, discriminatory policies, and cultural tensions that strained Dutch experiences in wartime Australia. - From indifference to diplomacy: how the war transformed Dutch–Australian foreign relations
How a war of necessity forced two formerly disconnected countries into direct cooperation, setting the stage for postwar transformation.
Sources
Jack Ford, Allies in a Bind: Australia and the Netherlands East Indies in the Second World War, CQU Press, 2001
