Being the 2nd largest export of agriculture products, The Netherlands has a very long relationship with Australia in relation to agriculture. Already in the 1970 the Netherlands participated in agriculture events in Orange NSW. Further down below is an article from the Washington Post providing an overall state of the Read more…
I came across a reference of a Dutchman killed by Aboriginal people in February 1859 in Moreton Bay, Brisbane. At this time, this was still part of NSW as the separation of Queensland only happened later that year.
This story outlines the history of how the Beek family (Father, Mother and two sons) came to migrate to Australia.
On 22 January 1944 RAAF Flight Sergeant Jeff Crosbie reported for duty at the aircrew headquarters tent of 18 NEI-RAAF Squadron at Batchelor, Northern Territory. When the Dutch had to flee Netherlands East Indies, after the Japanese invaded the country, Dutch planes, ships and military personnel regrouped in Australia. While Read more…
When the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, some 20,000 Dutch and Indonesians (Netherlands East Indies – NEI) fled to Australia. As Australia had a strict White Australian Policies, native people from NEI where housed separately. Of them 1,200 Indonesian internees were held at the Cowra POW Camp during WWII. Read more…
The Sydney-based Dutch Australian Weekly (DAW) was founded in 1951 by Alfred Schuurman and A. Hilbrink with the assistance of Earl White from the Cumberland Newspapers. The paper was established to serve the Dutch community in Australia, providing news, features, and information about events and issues of interest to Dutch Read more…
This is the only official Dutch War Cemetery in Australia. It is only one of three non Commonwealth War Cemeteries in Australia, the other two being the Tatura (German) War Cemetery in Victoria (250 graves) and the Cowra (Japanese) War Cemetery in New South Wales (523). At Cowra the Dutch Read more…
Dr Nonja Peters is an historian, anthropologist, museum curator and social researcher whose expertise is transnational migration (forced and voluntary) and resettlement in Australia. She is the author of several books, museum exhibitions, journal articles, TV documentaries, and government reports. Her achievements and dedication towards raising awareness of the post-war Read more…
Hans van de Drift – Hans The story of one of Australia’s largest sausage manufacturers ‘ Hans’ begins in the Netherlands. Hans van der Drift tried to escape being in the army (draft was still a thing back then) AND having to work for his dad on the weekends in Read more…
The ‘Fatima’ was bound from Melbourne to Batavia (Jakarta). On the 26th of June 1854 the vessel was wrecked on the Great Detached Reef, twelve miles south of Raine’s Island. The shipwrecked crew and passenger were recovered by the Dutch ship ‘Bato’ and arrived in Batavia on the 25th of Read more…