Daniel Johannes Huygens, born in Utrecht, Holland, in 1908, is recognized as an unsung hero of World War II for his courageous efforts in hiding Jewish families from the Nazis. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, Huygens and his wife, Lydia, transformed the upper story of their house into Read more…
In 1932, a daring attempt to circumnavigate the globe by air turned into a harrowing survival story for German pilot Hans Bertram and mechanic Adolph Klausmann. Their journey in the Junkers W 33 seaplane, Atlantis, registration D-1925, took an unexpected turn when they were forced to make an emergency landing Read more…
The Vergulde Draeck sailed from the Netherlands bound for Batavia. The ship foundered in 1656 at Ledge Point, near the mouth of Moore River, leaving 68 survivors stranded. In 1658, two ships were sent to attempt a rescue. Aboard one of the ships, the Waeckende Boey, was officer-navigator Abraham Leeman van Santwits. This Read more…
A country’s toponyms has many hidden complexities. For example, some name-forms can deceive theunwary in terms of their origins and meanings. Australia’s toponymy is a good case in point.Many of Australia’s toponyms are transparent as to their etymologies, such as, Port Macquarie (NSW),Sandy Bay (TAS), whilst others are more opaque, Read more…
Early Career and Rise to Prominence Jan (later John, Johnny) Van Oosten was born in The Hague. The family emigrated to Australia in 1954, when Jan was 7 years old. They settled in Victoria Park. His father was Dutch, his mother Polish, they had met each other in Germany where Read more…
Bega aims to become Australia’s most circular economy by 2030, inspired by pioneering Dutch practices. The concept of circularity, which involves keeping materials in use at their highest value, designing out waste, and regenerating natural systems, has taken root in Bega, following the Dutch model. Circularity is described as a Read more…
Beaten by tempest and stormed by drift, Steady I keep my post, And laugh at the southern rollers long, For I’m guard of the Southern Coast. I watched the Dutchmen on their way, In the days of long ago, But they set no foot on my rocky shore, Where the Read more…
By Andrew Bolt, social and political commentator, writer and TV producer. I was born in Adelaide and always felt some contact with Holland. We got parcels every few months from my mother’s parents or sisters of zoute drop, stophoest and editions of Panorama. I read (or just looked at) cartoon Read more…
Sweers Island is an island in the South Wellesley Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. The island was given its European name by explorer Matthew Flinders on 16 November 1802 after Salomon Sweers, a council member of the East India Company at Batavia who was one of those who Read more…
While the vase looks more Middle Eastern or Asian it might come from a Dutch ship. It forms part of the Captain Thomson collection at the Cooktown Museum. As indicated in the label below the picture it may have found by Frank Jardine, an early landowner, settler and police commissioner Read more…