Dr. C Wouters has been the most important person during the emigration period between 1950 and 1980 representing the Dutch emigrants in Australia. He tirelessly advocated for recognition of Dutch culture, history and especially its language. He was a prolific writer of articles and letter to the editors in the Read more…
By Dr. Yoke Berry from Dutch in Wollongong, released at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Dutch Connection radio programme. On Sunday the 9th of November 1997, the first Dutch program in the Illawarra was broadcast on the community radio station VOX FM 106.9. For the programmers and listeners Read more…
This is one of the earliest Dutch Clubs in Australia, founded in 1944. The official name was first Nederlandse Vereeniging in Nieuw Zuid Wales (N.Z.W), later documents state Nederlandse Vereniging in NSW and later the more common name was used Nederlandse Vereniging in Sydney or in English Netherlands Society in Read more…
For some three centuries confusion existed among Europeans over the location and name of the Indian Ocean island now referred to as Christmas Island. Maps appeared charting the island with no name, with one of three names, with two names simultaneously, or as two or three adjacent islands. It was Read more…
During the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch were quite active in exploring the western and northern coastlines of the Great Southland. Of one of these expeditions, conducted by Maerten van Delft in 1705, intelligence is limited and it is infrequently mentioned in the canon of Australia’s exploration. The only Read more…
In 1859 the Dutch historian, L.C.D. van Dijk published a book on the voyages of discovery made by Jan Carstenszoon in 1623 and Jean Etienne Gonzal in 1756 to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The book contains a commentary of the two voyages as well as a copy of Carstenszoon’s journal. Read more…
The history of charting Australia’s coastline is well documented from most perspectives,but not from a toponymic standpoint. Between 1606 and 1803, some nine hundredEuropean placenames were bestowed along the Australian coast. Authors Jan Tent and Helen Slatyer report here on an investigation and analysis of the place-naming practices of the Read more…
Some of the first Europeans to venture into the southern Pacific Ocean were the Dutch during the 17th and early 18th centuries. The linguistic legacy of these expeditions can be found in a small number of Dutch words adopted into Polynesian languages as well as toponyms bestowed by them. The Read more…
The year 2006 marked the quatercentenary of the first known European charting of any part of the Australian coastline, when the Dutch mariner Willem Janszoon explored 300 kms of the north-west coast of Cape York Peninsula. He bestowed seven placenames, two of which, Moent and Dubbelde Ree have ambiguous meanings Read more…
The Polynesian islands share in common the fact that the first European language they came into contact with was the English brought first by Captain Cook, spread by whalers and traders and later consolidated by missionaries. The purpose of the paper below is twofold. First, the authors will present evidence Read more…