By Dr. Nonja Peters Between 1945 and 1949, around 300,000 Indies-born and Eurasian Dutch relocated from the Netherlands East Indies to the Netherlands as a result of the Japanese Occupation of Java and Sumatra and the Indonesian Revolution. Not only did the Indos (Eurasian Dutch) have to leave members of Read more
A touch of humour: the recollections of Walter Mannot as a lively nine-year-old living in the former Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies By: Dr. Sue Summers – 2006 Walter Mannot was born in the in the Netherlands East Indies in Kemanglen in central Java in 1932. His brother Read more
Written by Johanna Wagenaar (nee, van der Steen). Johanna (Hannie) tells of the family’s sea journey from The Netherlands to Fremantle Western Australia on board the ‘Groote Beer‘ in 1951, their reception by members of the Free Reformed Church, their adventures settling into a new country, and a journey not Read more
Early Dutch claims set the framework When the Australian colonies began to look northward in the late nineteenth century, the island of New Guinea was not an unclaimed space. The Netherlands had already laid claim to the western half of the island in 1828, incorporating it—at least formally—into the Dutch Read more
The Butlers of Wickepin Records show Dutch were on the first fleet, that the Swan Colony had a Dutch consul as early as 1879 and that Dutch made a living on the land in Queensland in the early part of the 20th century. This tiny portal into the life of Read more
Life in Java in the early 20th century Henriette Adriana Margaretha Thomas (nee Kuneman) was born on 22 January 1930 on the Badek Estate, a coffee and rubber plantation, near Kediri, East Java in the former Netherlands East Indies (NEI). Her father Jan Hendrik Kuneman (7 April 1885 – 9 March Read more
The reintroduction of KLM’s air service to Australia in 1951 must be understood against the backdrop of an earlier Dutch aviation network that had already reached the continent before the war—and had then been abruptly dismantled by it. During the 1930s, KNILM (Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij) operated an extensive network Read more
By Dr Sue Summers – 2006 John (Jan) Giezen would have to be one of the better known people within the Dutch-Australians veterans community living in Queensland. He has helped ex-veterans and their widows to access compensation and pensions; he established the Netherlands Ex-Servicemen and Women’s Association (NESWA) website, and Read more
Hello and welcome! This is how every meeting of the Elwood Dutch playgroup based in Melbourne, Australia, commences: a warm welcome expressed to all in song. The main objective of the group is to teach the children (ages ranging from 0 – 4) the Dutch language through play, reading sessions, Read more
Cornelis Frederiks, who prefers to be addressed as Cor, is a down-to-earth, sprightly and quick-witted 86-year-old businessman, scholar, author, investor, art collector and company director with a flourishing accounting practice in Cleveland, a sea-side suburb of Brisbane. Cor insists he is not retired and he still attends his office from Read more