Interview with Vicki Mynott ca 2014 I was eight when we arrived in Australia in 1959. Like many immigrants, we docked in Sydney then took a train to South Brisbane, then a bus on to Wacol Migrant Camp. The Dutch There were a lot of Dutch people coming in then Read more
Bernhard Jan “Ben” Ruesink’s short life connected the Netherlands East Indies, occupied Europe, Britain, Australia, New Guinea and postwar Indonesia. After escaping from the occupied Netherlands by a difficult route through Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar, he reached Britain in January 1944. He subsequently travelled to Australia, where he trained Read more
One of the most striking aspects of Dutch–Western Australian history is the disconnect between early European discovery and later patterns of settlement. As outlined by Neil Foley in Dutch connections with Western Australia 1829–1920, the Dutch were among the first Europeans to chart large sections of the Western Australian coastline Read more
In a quiet cemetery in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, far from Australia, two young Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airmen continue to be remembered. Their graves are not tended by family members, but by a Dutch family who never knew them in life. For decades they have marked the Read more
The story of the WWII Camp Columbia in Brisbane did not end with the departure of Allied military forces after the Second World War. In the decades that followed, the vast wartime complex at Wacol entered a new phase of history closely linked to Australia’s post-war migration program and the Read more
Among the Dutch airmen who formed part of No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF during the Second World War was Lieutenant J. van Loggem, a navigator whose wartime experience reflects both the operational realities of the Pacific war and the deeply personal struggles of those living in exile. From Read more
This article, published in Dutch connections: 400 years of Australian–Dutch maritime links 1606–2006 and presented by Nonja Peters at the Australian National Maritime Museum, examines the gap between expectation and reality in post-war Dutch migration to Australia between 1947 and 1970. Drawing on historical records, media accounts, and migrant testimonies, Read more
Introduction Sardjono (often also written as Sordjono) was one of a group of Indonesian political detainees whose wartime journey from Dutch colonial imprisonment to Australia placed him at the centre of a significant historical transition. His experience reflects the broader trajectory of many Indonesians who, during the Second World War, Read more
The story of the B-25 Mitchell N5-185, known as “Lienke”, is one of the most compelling examples of how wartime aviation, personal history and Allied cooperation came together in Australia during World War II. Operated by No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF, this aircraft was not only part of Read more
Between the Netherlands and Australia The end of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia led to the large-scale displacement of people connected to the former Netherlands East Indies (NEI). Between 1945 and the early 1960s, around 300,000 individuals left the archipelago. The majority settled in the Netherlands, while a smaller but Read more