This is an abstract from the full article click here. It is a deeply personal memoir by Dutch migrant Johan Luchters provides a rich and highly detailed first-hand account of post-war migration experiences at the Scheyville Migrant Accommodation Centre in New South Wales during the early 1960s. Far more than Read more
From migration camp to Dutch houseThe story of Fred and Marie van Breemen The history of Dutch migration to Brisbane after the Second World War was shaped not only by organised migration schemes and housing initiatives, but also by personal encounters, community networks and the determination of migrant families to Read more
For centuries the Dutch connection with Australia has largely been told through stories of exploration, trade and shipwrecks. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans to chart much of Australia’s coastline, leaving traces of their journeys scattered along the continent’s shores. Today, those stories continue to be uncovered and interpreted through Read more
Many thousands of post-war migrants passed through Scheyville Migrant Accommodation Centre, including large numbers of Dutch arrivals beginning new lives in Australia. For many families, Scheyville represented the first Australian chapter of their migration story — a place of uncertainty, hope, adaptation and new beginnings. While much attention naturally focuses Read more
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
The military service records of Bernhard Jan Ruesink provide another remarkable insight into the highly international character of Dutch wartime military history during and after the Second World War. His career connected the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), the Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Australia and postwar Indonesia through Allied military aviation and 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
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