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
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
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
Popular Australian entertainer Marty Rhone began life as Karel van Rhoon in the former Netherlands East Indies. His father Eddy van Rhoon was of mixed Dutch and Chinese heritage and his mother Judith (nee Bagshaw) was fifth generation Australian. Together, they gave Marty a rich and wonderful heritage: he is Read more
From ‘The Artist’s View,’ a column written by Petrus Spronk for his local newspaper. At the time of writing, the fifth of December, I pause to remember and momentarily celebrate what was once an important annual event during my childhood. Childhood: The Time Of Our Life Traditionally, on this day, Read more
From ‘The Artist’s View,’ a column written by Petrus Spronk for his local newspaper. When I was a young boy I lived in Haarlem, Holland. Across the road from our house was a canal. For a long time this canal represented the edge of my life. The edge of life Read more
From ‘The Artist’s View,’ a column written by Petrus Spronk for his local newspaper. Any war does not, as the historians like to have it, run from, let’s say, 1940-1945 as was the case with the WW2, but has reverberations till long after the date. Some to this very day, Read more
From ‘The Artist’s View,’ a column written by Petrus Spronk for his local newspaper. Memories of the last century. The last century, which holds the roots to the tree which will grow in the next. From my childhood I remember my room in a distant Dutch attic. My room where Read more
In the beginning: My name is Petrus Spronk, a name which got me introduced once, when I was on tour with my portable ceramic workshop in Ireland, as a one-man Rock & Roll-band. As a result I had a lot to live up to, but being in Ireland I did. Read more
This article was written in 2006 Mathilde is the popular producer and presenter based in the Sydney office of SBS Dutch Radio. Born: Djalan Semarang, Jakarta on 3 March 1950 Arrival in Australia: 27 May 1981 Qualifications/Training: Secondary education: Rotterdamsch Lyceum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tertiary education: Diploma – Ecole HÙteliËre Read more