After having interviewed two men who live at my retirement village, I now interviewed a migrant woman. Our village actually has more female than male residents, so it’s about time. Hanny came to Australia in 1950, when she was 10 years young. She was born in Bussum, where she grew Read more
Property Market Analyst John Lindeman is widely respected as one of Australia’s leading market analysts. With well over a decade of experience researching the nature and dynamics of various types of assets at major data analysts, John is renowned as the market researcher that other experts go to for all Read more
To ensure that the stories of Dutch migrants would be preserved for future generations, the former Dutch-Australian Community Action Federation Qld Inc. (DACA) published a 208 page book ‘Our Story — Experiences of the Dutch in Queensland’ in 2001. Editors: Annelies Zeissink, DACA-President and Rob-Jan Mynarends. The book presents personal Read more
Gerard Willems AM is a Dutch Australian classical pianist and double ARIA award winner. He came by boat (Grote Beer, Holland-America Lines) with his family in 1958 and went through several years of migrant camp experience. You can see a glimpse of his work here: See also: Gerard Willems Interview: Read more
Maria Douwes started her career at Time-Life International, the Book Department. After that she worked at the PR-Departments at De Volkskrant (national newspaper) and the Cinetone Filmstudios. Thereafter she started her own Communication-Organisation Company and made the book’ Noord Nu’ (city district North Amsterdam) with Theo Dohte. For the city Read more
This story is written by Maria Douwes and published in her book: Back to Australia The Douwes family was one of the last families to move from Amsterdam to Australia for a hundred guilders. Both the Australian and Dutch governments sponsored this trip. On December 9, 1960, Maria Douwes emigrated to Read more
This is part of the story written by Maria Douwes, who emigrated with her family in 1960/1961 to Australia. This story is written by Maria Douwes and published in her book: Back to Australia. The Douwes family was one of the last families to move from Amsterdam to Australia for a Read more
The Douwes family emigrated from Amsterdam to Australia aboard SS Zuiderkruis, departing on 9 December 1960. The family consisted of the parents and their ten children. Their passage was supported through the Dutch-Australian assisted migration programme, under which eligible emigrants could travel for a contribution of 100 Dutch guilders. Their Read more
Iwan Wasiliwitsj Smirnoff lived one of the most remarkable lives in early aviation. Born in the Russian Empire, he became a decorated First World War fighter pilot, fled the Russian Revolution and eventually made a new career in the Netherlands. As a KLM captain, he pioneered long-distance air services between Read more
Almar Zaadstra is an Australian artist based in Casterton, Victoria. Almar arrived in Australia at the age of 6 in 1966, the 4th of six children born to Sake and Ytje . They left Oudega in Friesland , Netherlands, to give their boys a brighter future in a new country, Read more