Maatsuyker Island is named after Joan Maetsuycker, the The Dutch Governor of Zeylan (present-day Sri Lanka) during the Dutch period in Ceylon and later the Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies from 1653 to 1678. The island was named by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who named it after Maetsuycker in Read more…
In 2017 the Museum of Geraldton held an exhibition titled “Descendants of the VOC: Portraits and Histories”. Curated by Curtin University historian Dr Nonja Peters, the exhibition delved into the impact of the Netherlands East India Company’s (VOC) exploration during the 17th Century on indigenous peoples in Western Australia, Indonesia, Read more…
The Wessel Islands group off the north-eastern coast of Arnhem Land has a rather abstruse history in terms of its naming and ultimate cartographic location. Cartographic evidence, and some primary documentary evidence points to a Wesel(s) Eijland initially referring to an island off the southern coast of present-day West Papua. Read more…
Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie – VOC – (Dutch East India Company) related gable stone with a lying lioness in the ‘gable stone wall’ at the Oudezijds Kolk in Amsterdam. The stone comes from Kleine Kattenburgerstraat 14/16 and was found there by Van Arkel and Weissman (Noord-Hollandsche Oudheden 6destuk (1903) page 43). Read more…
Being the Narration by Diedrich Buys of His Discoveries and Exploits in Terra Australis Incognita about the Year 1630. Author: Ernest Favenc. First known publishing date: 1896 A fictionalised account of the adventures of two mutineers (Diedrich and Paul Buys) from the Dutch ship Batavia which was shipwrecked on the Read more…
November 1786 saw the publication of An Historical Narrative of the Discovery of New Holland and New South Wales, which sought to explain the reasons for the British Government’s decision to establish a settlement at Botany Bay. Although the book was published anonymously, the London publishers, John Fielding and John Stockdale, were Read more…
By Gerard van Haren Richard was born on January 3, 1913, in Probolinggo, situated on the island of Java. He held the position of a militia sergeant, bearing the title tkl (2nd class), and was identified by pedigree number 13613. On December 15, 1941, he received his assignment for the Read more…
The text below is a brief summary of a report titled “EXPLORATORY VOYAGE OF THE SHIPS RIJDER AND BUIS, COMMANDED BY LIEUTENANT JEAN ETIENNE GONZAL AND FIRST LAVIENNE LODEWIJK VAN ASSCHENS, TO THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA.” This report was submitted by Gerrit de Haan, the “Master Cartographer” at Batavia, on Read more…
In January 1942, based on this document from the Australian National Archives, Dutch cargo from the Norwegian M/S Høegh Silverstar, destined for the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), was confiscated on orders from the American Government in Sydney. According to the ship’s logbook, it departed from San Francisco on November 24, Read more…
HNLMS Karel Doorman was a ‘Colossus-class’ aircraft carrier of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Formerly the British ship HMS Venerable, she was sold to the Netherlands in 1948 as a light attack carrier. In 1960, she was involved in the decolonisation conflict in Western New Guinea with Indonesia. In 1960, during Read more…