During the Second World War, English sailor Henry Alfred Brooklyn (born 27 July 1922 in Cambridge, England; sometimes known as Harry) was decorated with the Netherlands Bronze Cross. This story was brought to our attention by his daughter, Wendy Arrowsmith, and published with her consent. Brooklyn served on board the Read more…
Pauleen Lillian Badke was born at Booval in Ipswich in 1925. Her father’s name was ‘Wilhelm’ but he was known to everyone as ‘Bill’ – her mother’s name was Lillian. She had one brother, Keith. Bill was well known in Ipswich and surrounds as a building contractor, and for his Read more…
The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engines, Read more…
Dirk Drok (Dalfsen, Netherlands 1915–1988), Perth) and his wife Kitty Isabella Theodora Uitenhage de Mist-Barkey (Java 1921–2001 Perth) lived in Java, Netherlands East Indies NEI (now Indonesia). After the Japanese had occupied the NEI, Dirk and kitty both – separately – ended up in Japanese Camps. There is an extensive Read more…
At the end of the 19th Century, the French government looked around for labour for New Caledonia. Workers were needed on the coffee plantations and also servants were sought after. New Caledonia became home to the second largest Javanese community outside Indonesia with some 20,000 immigrants sent between 1896 and Read more…
This article is about the Dutch seizure of part of New Guinea in 1828. The English activities in Northern Australia played an important role in this. The author of the article is Jeroen Overweel. He is engaged in cultural heritage participation and is an independent researcher on Indonesian, Melanesian and Read more…
The SS Bantam (3322 gross weight, built in 1930 ) was one of the original twenty-one KPM vessels that took refuge in Australian ports after the fall of Java that Dutch officials requested be put into service for the war effort. The ship, as well as other Dutch merchant ships, Read more…
When the Hr. Ms. Tromp, a Tromp-class cruiser, was built between 1936 and 1938, it was the most modern ship in its class. The cruiser’s involvement in the search for HMAS Sydney, following its battle with the German raider Kormoran, stands out as a crucial moment. Subsequently, Tromp undergoes repairs Read more…
One of the greatest pilots of the 18 Netherlands East Indies Squadron RAAF was Gerson (Guus) Hagers. In February 1942 he was part of the group tasked with receiving newly acquired B 25 bombers from the USA at Archerfield Airport in Brisbane. The planes didn’t arrive in time and in Read more…
Ruben (Ruud) Rubens Ruben was born in Amsterdam on 3 September 1917 and died in Melbourne on 7 November 1993. After his highschool (MULO) he became a bicycle dealer and sales representative. He loved sailing on the rivers and were involved with the swim clubs and soccer clubs where Ruud Read more…