Peter Sitsen (Bergen op Zoom, November 1, 1885 – Sydney, January 21, 1945) , a Dutch architect and civil administrator, played a pivotal role in establishing the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) in Brisbane during World War II. Known for his skill in organisational leadership and his dedication to the Dutch Read more…
During World War II, as the Japanese occupation swept through the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), the Netherlands government-in-exile faced a daunting challenge: how to maintain control and provide administrative continuity in the occupied territory. Out of this necessity, the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) was born. Established in 1944 Read more…
Introduction Very few people in Indonesia, Australia and the Netherlands know that during WWII many Indonesians fought on the side of the Allies. And nobody there knows the estimate of 4 million deaths. Because both are not part of Indonesia’s official history and therefore its public memory. The article below Read more…
On the eve of the Netherlands East Indies’ capitulation, a series of evacuation flights brought Dutch citizens to the safety of Australia, with Broome emerging as a key evacuation hub. Among the heroic pilots, Dutch-Russian Captain Iwan Smirnoff stood out for his multiple successful evacuation missions, regarding it as a Read more…
In 2012, Australia Dutch Heritage Conferences were held in Canberra, Fremantle and The Hague with the support of the Netherlands Ambassador to Australia Willem Andreas . See also: Conference Papers and Keynote addresses by researchers Migrant (R)e-collections- Proposal for a workshop (historic) Project Migrant Australian and Dutch emigrants Dutch Australia At Read more…
50 years of silence ‘How can you tell your daughters, you know? I mean, the shame, the shame was still so great. I knew I had to tell them but I couldn’t tell them face to face . . . so I decided to write it down.’ Jan Ruff O’Herne’s Read more…
During World War II, members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) were involved in a variety of operations, including flying missions on aircraft belonging to the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) Air Force. This cooperation occurred after the fall of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) to Japanese forces in Read more…
This article was created with the permission of, and with information made available by, Mr. Bijvoet’s grandchildren, Dr. Shanti Wong and Mr. Mark Wardle. Cornelis Bijvoet (1890–1964) was a Dutch shipping engineer who served his country with distinction as a ship designer, a World War II naval officer, and a Read more…
Urgent need to replace aging planes – 162 new planes ordered The Netherlands nor NEI and nor Australia for that matter were well prepared for war. In NEI the ML-KNIL were using the no longer up-to-date Martin bombers (from the Glenn L. Martin Company in the USA). They were the Read more…
On 26 February, a ML-KNIL Douglas Dakota caught fire and crashed into the ocean about 23 minutes into a test flight from Archerfield, killing all six people – three Dutch servicemen and three Australian crew members – onboard. ML-KNIL = Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger – Royal Netherlands Read more…