Press release Prime Minister Bob Hawke 27 September 1988 (historic) Her Majesty Queen Beatrix and His Royal Highness Prince Claus of the Netherlands will make an official visit to Australia from Monday October 24 to Saturday November 5. It will be the first time a reigning Dutch monarch will have Read more…
by Doug Hurst – 2001 The Fourth Ally tells of the Dutch forces who fought from Australia against the Japanese during WW II. Driven by the Japanese from Indonesia (then the Netherlands East Indies), they relocated ships, aircraft and personnel to Australia. They joined with United States, British and Australian Read more…
Early in Roger Bell’s book Unequal Allies,he states: ”Relations between the governments of Australia and the United States underwent fundamental changes during 1941-46…Indeed it was not characterized by general bilateral accord on political, defence and economic matters during war time.” These comments can be equally applied to the Dutch/Australian wartime Read more…
A little-known fact is that the bombing of Darwin (19-2-1942) was part of the battle of Netherlands East Indies (NEI – now Indonesia). The Japanese wanted to get control of the rich oil fields of this country that counted for 25% of the global oil production. At this point in time the war against the Japanese invasions was undertaken by the ABDA Allied Forces (Americans, British, Dutch and Australians).
A little-known fact is that the bombing of Darwin (19-2-1942) was part of the battle of Netherlands East Indies (NEI – now Indonesia). The Japanese wanted to get control of the rich oil fields of this country that counted for 25% of the global oil production. At this point in time the war against the Japanese invasions was undertaken by the ABDA Allied Forces (Americans, British, Dutch and Australians).
Joop van Doorn was posted to Java in 1937 and flew Glen Martins, Lockheed Lodestars and Mitchell B-25. Joop and pilot Yves Henri Mulder (nickname Bels as he came from Belgium – he was killed in action in 1944) ferried British Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell to Singapore for the ABDA Read more…
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in Southeast Asia in early 1942, it had been established on 7 December 1941. ABDA became operational following the declaration of war by the four nations on 1 January 1942.
Late last year the Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Queensland Marjon Wind launched the groundwork for the archaeological projected conducted by the University of Queensland at the WWII HQ of the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile at Camp Columbia in Wacol, Brisbane.
Pierre van der Eng, Australian National University It took until 1951 for The Netherlands to establish diplomatic representation in Australia in the form of an accredited ambassador. Depending on the issue, bilateral diplomatic matters were dealt with through the Dutch embassy in London until the 1940s, either through British public Read more…
In 1995 the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre organised a 50 year liberation in the Dutch East Indies commemoration at their premises in the Abel Tasman Village (ATV) at Chester Hill. Several weeks later the DAW published a double page spread review of several commemorations around the country including the one Read more…