From Nijmegen to the Netherlands East Indies and Australia Joop van Doorn was a Dutch military wireless operator, telegraphist and navigator whose wartime service connected the Netherlands East Indies, Australia, India and the Allied air campaign against Japan. He flew in Glenn Martin bombers and Lockheed Lodestar transports, participated in Read more
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.
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
Between December 1942 and June 1943, a series of small convoys transported troops, weapons, vehicles, fuel, engineering equipment and approximately 60,000 tons of supplies from Milne Bay to Oro Bay on the north coast of Papua. The operation was known as Lilliput. Its transport fleet consisted overwhelmingly of ships belonging Read more
By Klaas Woldring Historical maps relevant to the mapping of Australia from 1521 onwards to 1814 by a great variety of European mapmakers. Most of these maps are digitally available from the National Library, Canberra. The final maps in this series are based on the map (s) by Nicholas Vallard Read more
Bambu Magazine In April 1995 a small group of Indische mensen’ (people born in Indonesia), such as Rob Elstak, Eric & Rob Marcus, Leo Vandersar, Jan Schmieman and Andreas Flach, came together in Cairns and founded the ‘Dutch Indonesian. Association – Melati’ (Jasmine). Andreas Flach became the editor of the Read more
Julius Tahija (13 July 1916 – 30 July 2002) was an Ambonese soldier, intelligence operative, politician and businessman whose remarkable wartime career linked the Netherlands East Indies, Australia and the Allied intelligence war against Japan. Serving with the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), he distinguished himself during the Japanese Read more
Nicholas Dijkstra tells the story about flying in formation under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In May 1942, two US ‘Kittyhawks’ flew under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Nobody had done that before! Several Dutch and Dutch East Indies KLM and KNILM pilots were to make a short flight over Sydney for Read more
In 2021 an archaeological project was announced to investigate the site. Dutch partners in the project includes the Netherlands Ministry of Defence and is funded by the Netherlands Embassy. The project is supervised by Emeritus Professor Ian Lilley FSA FAHA (BA Hons, MA Qld, PhD ANU). Ian is an international Read more
Not long ago, a book was published about Dick under the title The Incredible Life of Dick van Leer. This very readable account of Dick’s life, a family history really, written jointly with Aubrey Cohen, starts with his birth in 1922 in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies. Dick wasn’t there long though Read more