Arie Hougee was born in Dordrecht on 15 December 1899 and grew up in a family closely connected with inland shipping and towage. Like his father, he chose a working life on the water and became a tugboat captain based in Lobith, an important shipping centre on the Rhine. His Read more
Adrianus Borsje, known as Adrian, was born in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands, on 6 August 1913. He died in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, on 31 August 2000 and was buried at Geelong Western Cemetery. He was a son of Jan Philippus Borsje (1871–1932) and Francina Stuij (1881–1952). According to the available information, Read more
Jacobus Leendert de Looff was born on 24 June 1924 in Wissenkerke, on the Zeeland island of Noord-Beveland. He was the son of Jacob de Looff, who worked as a farm labourer, and Janna van der Moere. He grew up in Zeeland during the interwar period and experienced the Second Read more
Oep Mangel was born in Velsen on 16 August 1912, the son of Arie Mangel and Antje Vliegop. His father worked as an engineer and stoker. Oep later chose a life at sea and worked as a crew member in the merchant navy. In 1945, his voyages included a journey Read more
Jan Volker was born on 2 August 1923 in Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude, North Holland. He was the son of engineer and company director Johan Hendrik Volker and Marianne Euphemia Catharina Kruiver. His mother died in 1929, when Jan was only five years old. The Volker family had earlier roots in Read more
Information checked on 9 October 2026. For Dutch migrants in Australia, becoming an Australian citizen can raise a difficult question: will they retain their Dutch nationality? Australia permits dual citizenship, but Dutch law generally provides for automatic loss of Dutch nationality when an adult voluntarily acquires another nationality. There are, Read more
Teunis Cornelis Paans, generally known as Toon, was born in Nijmegen on 20 January 1918 aboard his parents’ vessel. His father, Cornelis Adrianus Paans, was a skipper and engineer, and Toon grew up within the Dutch inland-shipping community. He later worked as a mechanic. Following an earlier marriage to Tonnie Read more
Did your family migrate to Australia from the Alblasserwaard region of South Holland? Alblasserwaard Genealogy can help you explore the family history they left behind in the Netherlands. Its database contains more than 652,000 people, 20,000 historical photographs and 134,000 sources, with new information added daily. It covers communities including Read more
Hermanus Wouter Paans, generally known as Manus, was born at Hooge en Lage Zwaluwe on 28 November 1908. He later lived in Werkendam and worked as a ship’s captain. On 30 October 1931, he married Margaretha Martina Ippel, who had been born in Werkendam on 5 October 1911. The couple Read more
The remarkable story behind Opposite the Lion’s Den During the German occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War, Daniel Johannes Huygens and his wife Lydia made an extraordinary decision. They opened their home to Jewish friends threatened with arrest and deportation, transforming the upper floor of their house Read more