Dutch businesses in Australia

Dr Nonja Peters – Historian of Dutch-Australian migration, heritage and cultural identity

Biography Dr Nonja Yvonne Huberta Maria Peters is a Dutch-born Australian historian, anthropologist, museum curator and social researcher whose work has made a significant contribution to the understanding and preservation of Dutch-Australian history. Her research encompasses migration and settlement, cultural identity, migrant entrepreneurship, maritime history, the Netherlands East Indies, and Read more

By DACC, ago

Laver Construction – Dutch migrant enterprise and the development of Kingston, Tasmania

Dutch migrants and Tasmania’s building industry The growth of Kingston following the Second World War was closely associated with Dutch migration. Among the businesses contributing to the area’s development was Laver Construction, a building company with connections to the Verdouw family and the wider Dutch community. The company became involved Read more

By DACC, ago

Research Portal — Broome and the Dutch: Evacuation, Tragedy and Shared Wartime Heritage, 1942–1945

Introduction Broome, on the remote north-western coast of Western Australia, occupies a particularly important place in the shared wartime history of Australia, the Netherlands and the former Netherlands East Indies (NEI). During the opening months of 1942, as Japanese forces advanced through Southeast Asia, Broome became a vital evacuation point Read more

By DACC, ago

KNILM: The Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij and its Australian Connection

A pioneering Netherlands East Indies airline The Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij, commonly known as KNILM, was the principal civil airline of the Netherlands East Indies. It was established on 16 July 1928, initially as the Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij. The company later received the royal designation Koninklijke. Despite the similarity of Read more

By DACC, ago

From Sliedrecht to VolkerWessels: the Dutch companies behind Australian Dredging and General Works

Australian Dredging and General Works was established in 1950 through the cooperation of two longstanding Dutch civil-engineering companies: Adriaan Volker’s Maatschappij tot het Uitvoeren van Openbare Werken and Van Hattum & Blankevoort. Both businesses had grown from nineteenth-century contracting enterprises into internationally active engineering organisations. Their Australian joint venture combined Read more

By DACC, ago