Aviation and Shipping

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

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

From Java to Australia and the United States: the evacuation of the Netherlands East Indies flying schools in 1942

The evacuation of the Netherlands East Indies flying schools was one of the largest movements of Dutch military aviation personnel during the collapse of the colony in early 1942. Hundreds of student pilots, instructors, observers, wireless operators, air gunners and technical personnel escaped to Australia. Although their stay was brief, Read more

By DACC, ago

Research Portal—Dutch and Netherlands East Indies Air Forces in Australia during World War II

This research portal brings together 92 individual article listings documenting the Dutch and Netherlands East Indies air-force presence in Australia during and immediately after the Second World War. Following the Japanese conquest of the Netherlands East Indies in early 1942, surviving Dutch and Indonesian air-force personnel, naval aviators, civilian aircrews Read more

By DACC, ago

Dutch heritage projects across Australia highlighted in new RCE report

Shipwrecks, aircraft, Dutch East India Company history and Camp Columbia form part of an expanding program of Dutch–Australian heritage cooperation A new report from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands highlights the breadth of Dutch-related heritage projects currently being undertaken across Australia. The International Programme for Maritime Heritage: Report Read more

By DACC, ago