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
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
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
From the fall of the Netherlands East Indies to renewed operations from Australia The Japanese conquest of the Netherlands East Indies in early 1942 brought Dutch military aviation in the region close to destruction. Many aircraft were lost in combat, destroyed to prevent their capture or diverted to other Allied Read more
In the final days of the Second World War in Europe, an extraordinary act of humanity took place in the skies over the Netherlands. For almost six years, Allied and German forces had been trying to destroy one another. Now Allied bomber crews were being asked to fly low and Read more
The ships that carried a generation to a new homeland During the decades following the Second World War, tens of thousands of Dutch emigrants travelled by sea to begin new lives in Australia. Their journeys formed part of the much larger post-war migration movement that transformed Australian society and established Read more
A group photograph taken aboard the Netherlands hospital ship Oranje in Sydney on 2 March 1943 records a little-known connection between one of the most celebrated Dutch ships of the Second World War and one of Australia’s greatest maritime tragedies. Within weeks of the photograph being taken, 28 Australian personnel Read more
The KPM steamship ’s Jacob was the first of three Dutch merchant vessels lost during Operation Lilliput. On 8 March 1943, while carrying troops and supplies from Milne Bay towards Oro Bay, she was attacked by Japanese bombers near Porlock Harbour. Three direct hits and numerous near misses caused serious Read more
The Dutch-operated cargo ship Karsik played a distinctive role in the Allied campaign in Papua. In December 1942 she became the first large vessel to reach Oro Bay, carrying Australian Stuart tanks that were urgently needed at the Battle of Buna. The voyage demonstrated that a viable maritime supply route Read more
Between 21 February and 4 March 1943, the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij vessels Bontekoe, Karsik and Van Heemskerk transported approximately 3,200 troops of the United States 162nd Infantry Regiment from Port Moresby to Oro Bay in Papua. The movement, conducted in five convoy voyages, was designated Operation Accountant. The 162nd Infantry Regiment Read more