By Hans Overberg Franciscus Nicolaas Leddy (1903-1964), company director, was born on 20 April 1903 at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, son of Franciscus Nicolaas Leddy, director of prisons, and his wife Cornelia, née Delabrie. Educated at Leiden high school and the Nederlandse Economische Hogeschool, Rotterdam, young Leddy began his professional career Read more…
The Alssema family is a Dutch family who emigrated to Australia in the early 1900s. The family patriarch, Jan Alssema, was born in Nieuw-Lekkerland in 1865. He married Geertruida van der Meer (born in 1871 in Hardinxveld-Giessendam) in 1889, and they had six children together. In 1903, the Alssema family Read more…
Bernardus Jacobus Fiedeldij was born on February 25, 1907 in Amsterdam, Netherlands to Jacobus Fiedeldij and Maria van der Laan. He had two brothers, Hendrik and Willem, and one sister, Catharina. His parents were both from Amsterdam. His father was a carpenter and his mother was a homemaker. They were Read more…
Burkholder Field (sometimes referred to as Burkeholder), later known as McDonald Airfield (sometimes incorrectly referred to as MacDonald), was located 10 miles north west of Pine Creek in the Northern Territory. The airfield was built by Company “A” and HQ Detachment of the 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion from 11 May to 16 July 1942 Read more…
The Nowra Rifle Club is one of the oldest rifle clubs in Australia, having been founded in 1888. The club also had a strong patriotic spirit and supported the Australian troops during both World Wars. During World War II, the club played an important role in providing training and practice Read more…
Adrian van Leest was born in the Netherlands, where his father had a community garden plot. When the family moved to Australia in 1955, they lived in Creswick, Victoria, on a large block cultivated by Adrian from one end to the other. He was given a small allotment of nine Read more…
The Dutch Shop, ‘t Winkeltje in ‘Holland House’ was founded by Jan and Anita Altena in Smithfield in 1985. Holland House at first it sold only imported Dutch furniture, but soon expanded to a supermarket (‘t Winkeltje), stocking the herring, cheese and liquorice that is signature Dutch fare. Inside, the Read more…
The Hazebroek family emigrated to Australia in 1952 on the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. They brought their furniture-making equipment with them in the ship’s hold and used it to establish a furniture factory in Perth. The patriarch of the family, Pieter Hazebroek, had been a master carpenter and furniture maker in Read more…
Roelf Vos was a successful Australian businessman and philanthropist, born on a boat in Bergum (later Burgum), the Netherlands, on 4 October 1921. During World War II, he was involved in the Dutch Resistance and had to hide from German forces. After the war, he opened a drapery store in Read more…
The long Dutch relationship with Southeast Brisbane began during World War II, when in 1942 the Americans established Camp Columbia in Wacol, Brisbane to stop the Japanese advance in the Southwest Pacific. The camp became the staging ground for the American campaign, covering an area of 20 by 15 square Read more…