Among the many Dutch migrants who enriched Australia’s cultural life, Sjoerd van der Meulen brought a particularly international perspective. Music formed the central thread throughout his life, but the journey that eventually brought him to Australia followed a path across several continents and cultures. Sjoerd originated from Friesland in the Read more
The Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC) is pleased to announce the beginning of a collaborative relationship with the Online Indisch Museum in the Netherlands, creating a new opportunity to strengthen awareness of the shared heritage that connects Indonesia, the Netherlands and Australia. While the history of the former Dutch East Read more
Gerada Baremans: scattered innocence I was born in the Netherlands on 8 April 1937, the eldest of five girls. I was only two years old, when war broke out. My childhood was not free and easy as my mother had three girls between 1937 and 1940. She would constantly remind Read more
Art and Culture Corrie Ancone Freelance Photographer, Artist and Permanent Part Time Welfare WorkerIn 1953 my parents and my four siblings migrated to South Australia. We initially spent six very hard months in Glossop, Berri, where we lived in an old workman’s out shed while my father was Read more
Gerada Baremans: scattered innocence I was born in the Netherlands on 8 April 1937, the eldest of five girls. I was only two years old, when war broke out. My childhood was not free and easy as my mother had three girls between 1937 and 1940. She would constantly remind Read more
When and why did you move to Australia? I moved to Melbourne five years ago to live with my new partner. He is Dutch too and moved here fifteen years ago. I found out I was pregnant with my first child just before moving here. It was a huge surprise, luckily Read more
Cornelis Frederiks, who prefers to be addressed as Cor, is a down-to-earth, sprightly and quick-witted 86-year-old businessman, scholar, author, investor, art collector and company director with a flourishing accounting practice in Cleveland, a sea-side suburb of Brisbane. Cor insists he is not retired and he still attends his office from Read more
Popular Australian entertainer Marty Rhone began life as Karel van Rhoon in the former Netherlands East Indies. His father Eddy van Rhoon was of mixed Dutch and Chinese heritage and his mother Judith (nee Bagshaw) was fifth generation Australian. Together, they gave Marty a rich and wonderful heritage: he is Read more
In the beginning: My name is Petrus Spronk, a name which got me introduced once, when I was on tour with my portable ceramic workshop in Ireland, as a one-man Rock & Roll-band. As a result I had a lot to live up to, but being in Ireland I did. Read more
Lolo Houbein, of Aldgate in the Adelaide Hills, came to Australia from The Netherlands with her husband and children in 1958 at the age of 24. She did not speak English, yet eleven years later she matriculated as an adult student and Lolo is now an accomplished and prolific writer Read more