For anyone researching the Dutch presence in Australia during the Second World War, one book stands above all others: Dr Jonathan (Jack) M. Ford’s Allies in a Bind: Australia and the Netherlands East Indies in the Second World War. Originally published in 1996 by the Queensland Branch of the Australian Read more
A little-known fact is that the bombing of Darwin (19-2-1942) was part of the battle of Netherlands East Indies (NEI – now Indonesia). The Japanese wanted to get control of the rich oil fields of this country that counted for 25% of the global oil production. At this point in time the war against the Japanese invasions was undertaken by the ABDA Allied Forces (Americans, British, Dutch and Australians).
A little-known fact is that the bombing of Darwin (19-2-1942) was part of the battle of Netherlands East Indies (NEI – now Indonesia). The Japanese wanted to get control of the rich oil fields of this country that counted for 25% of the global oil production. At this point in time the war against the Japanese invasions was undertaken by the ABDA Allied Forces (Americans, British, Dutch and Australians).
The Hennik family immigrated to Australia on the Zuiderkruis it has a list of the people on board and the crew signed the page. Dochter Wilhelmina also has the document her dad travelled with. They arrived 17 Feb 1959 at Fremantle and were taken by train to the Woodside Migration Camp just outside Adelaide.
Captain Cook’s first voyage brought him to Australia. The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific Ocean aboard HMS Endeavour, from 1768 to 1771. It was the first of three Pacific voyages of which James Cook was the commander. Read more
Joop van Doorn was posted to Java in 1937 and flew Glen Martins, Lockheed Lodestars and Mitchell B-25. Joop and pilot Yves Henri Mulder (nickname Bels as he came from Belgium – he was killed in action in 1944) ferried British Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell to Singapore for the ABDA Read more
The Netherlands Consulate General in Sydney and Dutchlink invite you to attend the Maps Connection People To Help Save Reefs lecture by Associate Professor Chris Roelfsema. This lecture will take place on Wednesday 16 March at the Australian National Maritime Museum (Sea Museum) in Sydney. Reefs are essential for preserving Read more
Mirusia is an Australian born Soprano with Dutch heritage. She was born on March 29, 1985 to two Dutch parents in Brisbane, Australia. Her mom is originally from Brabant and her dad from Zeeland. Mirusia’s parents, a boiler-maker and a nurse, moved from The Netherlands in their twenties after being Read more
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in Southeast Asia in early 1942, it had been established on 7 December 1941. ABDA became operational following the declaration of war by the four nations on 1 January 1942.
Late last year the Honorary Consul of the Netherlands in Queensland Marjon Wind launched the groundwork for the archaeological projected conducted by the University of Queensland at the WWII HQ of the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile at Camp Columbia in Wacol, Brisbane.