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
This article was written in 2006 Mathilde is the popular producer and presenter based in the Sydney office of SBS Dutch Radio. Born: Djalan Semarang, Jakarta on 3 March 1950 Arrival in Australia: 27 May 1981 Qualifications/Training: Secondary education: Rotterdamsch Lyceum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Tertiary education: Diploma – Ecole HÙteliËre 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
In 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 seeking house and work in Adelaide, while staying with Australian friends he had met in Read more
Indonesian political prisoners and colonial repression The story of Indonesian nationalist Mohamad Bondan reflects a largely overlooked chapter in the shared wartime history of Indonesia, the Netherlands and Australia. His experiences illustrate how the upheavals of the Second World War brought anti-colonial activists into direct contact with Allied wartime structures Read more
The academic paper below by Nonja Peters and colleagues presents a focused and interdisciplinary investigation into one of the most intriguing and debated aspects of early Dutch–Australian history: the possibility that marooned sailors from the Dutch East India Company established contact—and potentially long-term relationships—with Aboriginal communities along the Western Australian Read more
The lecture document below from Dr. Nonja Peters provides a broad and ambitious interpretation of the role of the Dutch East India Company in shaping early globalisation, with particular emphasis on the Indian Ocean region and its long-term connections to Western Australia. It combines economic history, maritime exploration, and cultural Read more
The article below by Femme S. Gaastra, published in The Great Circle, offers a nuanced interpretation of the role of the Dutch East India Company in the early European encounters with Australia. Rather than celebrating discovery alone, it examines a more revealing question: why the Dutch, despite being the first Read more
This article from Robyn van Dijk from the Australian War Memorial as presented at the symposium Allied Co-operation in Brisbane during WWII: Australia, USA, Netherlands, UK, organised by the Camp Columbia Heritage Association in August 2025, highlights a little-known but important chapter in Dutch–Australian wartime relations: the evacuation and rehabilitation Read more
During the Second World War, northern Australia became a crucial operational base for Allied air forces defending the continent and supporting offensive operations into the Netherlands East Indies. Among the aircraft deployed in this theatre was a Dutch-operated North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, serial N5-156, whose dramatic loss in October Read more