Introduction In the decades following the Second World War, Canberra became home to a growing number of Dutch migrants. As in other parts of Australia, football (soccer) played an important role in helping these newcomers build social networks, preserve cultural familiarity and gradually integrate into Australian society. In Canberra, Dutch Read more
This article originally appeared in the Western Independent on 30 October 2025. By Jayde Andrews Many people find it remarkable how my great grandmother survived two Japanese internment camps from 1941-1946 in the Dutch East, the Indonesian revolution and a famine on her way back to Holland in 1946- all Read more
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has approached the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC) to assist with recruiting people from the Dutch-Australian community to support the 2026 Australian Census. Every five years, the Census provides a comprehensive snapshot of who we are as a nation. The information collected directly influences Read more
The Uiver Memorial Community Trust – a not-for-profit organisation – is devoted to restoring Albury’s Uiver Memorial DC-2 aircraft. In 1934 the MacRobertson Air Race proclaimed itself as the greatest international air race devised, and history has confirmed that bold claim. The aircrews that completed the journey from England to Read more
This document presents a rare and valuable primary-source record of the early years of the Reformed Church in Tasmania, established by Dutch migrants in the early 1950s. It is based on a surviving collection of church newsletters originating from the Reformed Church of Penguin, the first Reformed Church established in Read more
When I walked into the Grand View Hotel in Wentworth Falls in the NSW Blue Mountains to have drink on a Saturday evening, I noticed a painting of recently nicely restored hotel painted by James Willebrant. Having the DACC in mind I wanted to see if there was a Dutch Read more
Missionary origins and the road to Australia In the late nineteenth century, there was growing interest among Catholic women in becoming actively involved in overseas missionary work. This development was closely linked to the rapid expansion of European colonial empires and the social conditions that accompanied them. In many colonial Read more
On 28 October 1945, a Netherlands East Indies Air Force (NEI-AF) B-25J Mitchell bomber was forced to ditch in tidal waters in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. The aircraft, serial N5-254 (USAAF 44-30900), came down in the Glenelg River system north of Broome, although some contemporary sources refer Read more
Introduction: a coalition without equal footing When the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) was created in January 1942, Australia and the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) entered the arrangement from very different political positions. Australia was formally allied to Britain and had long relied on imperial defence guarantees centred on Singapore. The Netherlands, Read more
During the Second World War, the Royal Netherlands Navy operated extensively from Australia following the collapse of the Netherlands East Indies in early 1942. Dutch naval forces, including submarines, surface vessels, and support units, were integrated into Allied operations in close cooperation with the Royal Australian Navy and the United Read more