The following is an English translation of the original Dutch account. The complete Dutch document is attached below. Cornelis Jan van Noordennen is listed among the passengers on the flight to Sydney, Australia, on 22 July 1950 (seat G4). He was born in Hardinxveld on 11 August 1928, the son Read more
When Dick was nineteen, he was seized by the German authorities and transported to Germany. According to the account he later gave to Glenda Korporaal, he was initially taken to the Dachau concentration camp. He recalled harsh treatment during his detention, including an incident in which a guard broke his Read more
In 1950, two specially organised KLM flights brought a remarkable group of Dutch dredging workers and their families to Australia. Most of the workers had been recruited for a major dredging and harbour-construction project in Melbourne. Many came from Sliedrecht, the South Holland town internationally known as a centre of Read more
Hendrik Johan “Harry” Burgers lived a life shaped by war, displacement and migration. He served as a radio operator and air gunner during the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, survived a forced landing at sea, shot down a Japanese fighter and received the Bronze Cross for bravery. After Read more
On 12 September 1946, Dutch guards opened fire on Indonesian detainees at Camp Victory near Casino in northern New South Wales. One man, Soerdo, was killed, while two other prisoners, Parta and Lengkong, were wounded. The shooting followed months of growing tension at the camp and occurred only a day Read more
Sophia Kruyswijk-van Thiel was both a member of the Vrouwenkorps Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (VK-KNIL) and one of its most important historians. Her wartime generation had been among the first Dutch women formally admitted to military service, but its contribution was largely forgotten after the dissolution of the KNIL in 1950. Read more
In December 1946, the Curaçao newspaper Amigoe di Curaçao published the recollections of a young woman who had volunteered for the Dutch Women’s Corps, the Vrouwenkorps KNIL (VK-KNIL). Her article, “Ik ging naar Java als Vrijwilligster” (“I Went to Java as a Volunteer”), described an extraordinary journey from Curaçao through Read more
Joan Butler grew up in a Dutch migrant family on a farm in Western Australia. During the Second World War, she worked as a Land Girl before joining the Women’s Corps of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. At Camp Columbia in Brisbane, she trained as a soldier and worked Read more
The Second World War transformed Ineke Thysse’s life. She arrived in Australia from the Netherlands East Indies intending to study architecture, but the Japanese occupation separated her from her family and prevented her return. She subsequently became one of the earliest members of the VK-KNIL and served as a medic Read more
The Vrouwenkorps Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (VK-KNIL)—the Women’s Corps of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army—was established in Melbourne on 5 March 1944. Its members trained and worked in Australia before many were deployed to Netherlands New Guinea, Java, Sumatra and elsewhere in the Indonesian archipelago. This research portal brings together Read more