When people think of Dutch companies in Australia, names such as Philips, Shell often come to mind. Yet another Dutch company has quietly become one of the most important technology businesses in the world. ASML, founded in the Netherlands in 1984, designs and manufactures the highly sophisticated lithography systems used Read more
For centuries the Dutch connection with Australia has largely been told through stories of exploration, trade and shipwrecks. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans to chart much of Australia’s coastline, leaving traces of their journeys scattered along the continent’s shores. Today, those stories continue to be uncovered and interpreted through Read more
Dr William Graham Gosewinckel AO was a descendant of one of Australia’s early Dutch settler families and went on to become one of the nation’s most influential telecommunications pioneers. As the founding Chief Executive of AUSSAT, Australia’s first domestic satellite communications company, he helped lay the foundations for Australia’s modern Read more
Recent scientific research (2025) has completed the first comprehensive geological mapping of Zealandia, a vast continent that lies almost entirely beneath the waters of the southwest Pacific. Covering approximately five million square kilometres, Zealandia is around two-thirds the size of Australia, yet some 95 per cent of it is submerged Read more
Cora Baldock was born on 16 December 1935 in Rotterdam as Corrie Vellekoop, the youngest of three children. Her father, Cornelis Vellekoop, was also born in Rotterdam and worked for the Norwegian Consulate there. His job meant that as a young girl Corrie frequently met Norwegian people, who usually communicated Read more
Long before ambassadors, embassies and formal diplomatic relations between Australia and the Netherlands, there was already practical cooperation between South Australia and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). It was not driven by politics or military alliances, but by telecommunications. In the nineteenth century telegraph cables were the equivalent of Read more
In March 2026 the long awaited EU–Australia agreement was signed, marking a significant shift in the relationship between Europe and Australia. While much public attention has focused on tariff reductions and trade access, the agreement also includes important provisions and parallel initiatives relating to research cooperation, defence collaboration and cyber Read more
In a striking twist of history, the Netherlands and Australia are converging around Indonesia’s deep human past. What began as a late-nineteenth-century Dutch scientific quest in the former Netherlands East Indies is now being reframed through Indonesian custodianship and contemporary Australian research. Anthropology, rather than diplomacy or conflict, has become Read more
The World Solar Challenge is a biannual race in outback Australia that aims to promote the development of solar-powered vehicles. The Challenge was first held in 1987 and draws teams from all over the world, including the Netherlands. About the World Solar Challenge Participants in the World Solar Challenge (teams Read more
Nicolette Boele (born 10 November 1970) is an Australian independent Member of Parliament representing the federal seat of Bradfield in Sydney’s north since May 2025. The daughter of Dutch migrants who settled in Australia in the 1960s, she belongs to a new generation of Dutch-Australian leaders active in public life. Read more