The submarine division of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN) was launched in 1906. At the start of WWII, it had approx. 25 submarines in service, with 15 boats deployed in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI). They included the: K-VII (507 tons), K-VIII, K-IX, K-X (all 521 tons), K-XI, K-XII, K-XIII (all 611 tons), K-XIV, K-XV, K-XVI, K-XVII, K-XVIII (all 771 tons), O-16 (896 tons), O-19, O-20 (both 998 tons). After Read more…
During World War II, the Central Bureau was established in 1942 to support General Douglas MacArthur’s South-West Pacific Area Command. This unit brought together intelligence personnel from various countries, including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. Concurrently, the Fleet Radio Unit Melbourne (FRUMEL) Read more…
In Northam, the Northam Army Camp was converted for use as a reception and accommodation centre and the 118th General Field Hospital was refurbished to become the Holden Holding Centre. The RAAF base at Cunderdin also became a reception and accommodation centre. It served as a pivotal hub for migrants Read more…
Hendrikus (Henk) Hoonhout and Alida Johanna Maria Geeraerts (Ali) are brother and sister. They both live in Prins Willem Alexander Village in Birkdale, Brisbane Queensland, albeit in separate accommodation. Ali is a widow and lives in a low-care unit, she is 99. Henk, who never married, lives in an independent Read more…
This story is written by Maria Douwes and published in her book: Back to Australia The Douwes family was one of the last families to move from Amsterdam to Australia for a hundred guilders. Both the Australian and Dutch governments sponsored this trip. On December 9, 1960, Maria Douwes emigrated to Read more…
Christel van der Laan is a contemporary jeweller based in Perth, Western Australia. She was born in 1963 in Son en Breugel, the Netherlands, and moved to Australia in 1981. She graduated from Edith Cowan University in Perth with a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Fashion and Jewellery Design in Read more…
Manon van Kouswijk, a Dutch artist born in 1967, has been residing and creating in Melbourne since 2010. She received her education at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where she later became the Head of the Jewellery department from 2007 to 2010. Central to Manon’s artistic approach is her Read more…