The Dutch seafarer, Abel Tasman, is recognised as the first European to land, in December 1642, on the island that now bears his name.
In the last 50 to 60 years, thousands of Dutch settlers and their descendants have been making a rich contribution to Tasmanian society.
Dutch heritage in Australia, which started 128 years before James Cook made landfall at Botany Bay and 146 years before Arthur Phillip established a settlement at Sydney Cove, continues to shape local life and culture.
Timeline
ca 500 BC
The Greek scholar Pythagoras developed the belief that there must be a great Southland on the opposite side of the world “to balance the earth.”
ca 1600s AD
Explorers searched for the unknown southern land – terra australis incognito.
1606–1642
Several Dutch seafarers left records that prove they were the first Europeans to set foot on the Southland – terra australis. They called it New Holland, but they made no attempt to establish settlements.
1642
Anthony van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, commissioned Abel Tasman, with charge of two ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen, to sail west from Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, then to turn south and east to search for the Southland.
Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman’s vessels, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen, sailed off Cape Raoul on the Tasman Peninsula in Southern Tasmania, Australia, in 1642. (From a watercolour by Mrs Margaret Rhee.) Tasman was instructed “to treat all natives encountered in the most friendly and unintimidating manner possible.” Travelling east along the Roaring Forties, in November, Tasman sighted what he would call Van Diemen’s Land, later named Tasmania in his honour.
On 2 December, the ships anchored in Frederick Henry Bay, and a crew member swam ashore and planted the flag of the Prince of Orange. Abel Tasman claimed formal possession of the land for the Netherlands. He did not see any Aboriginal inhabitants but recorded evidence of their existence in the form of cut-outs in tree trunks. He left names such as Storm Bay, Maria Island, Schouten Island, Maatsuyker Island, and others.
1803
The British established a colony near what is Hobart today. More than 160 years after Abel Tasman planted the Dutch flag, the island, like the mainland, came under British orbit, and Australia celebrates the Queen’s birthday in June rather than on 30 April.
The lesson is: Claim what you like, but it is “facts on the ground” that count.
1854
The Legislative Council in Van Diemen’s Land voted to forward a petition to Queen Victoria to change the name of the colony to Tasmania. The new name signified closing the door on the penal past and looking forward to a free, self-governing future.
There is documentary evidence that the name Tasmania was in use in the early 1820s and was popular in official circles from the late 1830s.
1856
On 1 January, the new name of Tasmania was proclaimed. The history and documents relating to the change can be viewed on the website of the National Archives of Australia.
1947
The Australian census recorded 13 individuals resident in Tasmania who were born in the Netherlands.
1947–1950
About 200 people migrated from Holland to Tasmania. They brought expertise in the building trades, engineering, agriculture, printing, shipping, teaching, and commerce.
Mid-1950s
About 3,500 Dutch migrants called Tasmania home.
1996
The census figures showed that there were 2,788 Dutch-born people living in Tasmania. Studies suggested, however, that 1 in every 20 Tasmanians, perhaps around 20,000 people, had some Dutch in their immediate ancestry. Families had grown, and the community had integrated well into Tasmanian life.
Tasmanians whose immediate forebears came from the Netherlands are not readily visible for various reasons. Some anglicised their names, some married locals or into other migrant groups. Many names give no indication of their Dutch origin – names such as Rust, Wind, L’Compte, L’Grove, Von Schmidt, and Steinhauser (refugees who fled to the Netherlands in centuries past).
The most visible Dutch migrants made their mark in business (supermarkets and discount outlets) and the building trade. Some Dutch-born migrants have been elected to political office (two mayors, two MLCs, and an MHA).
Some of the Dutch migrants founded churches, schools, homes for refugees, women’s shelters, and homes for the aged – all now part of the fabric of Tasmanian life.
There is also a local chapter of the Netherlands Australia Chamber of Commerce (NACOC), which aims to establish and promote trade relations between both countries and facilitate import and export opportunities for all Tasmanians.
References
- Jupp, J (ed), The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988, pp. 268–270.
- H. Overburg, and pp. 270–272.
- R. Julian. Thesis –
- Farmer, RSJ, The Geography of Migration in Tasmania, 1921–1961, Uni Tas, 1968.
- CofA, Dept of Imm, Canberra, Statistical Bulletin #1, Jan 1952.
- Overseas Born Australians, 1988: A Statistical Profile, ABS cat no. 4112.0.
Disclaimer: In relation to the video below, the section in the middle about Tasmanian Aborigines is purely a product of imagination. It simply didn’t happen.
Tasman’s map – floor mosaic
For a complete technical description of the making of the map, the reason for its making, and a brief history of the only comparable map in the world, in Amsterdam, visit http://www.virtualtour.com.au/melocco/mitchel/peter.o.melocco-mitchel-history.htm
