Dutch migrants in Penguin, Tasmania

Excerpts (and some additional notation by Kees Wierenga)

BETLEHEM FAMILY (p.83)
Andy, patriarch of the family, and second son Gerald, arrived in May 1951. The rest of the family arrived in March 1952.
They established a home next door to Ben and Mary Burnley in Sulphur Creek. There they also dug a well so that the garden could be watered. Andy became quite involved in the leadership of the Penguin Reformed Church.
After several years the family moved to Hobart because employment opportunities there were much better.

DAUDEY, Cornelis Johannes and Helena Maria, (nee Mooy) (pp.29 – 32, 7 photos)
Cornelis arrived in Australia with his friend and fellow florist, Jan de Boer, at the end of 1950. Jan de Vries met the ship and offered them work in Penguin. Cornelis was an older migrant (43 y.o.). His wife and two daughters, Willy and Mieke, followed in the middle of the next year.
The two families shared a house on Watcombe Beach. They worked several jobs, but never again as florists. In the latter part of their working lives they ran the canteen at the Ulverstone cannery, until MS made it impossible for Cor to work.
He died in 1982 at 75 years of age, she died in 2010 at 96 years of age. Willy married Rob Johnstone in 1961, and they live locally. Her sister married Eddie Metcalfe and they live on the Gold Coast.

DE BRUYN, Bert & Johanna and John & Corrie (pp.194 – 199, 8 photos)
Two brothers (with six siblings) married two sisters (also with 6 siblings). They all lived in Lopik, approx. 25km from Utrecht.
The grandfather of the boys, and in turn their father, began carting freight in a barge on the canals of Holland. They eventually had six trucks, but by the end of the war it was all gone apart from one boat.
Working long hours was the norm – 100 hours per week but Sunday was sacred and a 24 hour break from work. Their granddad died at 37 y.o., their father at 44.
Bert married Johanna in 1963 and they had four children. John married Corrie in 1966 and they had three children. A new law in 1977 which forced them to pay ever more taxes was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They sold the business – 18 trucks, and the contracts and resolved to migrate. The law was revoked six months later, but the decision to go stuck. After meeting all their tax obligations they had just enough to buy a house and a second hand car on arrival.
Uncle Cornelis had arrived in Tasmania in 1953, and established ‘C de Bruyn and West Coast Transport’. The brothers bought a portion of this business from their uncle when they moved to Tasmania in 1978. Their business grew, and they sold it to their sons in 2000. After thirteen years the business had 200 employees, 120 trucks, a ship and loads of other equipment.

DEMEIJER, Theodorus (Dorus) and Catharina (Toos) (nee Boonekamp) (pp.33 – 40, 13 photos)

Arrived in Australia in 1951 with three children, the youngest (Mary) just 3 years old. Theodorus was a truck driver, but worked as a builder’s labourer in Melbourne on arrival. He was persuaded by his former assistant driver Tony van Rooyen to move to Lobster Creek near Ulverstone. Eventually they settled in South Road, Penguin, where they were befriended and mentored by Claude and Amy Wickham.
Dorus and Toos were determined to assimilate and made many Australian friends, especially through parish activities as members of St.Mary’s.
Toos loved the Dutch way with windows – open curtains and flowers. In her opinion Australian houses were dingy and dark, with small windows and blinds pulled down.
The family struggled financially, but worked hard. When Dorus retired in 1973 he and Toos took a six month holiday in the Netherlands (some writers claim this as a display of wealth, as a status symbol, see e.g. Blijboom – KW).
Theodorus died in 1986 after several strokes, Catharina died in 1988 from failing health.
The five children appreciate the sacrifices made by their parents, as well as the example they set of old fashioned hard work which paved the way for their own successful lives.

DE VRIES, Jan and Johanna (pp. 1-11, 21 photos)

Jan (John) and his wife Johanna and their two children Annie and Beppy, arrived in May 1949. They bought a 100 acre farm at Mission Hill, Penguin. They quickly became involved in providing accommodation for new Dutch settlers, and established new businesses.
Jan was one of six migrants who put up a pound per week to pay a Reformed Church minister to come from Holland and establish a Reformed Church in Penguin. He, his wife and daughters had all been happy in the Methodist Church, especially musically, but it lacked zest and substance. There are many articles in the local press on this matter, some written by de Vries, and some published in Dutch. (see ‘Trove’, specify Tasmania, specify Advocate, specify 1949-1954, specify ‘dutch’)
The family moved to Melbourne in 1954. They established several businesses there. In 1956 Johanna developed breast cancer and died. John then married Mildred Riccardo and were married for more than 50 years. He died at 105 years in 2006, and his daughter Grace in 2012. His wife and daughters Annie and Beppy still live in Melbourne (Nov.2017).

FABER, Taeke Dirk and Kniertje (Kiry) (nee Westerduin) (pp.40-56, 22 photos)
Taeke and Kiry were married on the 14th of November in 1947. They settled on his uncle’s farm in Java, where he had done military service. All went well until the first child needed to go to school. This didn’t go too well, and they corresponded with a Dutch family in Launceston. Eventually they left for Tasmania in August 1957.
The family started on a farm in Cressy. Running hot water and a bath, crusty high top white bread, school bus at the gate, tap water fit to drink, and so on – it was all luxury. Taeke became Dick and they all lived happily ever after, almost, because Dick wanted more. He sought advice from various people.
With his Launceston friend, Geert de Jong, they bought two dairies side by side in Riana. Eventually they bought their friend out and established one big, economical, dairy farm.
Dick and Kiry were both actively involved in various programs in the Penguin Reformed Church. In 1981 he was elected on to the Penguin Council, where he served until 1989. He was instrumental in establishing the Tourist Centre and initiating the construction of a windmill in recognition of Abel Tasman.
In 1987 he stopped milking and with his wife focussed his energy on promoting tourism. He died in 2006 at 84 years old, a pillar of the community. Kiry still lives on the farm. Her three children have seven children – none of the ten are farmers.

FOKKENS, Tiem and Grace (nee de Vries) (p.82, 1 photo)
The Fokkens family arrived in Australia on the third of August 1950. Grace was the eldest daughter of John de Vries. They had a baby.
Tiem was able to use his architect training to work with the Betlehems, the Yskes and Kuilenburgs in the building industry.
They moved to Melbourne to be with the rest of her family. Tiem worked there as a travelling salesman.

KRAMER, Gerrit and Amalia (nee Kappelhof) (pp.60 – 69, 15 photos)
Gerrit Johan Laurentz (Gerald) and Amalia Antoinette (Maly) were born in Groningen.
He was a baker, in the footsteps of his father, musically talented, good at gymnastics and a good middle distance runner. He was a friend of Pieter Laning before WWII, during his time ‘underground’ and in Tasmania. He served in the Dutch Army in Indonesia for four years, as a baker.
She was a childcare nurse and active in Girl Guides. They got married in September 1952, and left for Tasmania two weeks later. Their honeymoon was spent apart – the 300 men slept at one end of the ship, and Maly shared a space with 188 women.
The church community of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church became an important part of their integration into daily life in Tasmania.
In 1955 Gerald bought a bakery with Roelf van der Woude in Stanley. The following year they bought a bakery in Penguin. This eventually became part of Bass Bakery. Eventually they sold their share and became involved in the vegetable industry.
In his retirement they built a small bakery at home to make rye and fruit bread for family and friends. Gerald died in 2009, Maly still lives in the family home (2013). Together they had seven children, eighteen grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

KOETSIER, Johannes (John) and Aleida (pp.12 – 23, 17 photos)
Koetsier responded to an advertisement placed in a provincial (Drenthe) newspaper by Jan de Vries, offering sponsorship and accommodation. Johannes made contact and arranged all the necessary paperwork and stunned his family with the emigration plan because he had just taken on his father’s butchery.
(This borders on the hasty, as de Vries had arrived in May 1949, needed to find his feet, and send mail to Holland for the advertisement and subsequent correspondence [1 week each way]. Koetsier had to apply for the Ex-Serviceman’s Assisted Passage Scheme and arrange for medical checks etc.)
De Vries met them at Beauty Point. The children were the first Dutch kids in the Penguin Primary school.
Koetsier joined with Ketel to establish a butchery, with a focus on the wholesale market for smallgoods. This venture was eventually quite successful, and employed some 24 people at peak. One of the employees was Josef Chromy, who eventually became quite successful on his own account.
Koetsier was one of the six keen to establish a Reformed Church in Penguin, although they felt quite welcome in the Methodist church. He also put in the one pound per week.
Their son Bill was the first Dutch migrant to play Aussie Rules in a club roster.

KUILENBURG Jacob and Catharina (nee Kalkman) (pp.70 – 81, 17 photos)

Jacob Cornelis (Jack) and Catharina Susanna (Catrien) came from Gouda with five children. They settled at Sulphur Creek, bought a block of land and built a small house, with an outside dunny and neither water or electricity for the first few months. Warm water for laundering was provided by a kerosene stove, on which they also cooked their dinner.
Their neighbours, Mary and Ben Burnley helped where they could, including teaching the children to sing in a choir that was then used to assist with fundraising for a new hall.
The family arrived with barely a word of English between them but excelled in school thanks to great teachers, especially Miss Quinn at Penguin Primary. Jack, the second eldest, topped the class at Ulverstone High School so one of his teachers acquired a scholarship for him to attend university. The childhood years were very happy – compared with Holland they thought they were living in Paradise.
Eventually the ties to Kingston became too strong – Jack was at the university, Rina and John were courting there, there was a Christian school for Janet, there were more employment opportunities, and the whole family moved there. Catharina was always homesick, and made seven trips back home. She died in 1986, twelve years after Jacob, at 72 years of age.

LACUNES, Johan and Jannetje (nee Dijkhuizen) (pp.86, 87. 4 photos)
Johannes (Johan) and Jannetje were born shortly after the turn of the century in central Holland. Bad experiences in the war encouraged them to migrate with their three children. They settled in Penguin in 1953 because they knew the name from a geography lesson at school, they had heard that there were quite a few other Dutch people there, and because her brother John Dijkhuizen was already there.
They settled and lived happily until he died in 1973, and she died in 1977. Their son Jan had four children and moved back to Holland in 1963. Their son Bert and his wife had two children and live in Brisbane. Their daughter Ada married Josef Chromy of smallgoods, wine and fine Tasmanian foods fame.

LOOKMAN, Cornelis (Kees) and Johanna Wilhelmina (Willy) (nee Schepen) (pp.88 – 97, 22 photos)
Kees was born in 1917, Willy in 1925 and lived in Delft.

During the war Kees was forced to work in German factories, after the war, he became a smallgoods maker, a job he really enjoyed. He and Willy married and had two children, Jannie and Mieke. The war affected his sanity and pushed him to emigrate for the sake of his health.
They arrived in Bonegilla in 1956. A job as smallgoods maker in Penguin was offered. This worked well for all, and the family settled there. Their neighbours made them very welcome – so much so that the girls eventually married the neighbour’s boys.
The family were keen to be Australian in all things excepting to speak Dutch at home.
Kees died at 57 years of age. Willy married Kees van Ham fifteen months later (see his story below). They lived in Launceston until his sudden death at 70 y.o. She then returned to Penguin, where she lived happily near her daughters and seven grandchildren.

Piet and Hans Maree (pp.99 – 106, 22 photos)
Piet was born in Gouda and published his first book at age 10. His talent for illustration and design was recognised from an early age. His wife died during the war and he married again in 1944 to Hans Gregorious. He had one daughter from his first marriage, and three more with Hans. The family arrived in Penguin in 1950. Two newspaper articles preceded his arrival (The Advocate 22/7/1950 and 26/8/1950).
Acclaimed as one of Europe’s five leading authors, he intended to translate his work for Australian children. Eventually he refurbished a property at Lonah, making an art gallery, a ‘Dutch’ museum and tearooms which was quite successful.
In 1955 he returned to Holland with his family minus his first born. In 1975 he returned to Tasmania for eight years, then lived for ten years in Queensland, and finally for two years with his eldest daughter Gerda in Tasmania. He died here in 1999, almost 96 y.o.
(Piet commissioned a bust of Abel Tasman for his museum from Dirk Bolt. It eventually was displayed in the lobby of the Dutch Inn, Cromwell St, Battery Point, and when that closed, it disappeared. A photo of the bust and the artist is on display in the Channel Museum, Margate).

MENSINGA, Frits and Jannetje (Winkelman) p.107, (2 photos)
Frerich (Frits) and Jannetje (Jannie) were born in Rotterdam. They lived through the war as teenagers and married in 1949. Initially given a job on a sheep station, they moved to Penguin when they heard that Rev. Schep was working there.
A two week job at Barker’s Piggery became an 18 year job. After this he became an operator of carbon filters at APPM.
The couple had three daughters. Jannie passed away in 2012, and Frits lives in a cottage on a family farm. He has had a happy and blessed life in Tasmania.

MULDER, Dieuwke and Stientje (nee Vos) (pp.108 – 115, 13 photos)
Dieuwke (Don) and Stientje (Sue) come from provincial towns in Groningen. They married in 1948, and had five children. The youngest died at ten days old. A sixth child was born in Tasmania.
Don was a farm hand by nature, and never really happy to be a welder in factories and ships in Rotterdam, the only work readily available to him immediately after the war. They migrated in 1957, and the first four years were very difficult.
After many moves to work on many different farms the family settled in Scotchtown. In 1979 Don received the “Dairy Farmer of the Year” award. In his later years, Don won the State championship in bridge. In his last year of life, although sick with lung cancer, he won the State Bowling finals. Don died in 2000, almost 74 y.o.
Sue has no regrets about migrating, is thankful for her Christian faith which has helped her through the difficult parts, and very satisfied in seeing how well her family have done.

PETRUSMA, Siebrand and Wilhelmina (pp.116 – 135, 30 photos)
Siebrand was a 44 year old businessman, well settled, and Wilhelmina was fifty years old when they decided to migrate in 1951. The people of their town were amazed that this well-placed family should make this decision. They gathered in the street and sang Psalm 121 as the chartered bus pulled away from their home and headed to the docks in Amsterdam.
The family set foot on Tasmania on May 4th 1951. The last leg of the journey, from Beauty Point to Penguin, was by car and truck. On the first Sunday they went to the Methodist Church although none of them understood a word, but that was irrelevant. Being in the house of God, as a family, on Sunday was the most important thing.
Standard of housing was initially very poor, until the prefab house arrived from Holland. Various employment was undertaken, and some small business opportunities, but Siebrand’s health was not strong enough to persevere. He eventually found suitable work as a clerk with APPM, where he stayed until retiring in 1968.
Siebrand jr left school as soon as he could (16 y.o.) and found a job as ‘office boy’. Of his $11 weekly wage, 60 cents went to tax, $1.20 for bus fare, $8.00 to mum. With the $1.20 left he made a weekly offering to the church, bought ten cigarettes and banked the rest.
The church was an important part of the family’s life, but not always a bed of roses. Music was also important, and on Sunday evenings the house would often be full of young people for a sing-along after church.
The final years were spent in Hobart, closer to family and grandchildren. Siebrand died in 1971, Wilhelmina in 1989 at 88 y.o. They raised 8 children and had 31 grandchildren and 88 great grandchildren.

RICHELME, John (pp.136 -145, 15 photos)
John Richelme grew up close to Amsterdam before the war. The cold, fear and starvation left him with life-long eye problems. After the war he was enlisted in the Dutch Army but did not have to serve in Indonesia. He undertook a commercial arts course which he passed with flying colours.
John de Vries was a near neighbour who kept John informed of prospects in Tasmania and guaranteed him accommodation. The guarantee was counter-signed by the Penguin Council Clerk, who eventually became John’s father in law.
John arrived in Australia in May 1950. The people in Penguin were very friendly and helpful. He soon met a local lass and they spent a lot of time together. John disagreed with de Vries about establishing a Reformed Church, as that would be disloyal to the welcome of the Methodists.
John married Vourn Quinn and the couple lived in Launceston. John worked with various businesses there before returning to Penguin. Eventually he became an award winning wood turner, with prizes from the Launceston Design Centre, commissions from galleries in Tasmania and Canberra, and commissions for Australia House in London.
John looks back on his decision to come to Australia as a very rewarding one, with opportunities he and his family would never have had otherwise.

SCHNEIDERS, Wilhelmus Albertus Maria (Pim) & Augusta Maria (Gusta) nee Swarte
(pp.146 – 151, 12 photos)
Pim grew up in Groningen. He was a teenager during the war. After the war he trained as a baker and pastry cook. He migrated in 1953, working in Sydney and the Snowy Mountain Hydro Scheme, before returning home in the late 1950s. There he met Gusta. They became engaged in Groningen in 1960, and were married in Melbourne on August 31. They were blessed with five children.
In 1966 they moved to Penguin to be close to their friends the Kramers. They became active members of the Catholic Church community and the Lions’ Club.
At home they kept up little Dutch things – some foods, some objects retained Dutch names, Dutch style décor, and many visits from and to family. They always felt accepted as migrants and were proud of their heritage.
Gusta died following an ant bite in 1982, Pim died in Burnie 1995.

Van der VLIST, Ernst Cornelis and Kitty Klazina nee Muit (pp.152 – 159, 11 photos)
Ernst and Kitty met after the war, and had thoughts of migrating to Indonesia, but he preferred Australia. An acquaintance of her father, Piet Maree, wrote about Tasmania in the Dutch Readers Digest. Her uncle was a minister in the church and had contacts with Dutch migrants in Penguin. Through these contacts Ernst and Kitty received offers of hospitality and accommodation guarantees. They arrived in Tasmania in the spring of 1951, and were married in Penguin on the 23rd of October 1951.
Bill Nolan from the Good Neighbour Council was very helpful in their first year, as was Mr Ling at the Don Store – he had all the patience necessary to help migrants with their shopping.
By dint of hard work they opened a drapery shop in Burnie in 1954, then another in Roseberry and a third in Smithton.
From 1977 onwards they had holidays with family in Holland every second year, until Ernst died in 1998. Kitty now lives in Grindelwald.

Van der WOUDE, Roelf & Kunnegiena (Kunnie) nee Jager (pp. 160 – 176, 25 photos)
Roelf was born in 1915 and was eventually trained as the sales person for the family timber business (wooden vats, tool handles, coffins etc). Kunnie was born in 1922 and trained in domestic / home duties. Her father had a business roasting coffee and peanuts. They married during the war in Winschoten (Groningen).
The decision to migrate was made in the late 1950s, after hearing reports from Tasmania. Kunnie’s brother Piet and his wife Cor joined them. They arrived with 50 pounds, a huge packing crate holding all their possessions, and a prefabricated house.
They bought a bakery and tearooms in Stanley with Gerald Kramer. This was sold when the kids needed high school, at which point the families moved to Penguin and bought a bakery there. Some Hobart shops were supplied with bread delivered from Penguin by train.
The kids spent a lot of time at the beach swimming, fishing, making sandcastles. Sunday was always a day of rest and going to church twice.
Roelf was a founding member of the Lions’ club and often in a leadership position. Kunnie and two of the kids also got involved. Roelf liked to help people, and he got things done. Kunnie got her driving licence at the age of 50, which enabled her life and thinking begin to broaden.
They had many different houses and worked hard for their family, and for others and the community. Roelf died in 1987, Kunnie in 2008.

van HAM, Kees (p.98, 1 photo)
Kees, his wife Johanna and daughter migrated to Tasmania in 1953. He worked at the Dutch butchery, making smallgoods. When Kees Lookman joined the team in 1956, they became friends.
Kees was widowed when his friend died. Some fifteen months later, he married his friend’s wife, Willy. They lived in Launceston until his sudden death at 70 y.o.

Van OMMEN, Berend & Gerritje (pp. 177 – 185, 17 photos)
Berend (Be) and Geeritje (Gerrie) were born at the end of the 19th century in central Holland. They married in 1924 and had six children. He had a business as a wine distiller, liquor and cordial manufacturer and merchant. The family home was welcoming, a meeting place for young people.
The two eldest boys were the first to migrate after service in the Army in Indonesia. Holland was too small for them. They arrived in 1951. The family followed one year later.
The three youngest children learnt English very quickly and used it without thought for their parents, who struggled to keep up and understand. Be couldn’t pick up where he had left off in Holland – Tassie had no taste for ‘plonk’. He eventually found work as a cleaner at APPM, quite a step down from his previous work.
The eldest daughter, Hermien, had stayed in Holland and married there. A weekly letter kept them in touch until 1977. These letters are part of the family treasure.
A small shop / kiosk selling meals and ice-creams supplemented the family income, although only in the summer. It necessitated Sunday trading, anathema to the Reformed Church, and forcing a parting of the ways. They found a home with the Methodists and their Choral Society.
The kiosk was sold and the family bought Lonah from Piet Maree. They set up this business as a B&B, and also kept the tearooms going, until Be died in 1967 at 69 y.o. In 1975 Gerrie returned to the Netherlands to live with Hermien on the family farm in Almelo, where she died in 1987.
The family often visit the Netherlands, but “in Tasmania, the mountain climbing and fishing and … literally cause me to stand in awe of God’s creation …”. The opportunities for their descendants are possible because Be and Gerrie made an unselfish decision to migrate.

Van WIJK, Dirk & Adriana nee Schipper (pp.187 – 193, 14 photos)
Dirk was born near Amsterdam, Adriana (Sjaan) was born near Rotterdam, both in 1906. They were married in 1934, ten years after they were engaged, and had 1 boy and six girls. Dirk had a greengrocery, for which he needed a horse drawn cart to collect produce. During the war years he also carried guns and people-at-risk for the Resistance.
Life was simple – meals were eaten at the table, grace was said before and after meals. The bowl in which your soup was served was the bowl in which mains was served was the bowl used for dessert. Mains was usually potatoes mashed with kale or spinach or carrots. On Wednesdays there was a meatball, on Sunday there was meat. One egg per person per week – the rest were sold in the shop. One pig was killed every year, and every part of it was used.
After the war, without any trade skills or money or knowledge of English, at 45 years of age, they decided to migrate. They found a sponsor – Jan de Vries of Gravelly Beach. For the first three years Dirk worked on an apple orchard in Exeter, and on Sundays the family attended the Reformed Church in Launceston.
The children eventually taught their mother to speak English, although they always spoke Dutch at home. In 1955 the family purchased a farm at Riana, but found the income from it needed to be supplemented – Dirk then worked for Koetsier, the butcher while Trix, the eldest daughter, ran the farm.
When Dirk retired, he and Sjaan were living in Penguin. He felt quite rich – he had his own home and car and was financially independent of his children. Dream fulfilled! Better yet, he had a lovely garden and his family were all doing well. He and Sjaan were able to travel and visit family in Kingston and in Queensland, and also three times to Holland.
Dirk died in 1991 at 85 y.o. and Sjaan lives in a unit in Penguin.

The article below was submitted by (son) Peter on 06/04/2020 about his family record.
It is included on this Penguin page because this is where the Veenhuizens initially established themselves in 1950.

Veenhuizen, Pieter Abrahams (Bram) and Fokelina Johanna (Lientje) (nee van der Kooij)

Bram arrived at Wynyard airport from Holland on October 13, 1950, aged 18 years. He had left his home town of Almelo some seven days before and, under pressure, his parents paid the cost of his flight via Cairo, Karachi, Ceylon, Singapore, Darwin and Sydney. He had left Almelo following a long-standing family disagreement and vowed never to return.