The history of the Burgers and Hevel families connects several important chapters in Dutch, Indonesian and Australian history: the Boven Digul political prisoners’ camp in Dutch New Guinea, No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF, the Indonesian struggle for independence and the Indonesian graves at Cowra.
This article introduces a detailed family history written by Ernie Burgers. His account should be read alongside the separate biography of his father, Harry Burgers: decorated air gunner, wartime prisoner and Dutch migrant to Cowra.
Jan and Nora Hevel and Boven Digul
The story begins with Jan Hevel, who served as an adjutant at the Boven Digul political prisoners’ camp in Dutch New Guinea.
Boven Digul had been established following the unsuccessful communist uprisings of 1926–27 in the Netherlands East Indies. Indonesian nationalists, communists and other opponents of Dutch colonial rule were exiled to this isolated settlement in the disease-ridden interior of New Guinea.
Jan’s daughter, Nora Hevel, spent part of her childhood in this unusual and remote colonial environment. After Jan’s early death, the family returned to the Netherlands.
The Boven Digul prisoners in Australia
In 1943, Dutch authorities evacuated hundreds of Boven Digul prisoners and their families from New Guinea to Australia. The Dutch represented the detainees as dangerous prisoners who might assist Japan, although they were political prisoners of the Dutch colonial administration rather than enemy prisoners of war.
Some were interned at Liverpool and others at the prisoner-of-war camp at Cowra. Australian trade unionists and civil-rights organisations challenged their detention. Once the Australian Government understood their true status, it pressured the Dutch authorities to release them.
The Cowra detainees were released in December 1943. Many subsequently became involved in the Indonesian independence movement in Australia.
For the broader history, see Indonesian political prisoners held by the Dutch and freed in Australia
Harry Burgers and No. 18 Squadron
Hendrik Johan “Harry” Burgers served as a radio operator and air gunner during the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. After surviving a forced landing and escaping to Australia, he became associated with No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF.
Harry was subsequently caught up in the controversial Colombo treason case. Unlike the three airmen charged with conspiracy, he was prosecuted for failing to report conversations about a proposed flight back to Japanese-occupied Java.
After the war, Harry returned to the Netherlands. He married Nora Hevel in Nijmegen on 29 December 1945. Their first son, Robert Harry, was born there on 18 October 1946.
The family later returned to the Netherlands East Indies, where Harry was stationed at Tjililitan airbase. Their second son, Ernie, was born at Tjililitan on 23 June 1949.
From Nijmegen to Cowra
In 1950, Harry and Nora migrated with their family to Australia and settled at Cowra in New South Wales.
This created a remarkable historical connection. Nora’s father had served at Boven Digul, while Nora now lived in the Australian town where some of the Indonesian political detainees and other people from the former Netherlands East Indies had been held or were eventually buried.
Over many years, Nora—and later Ernie Burgers—helped honour and preserve the memory of the Indonesians buried at Cowra. Their graves represent a complicated shared history involving Dutch colonial rule, Indonesian nationalism, wartime Australia and the movement towards Indonesian independence.
See also:
Indonesian war graves at Cowra
Camp Cowra: Indonesian detainees, Dutch authority and political transformation in wartime Australia
he Burgers family history
The document below was written by Ernie Burgers. It provides the family’s own account of the connections between Boven Digul, the Netherlands, the Netherlands East Indies, No. 18 Squadron and Cowra.
