There are a number of stories about a Dutch settlement in central Australia in the 18th century. However, there is no concrete evidence to support the claim that a group of Dutch settlers established a colony in the region. This article offers an introduction to this topic and canvasses some of the literature and perspectives on the existence of a Dutch settlement in central Australia.
The story of a Dutch colony in central Australia seems to have originated from a newspaper article published in the Leeds Mercury in 1834. Later, the story was picked up further when a number of books and articles were published claiming that Dutch explorers or shipwreck survivors had established a settlement in the interior of Australia. Some of these accounts suggested that the Dutch colonists had intermarried with Aboriginal people and that their descendants continued to live in the region.
However, historians have so far been unable to settle the question of whether a Dutch settlement existed in central Australia in the 18th century. To date there is no reliable evidence to definitively support or refute the story, which remains an intriguing mystery.
Henry Van Zanden, The Lost White Tribes of Australia
In his book The Lost White Tribes of Australia, Henry Van Zanden argues that long-standing rumours about a community of Dutch-descended people found in central Australia in the early 19th century, are true. According to Van Zanden this Dutch community was living proof that foreigners occupied the Australian continent long before the British. He argues that if the community’s existence had become known, England’s claim to sovereignty over the Australian landmass could have been threatened, and so it was deliberately kept secret.
Les Hiddens, Australia’s Bush Tucker Man
Les Hiddens, also known as “The Bush Tucker Man,” is an Australian television personality and former soldier who has conducted extensive research on bush tucker and Aboriginal culture. He has made a number of claims about the existence of a Dutch colony in Central Australia, but these claims have not been substantiated by historical evidence.
In his book Bush Tucker Man: Stories of Exploration and Survival, Hiddens recounts a number of stories and legends he has heard from Indigenous people about the presence of European settlers in the region. He suggests that the Dutch may have established a colony in the area in the early 18th century, possibly as a result of shipwrecks or exploratory expeditions.
In 2023 Hiddens’ perspective on the question of a Dutch settlement in central Australia was featured in Tony Thomas’ Quadrant article Were There Dutch Castaways in Central Australia?
See also:
Were the first European Australians Dutch? ABC Videos from 2018 and 2022
The following paper was written by Les Hiddens:
Other mentions of the Dutch settlement
Other recent writers also mention the story of a Dutch settlement in central Australia – and various theories about it – , including Thomas Vanderveldt in his book Blood That Unites Us (2012). The story is also referred to in Nonja Peters’ edited collection The Dutch Down Under, 1606-2006 in chapters by Rupert Gerritsen and Bruce Donaldson.
See also: Australian Descendants of the VOC
