Between the Netherlands and Australia The end of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia led to the large-scale displacement of people connected to the former Netherlands East Indies (NEI). Between 1945 and the early 1960s, around 300,000 individuals left the archipelago. Read more
This document by Desmond Cahill analyses the history, community dynamics, and assimilation patterns of Dutch Australians within the broader context of Australian immigration and multiculturalism. Dutch Australian Community’s Historical Context Settlement Patterns and Ethnic Integration Cultural Core Values and Adaptation Read more
A 2006 episode of Andere Tijden titled Australië: integreren met hindernissen revisited postwar migration from the Netherlands to Australia. What makes this account particularly valuable is that it challenges the long-standing perception that Dutch migration was a largely smooth and Read more
When and why did you move to Australia? I moved to Melbourne five years ago to live with my new partner. He is Dutch too and moved here fifteen years ago. I found out I was pregnant with my first child Read more
Peter Reef recently self-published his memoir The Road from Wagga Wagga: Recollections of a Migrant Son (2026). Peter’s parents migrated from the Netherlands to Australia an astonishing three times between 1951 and 1965, and the book recounts his experience of Read more
In early 1947, Australian newspapers reported on the disappearance of a Dutch Dakota aircraft en route from Australia to the Netherlands East Indies. The aircraft was later found wrecked in remote Northern Territory country near Katherine Gorge, after being struck Read more
Life in Java in the early 20th century Henriette Adriana Margaretha Thomas (nee Kuneman) was born on 22 January 1930 on the Badek Estate, a coffee and rubber plantation, near Kediri, East Java in the former Netherlands East Indies (NEI). Her Read more
By Dr. Nonja Peters Between 1945 and 1949, around 300,000 Indies-born and Eurasian Dutch relocated from the Netherlands East Indies to the Netherlands as a result of the Japanese Occupation of Java and Sumatra and the Indonesian Revolution. Not only Read more
By Julia Weisz This article outlines the journey of Heinrich (Heini) Kuhn and Josefine (Fini) Kuhn, whose lives reflect the experience of many European Jewish families displaced by war, persecution, and political upheaval, and who later became part of Australia’s Read more
Introduction The Scheyville Migration Camp occupies an important, though often understated, place in Australia’s postwar migration history. Located about 50 kilometres north-west of Sydney, the camp served as a reception and training centre for thousands of migrants between 1949 and Read more