“The UnDutchables: An Observation of the Netherlands, Its Culture, and Its Inhabitants” is a humorous and irreverent exploration of Dutch life and society co-authored by Colin White and Laurie Boucke. First published in 1989, the book has become a best-seller Read more…
Different from most Dutch migrants, Nies Lankamp was not born in the Netherlands. She was born in Teluk Bayur in North Eastern Borneo as Nies Landman. Her father, Gerard Landman, worked there as machinist on the coal transport ships of Read more…
The 15th day of August 1945 will go down in history as the day of the end of the Second World War. On that day, Japan capitulated and the President of the United States announced that the conflict in the Read more…
Hendrikus (Henk) Hoonhout and Alida Johanna Maria Geeraerts (Ali) are brother and sister. They both live in Prins Willem Alexander Village in Birkdale, Brisbane Queensland, albeit in separate accommodation. Ali is a widow and lives in a low-care unit, she Read more…
Husband and wife, Hank and Bertie Halle were both born in 1933. He in Deventer as Hendrik Halle, she in Zaandam as Egberta Westervaarder. Hank’s father was a well-known Dutch footballer and trainer, Jan Halle. Jan and his brother, Leo, Read more…
Wubbo Edward Bijker, was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in April 1939. His parents were Wiebe Bijker, born in Zwolle, and Nicolette Kempff who was born in Haarlem. Grandfather Bijker was Frisian. Father Wiebe Bijker was a mechanical engineer and during Read more…
Bill Hunt is living in a low-care unit of Prins Willem Alexander Village (PWA) in Brisbane because he has severe vision limitations. In spite of his English name, he was born in Assen (Drenthe) in 1934, named Willem Hoekstra, his Read more…
After having interviewed two men who live at my retirement village, I now interviewed a migrant woman. Our village actually has more female than male residents, so it’s about time. Hanny came to Australia in 1950, when she was 10 Read more…
In my village, the Prince Willem Alexander Retirement Village (PAW), there’s plenty of migrants, mostly Dutch. Some of them are here long enough to have been involved with the founding of the village. I interviewed another one of our residents Read more…
Australia is a land of immigrants. I am an immigrant, and you, dear reader, are probably too. High levels of immigration in the years before 1891 resulted in 32% of the population listed as overseas-born in Australia’s first country-wide census Read more…