Personal stories

When and why did your parents move to Australia?  I grew up during war. Dad was a soldier; my mom raised me. As a teenager, I arrived in Australia with my family, parents and brothers, in 1956. When we arrived, we didn’t speak a single word English. My aunt had

When and why did you move to Australia? We travelled around Australia in 2004, and had this really strong feeling of coming home, feeling at home. It is hard to describe. In Australia people work hard, but it also has a culture of leisure and it is less stressed compared to

When and why did your parents move to Australia? The first time I heard about Australia, was in 1995 when my boyfriend went there to travel. I decided to go backpacking for a few months as well when I needed a break from my studies. My parents had given me a

When and why did you move to Australia? I came to Australia as a backpacker, to travel and work. My sister advised me I could work on farms and do other casual jobs. I travelled to Queensland from Sydney with a guy I met there (we keep in touch until this

When and why did your parents move to Australia? My parents arrived separately in Australia after WWII.  My mother was 19, and came with her family, while my father was 25 and came on his own. I have always been interested in their story. It can’t have been easy for them to

Zing! Sing in Dutch Zing! is a Melbourne based Dutch choir that was formed in mid-2016 from an expressed interest in the Dutch community for a place to sing in Dutch, and meet other Dutch speakers. The choir is open to all people – whether or not they have previous

Motivation, Intention and Assimilation Author: Kees Wierenga A thesis submitted as part of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History, School of History and Classics University of Tasmania October, 2005. The object of this thesis is to examine the motivations, intentions and the attempted

What is DAAAG? DAAAG is an innovative new concept dedicated to the digital preservation of Australian immigrants’ cultural heritage. It appreciates that there is a story in the life or family history of every newcomer and new ethnic group. It argues that the digital rescue and preservation of immigrants’ memories and other ephemera not only

Johanna Binkhorst I was born in 1918 to a Dutch father and German mother.  I was educated in Germany, where I lived and enjoyed a comfortable family life until the depression began.  Due to political unrest, my father decided to take the family to Holland, not an easy transition to

Hans Hulsbosch, independent brand designer Born in Valkenswaard just south of Eindhoven, the Phillips city, age 62 in 2014. Hans married Marianne in the Netherlands before emigration to New Zealand. Marianne’s father had knowledge of Australia and had positive views of the country. Hans was trained in design and advertising and worked

1950s Migrant, Peter Herweynen, Master Builder in Tasmania and the Antarctica When he was 18 years old, Jan van Herweynen was asked by his father to travel to Tasmania, and to purchase a piece of land and begin building a house. Jan was accompanied by his cousin Bob Brinkman and

Adriana Taylor, from Dutch Schoolgirl to ‘Servant of the People’ It is normal for the eldest son to inherit the farm. This has been true over the centuries, and in many places in the world. Jos (Adrianus Johannes Ansems), known to all as Lange Jos, refused the privilege. He had

Sijke Bink-Faber, from Dutch village in Friesland to Australian farm Early Life My name is Sylvia Bink, I was born 25 May, 1915, as Sijke Faber in Schingen a small village, about an hour’s ride on the push bike from Leeuwarden, the capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland. 

Elly Anderson (nee Van Der Sommen) In my small collection of Dutch books at our home in South Australia there is a 1950 hard cover publication titled Australië – Land van Vele Mogelijkheden by J.J. van der Laan.  It was one of many books that my parents brought to Australia

In May 1950, a group of 10 men, and their wives, met in the residence of Eerke van der Laan in the city of Groningen. They had met several times before, and during the war years had learned to know and trust each other. Now they were discontented, but hopeful.

Anton Roodhuyzen: Memories of life as a child in a Japanese POW Camp in the former Netherlands East Indies My full name is Antonie Roodhuyzen, a male of European Dutch descent, born 1st December 1936 in the city of Malang, on the island of Java, in Indonesia, then the Netherlands

Adriaan and Johanna Rutte Golden Memories of their 50th Wedding Anniversary at Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia In June 1991, when Adriaan and Johanna Rutte had been married 50 years, a family of no less than seventy members, spanning four generations, celebrated with them. The number was hardly

Wilhelmina De Brey These pieces are in memory of those I failed to help survive.  I had hoped to save their lives. Through the betrayal of another person, to the secret police, the Kempeitai, our house was invaded. I had received a visit from a woman three weeks before the raid, and

Netherlands East Indies (1939 – 1946) Internment, resilience and survival: The story of Dirk Drok who helped to uncover the Batavia and a key contributor to Voyage to Disaster, and his wife, well-known painter and ceramicist, Kitty Drok Why might a young baby less than a year old be interned

John (Jan) Rikkers John (Jan) Rikkers was born on 5 February 1925 in den Haag, the youngest child of Jan Rikkers and Marie van der Wansem (official papers in later years state his date of birth as 1921, but according to John he had deliberately put his age up so

The Dutch Contribution to the Defence of Australia in World War II THE DUTCH CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA IN WORLD WAR TWO   Since November 2007 a plaque on the Pathway of Honor in Adelaide, South Australia, recognises the Dutch servicemen and women who joined the Australian forces

Klaas Woldring Klaas Woldring’s life as an academic, political activist, and notable supporter of the Dutch community in Australia, has taken him The Netherlands to South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Norway, Spain, Germany, Malta and the Solomon Islands. An interesting life! Date of birth: 2 July 1934, Groningen, the Netherlands Arrival

Dick van Leer, People Lover and Entrepreneur Not long ago, a book was published about Dick under the title The Incredible Life of Dick van Leer.  This very readable account of Dick’s life, a family history really, written jointly with Aubrey Cohen, starts with his birth in 1922 in Surabaya,

Gerada Baremans: quilter and textile artist I was born in the Netherlands on 8 April 1937, the eldest of five girls. I was only two years old, when war broke out. My childhood was not free and easy as my mother had three girls between 1937 and 1940. She would constantly

Marijke Greenway, renowned artist and former world-class trampolinist Marijke Greenway is an achiever, in different countries, South Africa and Australia, and in quite different fields. Her story is exceptional in many ways. She was born in the Netherlands in 1943, in  Halfweg/Zwanenburg, close to Amsterdam,  the fourth child of six

John Mutsaers I was born in Eindhoven in Noord Brabant in 1942. I am the only son among five daughters, three older and two younger than I. Being a family with only six children was small in our neighborhood, twelve and fourteen were more common.  My father was a bus driver

Cora Baldock Emeritus Professor– Murdoch University, Western Australia Name: Cora Baldock (nee Vellekoop) Born: 16 December 1935, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Date of arrival in Australia: 31 December 1974 Naturalisation: 13 December 1983, Perth WA Currently living: Perth, Western Australia Qualifications and training: Masters degree in sociology and undergraduate degree in

The National Archives of Australia (NAA) office in Perth holds inwards and outwards passenger lists for the port of Fremantle and other ports in Western Australia – including Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Busselton, Carnarvon, Cossack, Derby, Geraldton, Onslow and Port Hedland, Point Sampson and Wyndham and Perth airports. As Fremantle was

Post-war Dutch and other migration to Australia 1945 – 1970 Presentation by: Dr Nonja Peters Date: 28 September – 2 October 2011 Danish Emigration Archives and Utzon Center Aalborg, Denmark. Migration History Matters Association of European Migration Institutions (AEMI) Annual Meeting and Conference This presentation looks at how local, national

Memories of my father, Captain Adrianus Cornelis Marinus (Hoffie) Hofman Born: Velsen Holland Date of Birth: 26 Sept 1898 Died: October 1971 Profession: KPM Ship’s Master/Captain Training: Merchant Navy School, The Netherlands Arrival in the Netherlands East Indies: 1918 Awards: War Remembrance Cross with a bar for Merchant Marine War Service

Presentation by: Dr Nonja Peters Date: 18 October 2011 Venue: Maritime Archeological Association of Western Australia How did the earth’s peoples, cultures, economies, and polities become so closely interconnected? When did our world become ‘global’ and what vital role did Asia and Africa play at the centre of this new international

Dutch history in Australia is characterized by their maritime, military, migration and mercantile presence in Australia since 1606 Dutch Maritime History The Dutch have at various times had strong maritime, military, migrant or mercantile connections with Australia and Australians. This connection began in March 1606, in Wik country near what

Dutch Maritime History Mariners, merchants and passengers on ships belonging to the Dutch Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie [VOC] (East Indies Company), were the first recorded Europeans to step foot on Australian soil, mainly by chance, while in pursuit of the spice trade, and largely because the instruments used to determine

Dutch Mercantile History The economic integration of Dutch migrants in Australia Driven mostly by the desire to improve their material position Dutch migrants embraced Australia’s booming economy. War-boosted, the prolific job market engendered gave them purchasing power beyond belief, compared to the Netherlands economy they left behind. Their resettlement was also

Dutch diaspora to Australia Since 1606 the Dutch have at various times had strong maritime, military or immigration connections with Australia. The focus of this history is the period from 1947 to 1970, when the Commonwealth Government deliberately set about enticing emigrants to Australia for security, to reverse population stagnation,

The Pacific War Dutch military history in Australia begins with the outbreak of WWII in the Pacific, which provoked the American British Dutch Australian Alliance, forged in defence of the region. It ties the Nethelands, the NEI and Australia to experiences of invasion, capitulation, occupation, evacuation, revolution, rehabilitation, repatriation and

The aim of the DAAAG Virtual Centre and Web Portal is to digitise, to preserve for posterity, Dutch Australians’ intangible and images of their tangible cultural heritage for their progeny, for education and for research purposes. Academics on Dutch history, migration and culture will provide a context for the digitised

A Touch of Dutch has just come off the press and will make a great Xmas gift. It’s the first ever comprehensive book about the 400 year connection the Dutch have with Australia. Its 34 authors give you a detailed view of the maritime, military, migration and mercantile connection with

  Art and Culture Corrie Ancone   Freelance Photographer, Artist and Permanent Part Time Welfare WorkerIn 1953 my parents and my four siblings migrated to South Australia. We initially spent six very hard months in Glossop, Berri, where we lived in an old workman’s out shed while my father was

Welcome to Dutch Australians at a Glance (DAAAG) Acknowledging the Past and Sustaining the Present and Future DAAAG DAAAG was created to be an accessible, easy to navigate, multimedia internet service dedicated to the sustainable digital preservation of Dutch Australians’ cultural heritage – for use by scholars, researchers, bureaucrats, journalists,