The Archive

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 Read more

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 Read more

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 Read more

Life at an Indonesian Sugar Plantation A touch of humour: the recollections of Walter Mannot as a lively nine-year-old living in the former Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies Walter Mannot was born in the in the Netherlands East Read more

Vandersteen Family History Written by Johanna Wagenaar (nee, van der Steen). Johanna (Hannie) tells of the family’s sea journey from The Netherlands to Fremantle Western Australia on board the ‘Groote Beer’ in 1951, their reception by members of the Free Read more

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, Read more

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, Read more

The Butlers of Wickepin Records show Dutch were on the first fleet, that the Swan Colony had a Dutch consul as early as 1879 and that Dutch made a living on the land in Queensland in the early part of Read more

Life in Java, internment in war, and evacuation to Singapore and Australia 1900–1953 Section 1: Life in Java in the early 20th century Section 2: The clouds of war, 1939–­1942 Section 3: Internment in Java: Kwarassan, Banjoe Biroe X and Read more

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 Read more