The Club was initially known as the ‘Netherlands Society Abel Tasman’ and first opened its doors on the 1st November 1958 in Barkly Street, St Kilda. The Club changed its name on the 30th October 1978 to its present name Read more
The Dutch Australian Heritage Centre (DAHC) gives the general community an opportunity to learn about Dutch and former Dutch East Indies culture and language and shows how families moved to Victoria and lived and worked in the post World War Read more
Derk Johannes Kippers was a Dutch merchant seaman and qualified wireless operator whose maritime career connected the Netherlands, the Netherlands East Indies and Australia. During the Second World War, he served aboard the KPM vessel Swartenhondt, one of the Dutch Read more
It was around 1985 and the club needed more regular visitors. The Friday nights were alright but could be better. The idea came up to start a male choir. The name would be the same as the club. Rembrandt Male Read more
Frank Dell, first a RAF pilot who joined the Dutch resistance against Nazi Germany and later migrated to Australia was buried under the sound of the Wilhelmus (Dutch national anthem) with his casket under the Dutch flag and the Union Read more
Johannes “Joop” Gijzemijter was a Dutch aircraft engineer and flight engineer who escaped from Java to Australia with KNILM personnel and aircraft in February 1942. After serving with Allied transport units, including the USAAF’s 39th Troop Carrier Squadron, he became Read more
Frederik “Fred” Pelder was a Dutch military pilot whose extraordinary escape from Java, service with No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF and later commemoration in South Australia connect several important chapters of Dutch–Australian wartime history. His nickname, “Pulk,” was Read more
In May 1931, KLM added an experimental flight from Batavia to Melbourne to their regular Amsterdam – Batavia service providing a through service from Amsterdam to Australia. The plane was a Fokker FVIIA/3m trimotor specially named ‘Abel Tasman’ for this Read more
Maryse Jansen had always lived in Rijswijk and Den Haag in the Netherlands, until she made Australia her home in 2009. A different lifestyle, a warmer climate and lots of natural space beckoned. Maryse and her partner took their chances, Read more
In 2022 I explored the south western part of the Gulf of Carpentaria. We were at the mouth of the Norman River at Karumba. The Dutch explores didn’t come that far south in the Gulf. Nevertheless we got an idea Read more