By Tony Thomas Of all the accounts of the earliest Dutch arrivals in Australia, the wreck of the Concordia seems the strangest. A “great vessel” of 900 tonnes with 130 on board, it departed Java bound for the Netherlands in Read more…
Petronella Wensing (1924-2023) was a Dutch migrant to Australia who passed away in 2023. Below is an obituary written by her son Ed (posted with permission). A short story about Petronella was published in The Canberra Times: The Canberra Times Read more…
A basic Australian history questionnaire Noel Jackling The term ‘Australia’ is used in a broad sense to include its earlier names. 1. Who was the first known European skipper to reach Australia? What was the name of his ship and Read more…
Born: 3 June 1930 (Limburg, The Netherlands)Died: 12 January 2018 (Canberra) Charles was a demographer and public servant who served in Papua New Guinea (1967-72) and Australia thereafter.He was a proud and active member of the Australian Dutch community. Driven Read more…
The SS Groote Beer, originally built as the SS Costa Rica Victory, emerged as a significant vessel post-World War II. Constructed as an enlarged Victory troopship under the US War Shipping Administration, the ship was purchased by the State of Read more…
This is a personal CV written by Dirk Bodemeijer, while he was living in the USA after WWII. Dirk was briefly part of the 120 Squadron that operated out of Bundaberg and Dutch New Guinea. The documents underneath his CV, Read more…
Coosje Ayal, born in 1926 in the Moluccas, Western New Guinea, became a notable figure for her resistance efforts during World War II. Adopted by her aunt and uncle, who was a civil servant of the Dutch colonial government, she Read more…
By: Pierre van der Eng Several Dutch companies have operations in Australia today. The members of the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne and Dutchlink in Sydney include Dutch mastheads like Rabobank, Randstad, ING, Heineken and Vopak. Australia has long Read more…
Anthony van Diemen was the Governor of the Netherlands East Indies during the time of the exploration of Abel Tasman. Tasmania was first known as Van Diemen’s Land, the name given to the island by Anel Tasman. The name was Read more…
Maatsuyker Island is named after Joan Maetsuycker, the The Dutch Governor of Zeylan (present-day Sri Lanka) during the Dutch period in Ceylon and later the Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies from 1653 to 1678. The island was named by Read more…