Introduction
This article was written by Pieter Robert (Robby) Boele van Hensbroek (1920–2011), a former officer of the Royal Netherlands Navy who migrated to Australia in 1951. He remained deeply engaged in Dutch community affairs through the Netherlands Ex-Servicemen and Women’s Association (NESWA) and contributed a number of personal recollections and opinion pieces on Dutch migration and postwar history.
The narrative reflects his experiences and observations of the Dutch Consulate in Perth during the 1950s and early 1960s, when Fremantle was the first port of arrival for thousands of Dutch migrants and Dutch warships regularly called at the harbour. It offers a vivid picture of the role played by Consuls W. (Wim) Arriens and G. E. (Gé) van Lanschot in strengthening the Dutch community and maintaining ties between the Netherlands and Australia.
