The collapse of the Netherlands under German occupation in May 1940 left its overseas empire, particularly the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), to operate with significant autonomy. Based in Batavia, the colonial administration continued to govern its territories while the Dutch government-in-exile established itself in London. As the war progressed, tensions grew between these two centres of Dutch authority. Their differing strategic priorities, communication failures, and contrasting political outlooks complicated cooperation not only within Dutch circles but also with Allied partners, especially Australia.
Governor-General Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer led the NEI administration with relative independence, coordinating economic and defence matters while balancing relations with Britain, Australia, and the United States. The NEI declared war on Japan immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor—without awaiting instructions from London—illustrating how far Batavia had diverged from central government control.
As the Japanese invasion advanced and NEI officials evacuated to Australia, the internal Dutch political divide became impossible to ignore. Lieutenant Governor-General Hubertus van Mook arrived in Australia with other high-level NEI personnel in early March 1942. Almost immediately, he began setting up what would become the Netherlands East Indies Commission for Australia and New Zealand, the first step toward a functioning government-in-exile. This sparked concern in London.
The Gerbrandy government viewed Van Mook and his associates—many of whom, including his deputy Charles van der Plas, had been born and raised in the Indies—as part of an “Indies Group” whose reformist leanings were suspect. According to Jack Ford, the Dutch government-in-exile in London had no intention of allowing a semi-autonomous NEI government to take root in Australia. Van Mook’s statements advocating for Indonesian representation in a future imperial parliament and for an end to Dutch colonial domination were seen by Prime Minister Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy as a “cardinal threat to the existence of the [Netherlands] nation”.
As early as 25 March 1942, Van Mook was recalled to London and discharged from his role as Lieutenant-Governor. Van Mook was subsequently appointed Minister for the Colonies in the Netherlands Government-in-Exile in London. Although this was a substantive ministerial position, his freedom to pursue political reform was constrained by disagreements within the cabinet, particularly over the future constitutional relationship between the Netherlands and the East Indies.
This conflict over future direction wasn’t merely theoretical. The Dutch government-in-exile sought to maintain full central control over foreign affairs, including NEI relations with Australia. But Van Mook and his allies had already begun establishing direct ties with Australian officials.
Before departing for London, Van Mook helped establish the administrative arrangements from which the Netherlands East Indies Commission for Australia and New Zealand emerged. Under the leadership of Van Hoogstraten, the Commission subsequently coordinated Dutch civilian and military interests in Australia, while questions concerning its relationship with the Netherlands diplomatic representative Baron van Aerssen Beyeren and the government in London remained contentious.
Australian officials struggled with this ambiguity. Australia had begun developing its own diplomatic representation before the Pacific War, but the arrival of a displaced Netherlands East Indies administration presented an unfamiliar challenge. Australian officials had to determine how to deal with representatives whose practical responsibilities in Australia did not always align neatly with the authority exercised by the Netherlands Government-in-Exile in London.
R. W. A. van den Berg, in Unchained Interests, argues that the problem was rooted in the constitutional design of the Dutch kingdom, which offered little precedent for this kind of power-sharing between the centre and colony. The Gerbrandy government’s fixation on restoring the Netherlands as a unitary sovereign power clashed with the decentralised reality of Dutch wartime administration.
The war, in effect, exposed the diplomatic underdevelopment of both countries. Prior to 1941, neither the NEI nor Australia maintained significant diplomatic representation in each other’s territories. Most communications were routed through London or The Hague. The fall of the NEI and the shift in Australian foreign policy in response to Japan’s rise forced both governments to reconfigure how they worked with one another—and highlighted the costs of entering a major regional conflict without direct political ties.
Australia also witnessed how the fractured Dutch leadership could hinder the Allied cause. The split between the London Dutch and the Indies Dutch—exacerbated by personality clashes, colonial ideology, and geopolitical anxiety—played out in Canberra and Melbourne as Van Mook’s camp and the ambassador’s office often operated on parallel tracks. The Americans and British, also had to navigate these competing lines of Dutch authority.
In the spring of 1942, Van Mook travelled from Australia to London, arriving on 26 April. He had hoped to retain his position as Lieutenant-Governor-General and direct a temporary Netherlands East Indies administration from Australia. Prime Minister Gerbrandy, however, favoured concentrating governmental authority in London. In May 1942, Van Mook relinquished his Lieutenant-Governor-General position and assumed the portfolio of Minister for the Colonies. This gave him substantial ministerial responsibilities, but it also placed the administration of Netherlands East Indies affairs more directly within the London government’s authority.
This article is part of a six-part series on Dutch–Australian wartime cooperation. For related perspectives, see:
- Between secrecy and survival: Australia’s frustration with Dutch neutrality on the eve of war.
- Reform or restoration? Political tensions over the future of the Netherlands East Indies during wartime exile.
- Wartime reform and Indonesian voices: Dutch–Indonesian political tensions in exile.
- The Dutch purchasing mission and wartime supply issues in Australia.
- From indifference to diplomacy: how the war transformed Dutch–Australian foreign relations
- A Dutch military and civil inventory in Australia – March 1942 snapshot
References: Jack Ford, Allies in a Bind: Australia and the Netherlands East Indies in the Second World War, CQU Press, 2001
R. W. A. van den Berg, Unchained Interests, Netherlands Staff College Monograph, 2021
Related DACC series
Australia and the Netherlands East Indies on the eve of war
This four-part series examines how Australia and the Netherlands East Indies moved from limited contact towards direct diplomatic, military, public and economic cooperation immediately before the Pacific War.
A three-part series examining constitutional authority in London and the development of the Netherlands East Indies administration in wartime Australia.
This six-part series continues the story by examining how the displaced Netherlands East Indies administration was reconstructed in Australia, how it worked with Australia and the Allied command, and how wartime cooperation was affected by the political transformation of Indonesia after 1945.
