The story of Sinterklaas (Sint Nicolaas) is of course well known, there is plenty of information on the internet about this typical Dutch tradition. Although it has changed over the years due to changes in society e.g. the arrival of radio, television, internet as well as an increasingly more multicultural Dutch population, it is still very uniquely Dutch and a mix of the old and the new.
In the DACC archives is a photograph of Sinterklaas celebration at the home of Johanna Stas with Cor Merckx as Sinterklaas. (Cor Mercks a well-known figure in the Dutch community as president of the NSW Klaverjas Federation).
Sinterklaas at the home of the Budde family in Roseville, Sydney, in 1984. Sinterklaas is Peter van Bruinessen en Pieterman is Astrid van Bruinessen.
Dutch origins and migration The Otterspoor family came from Utrecht in the Netherlands. Twins Servanus (John) and Arnoldus (Harry) were born there on 19 November 1892, and their younger brother Franciscus Jacobus (Frank) followed on Read more…
Lia van Haren Lia van Haren has been a long-standing volunteer at the Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC), beginning her service in 2009. Before this, she had little involvement with Dutch organisations in Australia, having Read more…
The story of Jan (Johannes Wilhelmus Theodorus) and Toos (Catharina) Janssens is a vivid reflection of the Dutch migrant experience in Australia after the Second World War. Together, their recollections offer a rare and intimate Read more…
