Dutch Australian
Encyclopedia
A Dutch Australian is an inhabitant of Australia
with full or partial Dutch
ancestry, the majority of these people are part of the Dutch diaspora
.
, a Dutch seafarer, landing on the Australian mainland, one of the first Europeans to do so.
A number of Dutch people from the Dutch East Indies
(now Indonesia
) found their way to Australia during World War II
and fought with Allied forces. The Netherlands East Indies government operated from Australia during the war. Eleven Free Dutch Submarines operated out of Fremantle
after the invasion of Java
, the joint No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
, established in 1942 and No. 120
formed at Canberra, was a combined Dutch and Australian Squadron with dual command, it used B-25 Mitchell bombers, paid for by the Dutch Government before the war. No. 18 later moved to northern Australia, No. 120 to Western Australia and later transferring overseas. .
Dutch settlers in Australia arrived as part of Australia's post World War II assisted migration program, and from Indonesia after it achieved independence.
As the level of immigration from the Netherlands has dropped significantly from the 1980s (79% of Australian residents born in the Netherlands arrived before 1980
), the Netherlands-born population is ageing. 52% of the Dutch-born population was aged sixty years old or older at the time of the 2006 Census.
As at the 2006 census 26,141 Dutch born Australians (33%) speak Dutch at home; many more Dutch-born Australians speak English at home (64%). Proficiency in English was self-described by census respondents as very well by 27%, well by 7%, <1% not well (66% didn't state or said not applicable).
Of the Australian residents who were born in the Netherlands , 59,502 or 75% were Australian citizens at the time of the 2006 census.
According to 2006 census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
, 61% of Dutch born Australians recorded their religion as Christian and 29% as "no religion".
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with full or partial Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
ancestry, the majority of these people are part of the Dutch diaspora
Dutch diaspora
The Dutch diaspora is the movement, migration, or scattering of the Dutch away from the Netherlands.Emigration from the Netherlands has been happening for at least the last eight centuries. In several former Dutch colonies and trading settlements, there are ethnic groups of partial Dutch ancestry...
.
History
The history of the Dutch and Australia began in 1605 with Captain Willem JanszoonWillem Janszoon
Willem Janszoon , Dutch navigator and colonial governor, is probably the first European known to have seen the coast of Australia. His name is sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz....
, a Dutch seafarer, landing on the Australian mainland, one of the first Europeans to do so.
A number of Dutch people from the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
(now Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) found their way to Australia during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and fought with Allied forces. The Netherlands East Indies government operated from Australia during the war. Eleven Free Dutch Submarines operated out of Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
after the invasion of Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, the joint No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 18 Squadron was a joint Dutch and Australian bomber squadron of World War II.-History:No. 18 Squadron was formed at Canberra on 4 April 1942. Like the other two joint Australian-Dutch squadrons the Dutch authorities provided No. 18 Squadron's pilots and aircraft...
, established in 1942 and No. 120
No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 120 Squadron was a joint Dutch and Australian squadron of World War II. The squadron was first formed in December 1943 as part of the Royal Australian Air Force , and saw combat in and around New Guinea during 1944 and 1945 equipped with P-40 Kittyhawk fighters. Following the war, No...
formed at Canberra, was a combined Dutch and Australian Squadron with dual command, it used B-25 Mitchell bombers, paid for by the Dutch Government before the war. No. 18 later moved to northern Australia, No. 120 to Western Australia and later transferring overseas. .
Demographics
According to the 2006 Australian Census, 310,089 persons resident in Australia claimed Dutch ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry. 78,927 persons declared they were born in the Netherlands.As the level of immigration from the Netherlands has dropped significantly from the 1980s (79% of Australian residents born in the Netherlands arrived before 1980
), the Netherlands-born population is ageing. 52% of the Dutch-born population was aged sixty years old or older at the time of the 2006 Census.
As at the 2006 census 26,141 Dutch born Australians (33%) speak Dutch at home; many more Dutch-born Australians speak English at home (64%). Proficiency in English was self-described by census respondents as very well by 27%, well by 7%, <1% not well (66% didn't state or said not applicable).
Of the Australian residents who were born in the Netherlands , 59,502 or 75% were Australian citizens at the time of the 2006 census.
According to 2006 census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
, 61% of Dutch born Australians recorded their religion as Christian and 29% as "no religion".
Notable Dutch Australians
- Gordon BartonGordon BartonGordon Page Barton was a quixotic Australian businessman and political activist.He was born in Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies of a Dutch mother and Australian father...
- Beeb BirtlesBeeb BirtlesBeeb Birtles , is a Dutch / Australian musician, one of the founding members of the Little River Band....
- Andrew BoltAndrew BoltAndrew Bolt is an Australian newspaper columnist, radio commentator, blogger and television host. Bolt is a columnist and associate editor of the Melbourne-based Herald Sun. He has appeared on the Nine Network, Melbourne Talk Radio, ABC Television, Network Ten and local radio...
- Stephanie BrantzStephanie BrantzStephanie Brantz is an Australian sports presenter. She began her television career in 2000 on SBS , and has since worked on the Nine Network and Fox Sports...
- Paul CoxPaul CoxPaulus Henriqus Benedictus "Paul" Cox is an award-winning Australian film director.Cox was born in Venlo, Limburg, the Netherlands, the son of Else , a native of Germany, and Wim Cox, a documentary film producer. Cox emigrated to Australia in 1965...
- Tom CooperTom Cooper (cricketer)Tom Lexely William Cooper is an Australian-born Netherlands cricketer who also plays for the South Australian Redbacks.He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-spinner, has represented Australia Under-19s and is nicknamed Coops....
- Guillaume Daniel DelpratGuillaume Daniel DelpratGuillaume Daniel Delprat was a Dutch-Australian metallurgist and engineer.Delprat was born in Delft, South Holland, son of Major General Felix Albert Theodore Delprat , later minister of war, and his wife Elisabeth Francina, née van Santen Kolff.Delprat attended a high school in Amsterdam and...
- Luke De Vere
- Jessica Kop
- Edward DuykerEdward DuykerEdward Duyker is an Australian historian and author born in Melbourne, Victoria, to a father from the Netherlands and a mother from Mauritius...
- Eric RoozendaalEric RoozendaalEric Roozendaal is an Australian politician, serving as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2004. He is a former General Secretary of the Australian Labor Party....
- Joanna GashJoanna GashJoanna Gash , has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Gilmore on the southern coast of New South Wales.-Personal:...
- Sara GroenSara GroenSara Groen is an Australian actress and television presenter.-Career:Whilst studying at Bond University in Queensland, she appeared in an episode of The Lost World in 2001, followed by an episode in Farscape a year later...
- Rolf de HeerRolf de HeerRolf de Heer is a Dutch film director, writer and producer living in Australia. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in The Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and...
- Annita Keating van Iersel
- Ben KerstenBen KerstenBen Kersten is an Australian professional racing cyclist. He is a member of the Fly V Australia Pro Cycling Team....
- Anthony LaPagliaAnthony LaPagliaAnthony M. LaPaglia is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...
- Jonathan LaPagliaJonathan LaPagliaDr. Jonathan LaPaglia, M.B.B.S. is an Australian actor known for his roles as Frank B. Parker in the television series Seven Days, Kevin Debreno in The District and Det...
- Adrian LeijerAdrian LeijerAdrian Leijer is an Australian football player who currently plays as a centre back for A-League team Melbourne Victory and is also the Captain of the side.-Early years:...
- Dirk NannesDirk NannesDirk Peter Nannes is a Dutch Australian cricketer. A left-arm fast bowler, he plays for the Australian cricket team, the Victorian Bushrangers, the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, and Fitzroy-Doncaster in Victorian club cricket. He has also represented the Netherlands...
- Trevor MarmaladeTrevor MarmaladeTrevor Marmalade is the stage name of a comedian from Melbourne, Australia of Dutch descent. Jason grew up in Surrey Hills in Melbourne....
- Mark TonelliMark TonelliMark Lyndon Tonelli is a former Australian backstroke, butterfly and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer in the self-named Quietly Confident Quartet...
- Tammy van WisseTammy van WisseTammy van Wisse is a long-distance swimmer from Australia. As a marathon swimmer she swam the Murray River in 2001, a distance of 2,438 kilometres and the English Channel in 1993 in a time of 8h 35mins and again in 1994 in a time of 8h 33mins...
- Adam van DommeleAdam van DommeleAdam van Dommele is an Australian football player. He currently plays for MetroStars in the South Australian Super League.-Club Career:...
- Jack van TongerenJack van TongerenJack van Tongeren has been described as a white supremacist and extreme right wing Australian activist by the media. He was the leader of the neo-Nazi Australian Nationalist Movement . He served 13 years 1 month and 6 days in prison from 1989-2002 for arson, after firebombing businesses owned...
- Harry VandaHarry VandaHarry Vanda , is a Dutch-born Australian popular music singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.-Career:...
- Richie VandenbergRichie VandenbergRichard "Richie" Vandenberg was an Australian Rules Footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. He was the captain of the Hawks for the final three years of his career 2005 -2007....
- Nathan van BerloNathan van BerloNathan van Berlo is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League . He is the captain of the Adelaide Football Club....
- Paul van der HaarPaul Van Der HaarPaul Vander Haar is a former Australian rules footballer who played 201 games with Essendon in the Victorian Football League . As a boy he attended Whitefriars College in Donvale...
- Johnny YoungJohnny YoungJohnny Young is an Australian singer, composer, record producer, disc jockey, television producer and host. Originally from Netherlands, his family settled in Perth, Western Australia in the early 1950s...
- Alexander SmitsAlexander SmitsDr. Alexander Smits is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. He is also the director of the Gas dynamics laboratory at Princeton. Smits' received his bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne, Australia...
Further reading
- Bureau of Immigration Research.(1991) Community profiles, Netherlands born Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0644140267
- Duyker, Edward (1987) The Dutch in Australia Melbourne: AE Press, Australian ethnic heritage series ISBN 0867872152
- Duyker, Edward, and York, Barry (1994) Exclusions and admissions : the Dutch in Australia, 1902-1946 Canberra : Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. ISBN 0731519132 (Studies in Australian ethnic history ; no. 7)
- Eysbertse, Dirk, and Marijke (1997) Where waters meet : Bonegilla : the Dutch migrant experience North Brighton, Vic. : Erasmus Foundation. ISBN 0646310054
- Mencke, Annelies and Tjerk van der Schaaf. (1979) The distribution of Dutch immigrants in Australia 1947-1976 Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Groningen.
- Peters, Nonja, Nien Schwarz, and Kate Noakes (2003) Transpositions : contextualising recent Dutch Australian art Perth, W.A.: Art On The Move. ISBN 0958185913
- Peters, Nonja (2006) The Dutch Down Under, 1606-2006 Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1920694757
- Schindlmayr, Thomas.(2000) Community profiles. 1996 census. Netherlands born Belconnen, A.C.T. Dept. of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Statistics Section. ISBN 0642399093
- Zierke,Elly Smid,Mieke and Pam Snelleman (editors) (1997) Old ties, new beginnings : Dutch women in AustraliaCarrum Downs, Vic. Dutch Care Ltd. ISBN 0646308548
External links
- Allies in adversity: The Dutch in Australia at the Australian War Memorial
- Netherlands - Australia 1606 - 2006
- From the Netherlands to Australia: A new database contains the names of over 50.000 Dutch emigrants from The Nationaal Archief of The Netherlands
- The Dutch Club in South Australia; Site with links to many Dutch organisations in Australia