Hermanus Wouter Paans, generally known as Manus, was born at Hooge en Lage Zwaluwe on 28 November 1908. He later lived in Werkendam and worked as a ship’s captain. On 30 October 1931, he married Margaretha Martina Ippel, who had been born in Werkendam on 5 October 1911. The couple Read more
Hendrik and Johannis Boele grew up in a Sliedrecht family whose life was closely connected with shipping and the river. Their father, Klaas Boele, was a skipper who operated his own vessel, the Cornelia, built at the Nederlof shipyard in 1904. The brothers therefore grew up in a world in Read more
The history of Korevaar Marine Group in Australia began with the organised migration of Dutch dredging workers and their families from Sliedrecht in 1950. Among those families were Teunis Korevaar, his wife Annigje Visser and three of their sons. Their story shows how the specialist maritime knowledge brought to Australia Read more
Gerrit Goedknegt was born in Vlaardingen on 17 January 1907, the son of Teunis Goedknegt and Gerritje Bal. His childhood was marked by tragedy when his father drowned at sea in 1918, leaving Gerrit fatherless at the age of eleven. The sea would nevertheless remain a defining influence throughout his Read more
Dutch dredging companies, engineers and workers have made an important contribution to Australia’s maritime and industrial development. This history encompasses the supply of Dutch-built machinery, the establishment of Australian subsidiaries, major port and reclamation projects, and the organised migration of skilled workers and their families. This portal brings together the Read more
Australia is a land of immigrants. I am an immigrant, and you, dear reader, are probably too. High levels of immigration in the years before 1891 resulted in 32% of the population listed as overseas-born in Australia’s first country-wide census in 1891. These numbers decreased substantially in the first half Read more
The Dutch tanker Ondina played an exceptional role in the Allied war effort from Australia during the Second World War. She survived an unequal battle with two heavily armed Japanese commerce raiders, returned under her own power to Fremantle and subsequently served as a floating fuel depot for Allied submarines Read more
The development of Kwinana as one of Western Australia’s principal industrial centres depended on the creation of deep-water access for large ocean-going ships. A major part of this work was entrusted to the Dutch dredging contractor Hollandsche Aanneming Maatschappij, generally known as HAM. The Kwinana undertaking was separate from the Read more
Australian Dredging and General Works was established in 1950 through the cooperation of two longstanding Dutch civil-engineering companies: Adriaan Volker’s Maatschappij tot het Uitvoeren van Openbare Werken and Van Hattum & Blankevoort. Both businesses had grown from nineteenth-century contracting enterprises into internationally active engineering organisations. Their Australian joint venture combined Read more
Australian Dredging and General Works Pty Ltd was established in 1950 to bring Dutch dredging expertise, equipment and skilled personnel to Australia. Initially based in Williamstown, Victoria, the company was an Australian subsidiary jointly associated with two established Dutch civil-engineering businesses: Adriaan Volker’s Maatschappij tot het Uitvoeren van Openbare Werken Read more