By Julia Weisz This article outlines the journey of Heinrich (Heini) Kuhn and Josefine (Fini) Kuhn, whose lives reflect the experience of many European Jewish families displaced by war, persecution, and political upheaval, and who later became part of Australia’s post-war migrant community. Early life and migration to the Netherlands Read more
Early Dutch claims set the framework When the Australian colonies began to look northward in the late nineteenth century, the island of New Guinea was not an unclaimed space. The Netherlands had already laid claim to the western half of the island in 1828, incorporating it—at least formally—into the Dutch Read more
The reintroduction of KLM’s air service to Australia in 1951 must be understood against the backdrop of an earlier Dutch aviation network that had already reached the continent before the war—and had then been abruptly dismantled by it. During the 1930s, KNILM (Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij) operated an extensive network Read more
Indonesian political prisoners and colonial repression The story of Indonesian nationalist Mohamad Bondan reflects a largely overlooked chapter in the shared wartime history of Indonesia, the Netherlands and Australia. His experiences illustrate how the upheavals of the Second World War brought anti-colonial activists into direct contact with Allied wartime structures Read more
The academic paper below by Nonja Peters and colleagues presents a focused and interdisciplinary investigation into one of the most intriguing and debated aspects of early Dutch–Australian history: the possibility that marooned sailors from the Dutch East India Company established contact—and potentially long-term relationships—with Aboriginal communities along the Western Australian Read more
The article below by Femme S. Gaastra, published in The Great Circle, offers a nuanced interpretation of the role of the Dutch East India Company in the early European encounters with Australia. Rather than celebrating discovery alone, it examines a more revealing question: why the Dutch, despite being the first Read more
This article from Robyn van Dijk from the Australian War Memorial as presented at the symposium Allied Co-operation in Brisbane during WWII: Australia, USA, Netherlands, UK, organised by the Camp Columbia Heritage Association in August 2025, highlights a little-known but important chapter in Dutch–Australian wartime relations: the evacuation and rehabilitation Read more
During the Second World War, northern Australia became a crucial operational base for Allied air forces defending the continent and supporting offensive operations into the Netherlands East Indies. Among the aircraft deployed in this theatre was a Dutch-operated North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, serial N5-156, whose dramatic loss in October Read more
Merle Calvin Ricklefs Merle Ricklefs (1943–2019) was one of the leading Western historians of Indonesia. Born in the United States, he built his academic career in Australia, where he held senior positions at Australian National University and Monash University. From this Australian base, Ricklefs developed an international reputation as a Read more
The Dutch Australian Cultural Centre (DACC) was officially invited to participate in a memorial service honouring the combined Australian and Allied Air Forces. Held on 29 March 2026, the event was organised by the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and the RAAF Association Queensland Division, marking the 105th anniversary of the Read more