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
Adrianus Antonius “Arie” de Bruin was born in Wateringen on 30 August 1917, the son of Cornelis Jacobus de Bruin and Agatha Jacoba van de Hut. In February 1936, the young Arie was recorded as a marine living at the Marine Barracks at Oostplein in Rotterdam. His career with the Read more
Govert Veth was one of the Dutch workers who travelled to Australia in 1950 in connection with the major post-war dredging project at Williamstown. The wider history of the project is described in From Sliedrecht to Williamstown: Dutch dredging workers in post-war Australia. Govert was born in Sliedrecht on 24 Read more
Cornelis Adrianus Verhoef and Marinus Verhoef were among the Dutch workers who travelled to Australia in 1950 in connection with the major post-war dredging project at Williamstown. The wider history of the project and the men recruited for it is described in From Sliedrecht to Williamstown: Dutch dredging workers in Read more
Gerrit van der Meulen was one of the Dutch workers who travelled to Australia in 1950 in connection with the major post-war dredging project at Williamstown. The wider history of this project and the men recruited for it is described in From Sliedrecht to Williamstown: Dutch dredging workers in post-war Read more