These pictures are all from the Evert Herman van Hummel collection. He was a flight engineer from 1938 till approx. 1970. Unfortunately most photographs don’t have any accompanying information. This first section is most likely from his early period in the 1930 and early 1940s. During WWII he was stationed Read more…
Evert van Hummel was born in Baarn in the Netherlands on 29 January 1916. Evert Herman Van Hummel (some called him Evert others called him Herman) started working at the Air force base Soesterberg aged 15 in the engineering shop. He became ground engineer on September 5, 1938 and went Read more…
It was the 67th DC-3 (model Douglas DC-3-194B. c/n 1944) to be completed by the Douglas factory in California. It was the 10th DC3 purchased by KLM for the route Amsterdam-Batavia and received the name ‘Wielewaal’ (Golden Oriole). Initial registration sign: VH-ANR. The aircraft was flown from Santa Monica to Read more…
Dutch Navy and Army Intelligence Service – 1941 The Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) was a Dutch military intelligence service during and after World War II. The purpose of the NEFIS was initially to collect intelligence for the Allied forces with regard to the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) that was Read more…
he US Army had chosen Yeronga Park for a military camp in 1942. Camp Yeronga Park housed a variety of units among them the military police and the 99th Signal Battalion, US Service Army of Supplies ( USASOS) and the US Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The Australian Army placed an Read more…
The Batavia – 1629 The Batavia, built in Amsterdam in 1628 was the company’s new flagship, she sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia. On 4 June 1629, the Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off the coast of Western Australia. Five Read more…
After the surrender of Japan there were some 100,000 European people in the Japanese camps, many of them were close to starvation. An agreement between Australia and Netherlands East Indies governments led to the formation of the Netherlands Indies Welfare Organisation for Evacuees (NIWOE). The organisation emerged out of the Read more…
Personal recollections Camp Columbia – Jean van Schilfgaarde The information below is the exact text of a letter from Jean van Schilfgaarde to Dr Jack Ford in 1992. Jack had contacted her for his research for his publication: Allies in bind: Australia and the Netherlands East Indies relations during World War Two. This Read more…
Camp Columbia in the suburb of Wacol in Brisbane was a United States Army military camp. It was built in 1942 to accommodate American troops. The Sixth US Army Headquarters was formed and stationed here. It also hosted two hospitals and an Officer Candidate School till 1945. This was the Read more…
By her son David Hill. Joan McConachy was a secretary at Camp Columbia, Brisbane working for the Dutch Army as she later told her son David (perhaps at NEFIS). Joan was born in 1924 at Winton (Central West QLD) and moved to Brisbane around 1943 from the then family home Read more…