De Nieuwe Wereld was a Dutch-language newspaper published in Australia from 1955 to 1961. The newspaper was founded by a group of Dutch immigrants who had settled in Australia after World War II, and it was intended to serve as a means of communication and community building for the Dutch community in Australia.
The newspaper covered a wide range of topics related to Dutch culture, politics, and society, as well as news and events of interest to the Dutch community in Australia. It provided a forum for discussion and debate among Dutch Australians, and it played an important role in helping to preserve and promote Dutch language and culture in Australia.
Over time, however, the Dutch community in Australia began to assimilate into the broader Australian culture, and interest in the newspaper waned. De Nieuwe Wereld ceased publication in 1961, marking the end of an important chapter in the history of the Dutch community in Australia.
Equal rights for naturalised Australians
Since the 1950s Dr. Cornelis Wouters a champion of migrants cultures has been a strongly advocate for equal rights for naturalised Australians (immigrants) in collaboration with Jan Rempt the then-Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Dutch-Australian weekly newspaper De Nieuwe Wereld. This advocacy was settled in favour of immigrants when the Australian Citizenship Act was amended and the previously existing discrimination was abolished.
Under pressure from De Nieuwe Wereld and Dr. Wouters, the discrimination that the Australian Musicians’ Union imposed on foreign colleagues was also abolished. Their position in contemporary Australian society owes a great deal to the activities of pioneers like Dr. Wouters. More details about these “pioneers” and about De Nieuwe Wereld as one of the most important emigrant organs can be found in the book “Everywhere Dutch” by the late P.J. Risseeuw (published by Bosch & Keuning N.V., Baarn, 1965).
