The Dutch in Australia
Abstract
Article on post-war Dutch migration to Australia explains how many Dutch people left the Netherlands, why they migrated to Australia, and how well Dutch migrants are integrated into Australian society compared to migrants from other European countries.
Translation
The Dutch in Australia
The Dutch, it is said, were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil. The Dutch East India Company risked its ships and the lives of their crews for the lure of supposed riches in unknown lands. For over a century after Willem Jansz landed in Australia in 1606 with his ship “Duyfken”, where one of his crew members was killed by an Aboriginal spear, the Dutch have sporadically set foot and explored the country.
After these early bouts of interest, however, the Dutch left Australia on its own and took virtually no part in the great immigrations of the nineteenth century; at the time of Federation, only 594 Dutch people lived in Australia. After World War II, the Dutch government, overwhelmed with the problems of rebuilding, strongly encouraged emigration while Australia was in serious search of people. In 1947 the country Tasman, called New Holland, there were 2174 Dutch people; in 1954, there were 52,035. Currently, nearly 100,000 Dutch-born live in Australia.
The Dutch, at least according to reports, have been among the most welcome immigrants. Between 1947 and 1962, 61% of Dutch immigration occurred based on a subsidy scheme, while this percentage was 19% for Italians. According to a survey in Melbourne, fewer Dutch people are poor; only the Germans were better off than the Dutch. The Dutch were among those who wanted to master English as quickly as possible, even to the extent that their children no longer knew Dutch. A survey in the Latrobe Valley showed that 84 per cent of the Dutch in that area spoke English at home.
The Dutch do not have a strong press in their own language, and the Dutch and Maltese are the only immigrant groups that do not have language classes after school in their language. Naturalisation expressed as a percentage of those who could qualify has risen to an astonishing 72 per cent, with the replacement of Queen Juliana by Queen Elizabeth probably being the most considerable difficulty. Despite this willingness and capacity to integrate, there will be problems everywhere with such displacements. In some respects, the Dutch will happily and definitively remain different.
An example of this is the decoration of their houses. They have specific characteristics: antique copper and pewter utensils used decoratively; display cabinets, reproductions of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Jan Steen, collections of silver and Delft Blue. These may not seem important to other people, but to their owners, they represent warm memories and a link to their former home. The latter has become especially important to most of those who arrived here in the 1950s and early 1960s, who deliberately tried to break other links. There are minorities for whom kinship with regional and fellow believers has remained significant.
For example, there are small, strong groups of the reformed church that have sometimes acted as guarantors for immigrants from Holland who wanted to join them. One of the reasons why the Dutch did not form such a closed community as other immigrant groups seems to be that, compared to the Greeks and Italians, they have tried to avoid the inner city and settled on the outskirts of the cities. Sometimes, this was done to obtain land for flower nurseries or horticulture, sometimes to create space for themselves in the face of overpopulated Holland. Because they are so scattered, the Dutch can feel isolated, especially in times of crisis. However, the well-known Dutch-born journalist from Sydney, Elisabeth Wijnhausen, sees certain forms of reaction among the Dutch, who have been regarded as Australia’s most successful assimilators throughout these years. The Dutch are starting to rediscover their Dutch citizenship. They return to their Dutch circle and seek Dutch forms in their social lives. This process is further encouraged by the new arrivals from Holland. They are younger on average and have fewer children. They are more confident in their own cultural connections and will publicly criticise Australia’s shortcomings. They are less inclined to hide their Dutch nationality. Suddenly, ethnicity has become chic.
The Dutch, it is said, were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil. The Dutch East India Company risked its ships and the lives of their crews for the lure of supposed riches in unknown lands. For over a century after Willem Jansz landed in Australia in 1606 with his ship “Duyfken”, where one of his crew members was killed by an Aboriginal spear, the Dutch have sporadically set foot and explored the country.
After these early bouts of interest, however, the Dutch left Australia on its own and took virtually no part in the great immigrations of the nineteenth century; at the time of Federation, only 594 Dutch people lived in Australia. After World War II, the Dutch government, overwhelmed with the problems of rebuilding, strongly encouraged emigration while Australia was in serious search of people. In 1947 the country Tasman, called New Holland, there were 2174 Dutch people; in 1954, there were 52,035. Currently, nearly 100,000 Dutch-born live in Australia.
The Dutch, at least according to reports, have been among the most welcome immigrants. Between 1947 and 1962, 61% of Dutch immigration occurred based on a subsidy scheme, while this percentage was 19% for Italians. According to a survey in Melbourne, fewer Dutch people are poor; only the Germans were better off than the Dutch. The Dutch were among those who wanted to master English as quickly as possible, even to the extent that their children no longer knew Dutch. A survey in the Latrobe Valley showed that 84 per cent of the Dutch in that area spoke English at home.
The Dutch do not have a strong press in their own language, and the Dutch and Maltese are the only immigrant groups that do not have language classes after school in their language. Naturalisation expressed as a percentage of those who could qualify has risen to an astonishing 72 per cent, with the replacement of Queen Juliana by Queen Elizabeth probably being the most considerable difficulty. Despite this willingness and capacity to integrate, there will be problems everywhere with such displacements. In some respects, the Dutch will happily and definitively remain different.
An example of this is the decoration of their houses. They have specific characteristics: antique copper and pewter utensils used decoratively; display cabinets, reproductions of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Jan Steen, collections of silver and Delft Blue. These may not seem important to other people, but to their owners, they represent warm memories and a link to their former home. The latter has become especially important to most of those who arrived here in the 1950s and early 1960s, who deliberately tried to break other links. There are minorities for whom kinship with regional and fellow believers has remained significant.
For example, there are small, strong groups of the reformed church that have sometimes acted as guarantors for immigrants from Holland who wanted to join them. One of the reasons why the Dutch did not form such a closed community as other immigrant groups seems to be that, compared to the Greeks and Italians, they have tried to avoid the inner city and settled on the outskirts of the cities. Sometimes, this was done to obtain land for flower nurseries or horticulture, sometimes to create space for themselves in the face of overpopulated Holland. Because they are so scattered, the Dutch can feel isolated, especially in times of crisis. However, the well-known Dutch-born journalist from Sydney, Elisabeth Wijnhausen, sees certain forms of reaction among the Dutch, who have been regarded as Australia’s most successful assimilators throughout these years. The Dutch are starting to rediscover their Dutch citizenship. They return to their Dutch circle and seek Dutch forms in their social lives. This process is further encouraged by the new arrivals from Holland. They are younger on average and have fewer children. They are more confident in their own cultural connections and will publicly criticise Australia’s shortcomings. They are less inclined to hide their Dutch nationality. Suddenly, ethnicity has become chic.
| Subject | Australia--Emigration and immigration—History |
|---|---|
| Foreign workers, Dutch | |
| Cultural assimilation | |
| Cultural property | |
| Social integration | |
| Dutch language | |
| Category | 5. Cold War (including Decolonisation) |
| Publisher | John Haynes and J.F. Archibald |
| Place Of Publication | Sydney, NSW |
| Keywords | assimilation |
| cultural heritage | |
| Creator | The Bulletin |
| Current Holder | National Library of Australia |
| Date | 1976-08-14 |
| Series Number | Vol. 098 No. 5019, NX 252 |
| Item Number | 1644905595 |
| Access Rights | Digitised |
| Rights | Copyright varies by issue and article. |
| Country Of Origin | Australia |
| Language | Dutch |
| Physical Format | Magazine |
| Transcription | The Dutch in Australia
De Nederlanders, zo wordt gezegd, waren de eerste Europeanen die voet op Australische bodem hebben gezet. De Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie riskeerde haar schepen en de levens van hun bemanning voor het lokaas van de veronderstelde rijkdommen in onbekende landen. Gedurende meer dan een eeuw nadat Willem Jansz met zijn schip “Duyfken” in 1606 in Australië landde waarbij een van zijn bemanningsleden door een speer van een Aboriginal werd gedood, hebben de Nederlanders sporadisch voet aan wal gezet en het land geëxploreerd.
Na deze vroege vlagen van interesse lieten de Nederlanders Australie echter op zichzelf en namen praktisch geen deel in de grote immigraties van de negentiende eeuw; ten tijde van de Federatie woonden er slechts 594 Nederlanders in Australie. Na de tweede wereldoorlog moedigde de Nederlandse regering, overspoeld met de problemen van herbouw, emigratie sterk aan terwijl Australie ernstig op zoek was naar mensen. In 1947 waren er in het land dat door Tasman Nieuw Holland was genoemd, 2174 Nederlanders; in 1954 waren er 52,035. Momenteel wonen er bijna 100,000 in Nederland geboren in Australie.
De Nederlanders hebben, althans volgens de rapporten, tot de meest welkome immigranten behoord. Tussen 1947 en 1962 vond 61% van de Nederlandse immigratie plaats op basis van een subsidieregeling, terwijl dit percentage voor de Italianen op 19 percentage lag. Volgens een onderzoek in Melbourne zijn er minder Nederlanders arm; alleen de Duitsers waren beter af dan de Nederlanders. De Nederlanders behoorden tot degenen die het Engels zo snel mogelijk wilden beheersen, zelfs in die mate dat hun kinderen geen Nederlands meer kennen. Een onderzoek in de Latrobe vallei toonde aan dat 84 percent van de Nederlanders in dat gebied thuis Engels spraken.
De Nederlanders hebben geen krachtige pers in hun eigen taal en de Nederlanders en Maltezers zijn de enige immigranten groepen die geen taallessen na school in hun eigen taal hebben. De naturalisatie uitgedrukt als een percentage van degenen die daarvoor in aanmerking konden komen is opgeklommen tot een verbazingwekkend 72, waarbij waarschijnlijk het vervangen van Koningin Juliana door Koningin Elizabeth de grootste moeilijkheid is geweest ondanks deze bereidheid en capaciteit tot integratie zullen er overal problemen zijn bij dergelijke verplaatsingen en in bepaalde opzichten zullen de Nederlanders gelukkig en definitief verschillend blijven.
Een voorbeeld hiervan is de decoratie van hun huizen. Zij hebben bepaalde kenmerken: antieke koperen en tinnen gebruiksvoorwerpen die decoratief worden aangewend; vitrine kastjes, reproducties van Rembrandt, Vermeer en Jan Steen, verzamelingen van zilver en Delft’s Blauw. Deze kunnen voor andere mensen niet belangrijk lijken maar voor hun eigenaren vertegenwoordigen zij dierbare herinneringen en een schakel met hun vroegere thuis. Dit laatste is speciaal belangrijk geworden voor de meerderheid van hen die hier aankwamen in de vijftiger en eerste deel van de zestiger jaren, die welbewust probeerden andere schakels te verbreken. Er zijn minderheden voor wie verwantschap met streek-en geloofsgenoten belangrijk gebleven zijn. Zo zijn er kleine sterke groepen van de gereformeerde kerk die soms borg gestaan hebben voor immigranten uit Holland die zich bij hen aan wilden sluiten. Een van de redenen waarom de Nederlanders niet zo’n gesloten gemeenschap vormden als andere immigranten groepen schijnt te liggen aan het feit dat zij, vergeleken met de Grieken en Italianen, hebben getracht de binnen stad te vermijden en zich vestigden aan de rand van de steden. Soms werd dit gedaan om land te verkrijgen voor bloemen-kwekerijen of voor de tuinbouw, soms alleen maar om ruimte te scheppen voor zichzelf ten opzichte van het overbevolkte Holland. Omdat zij zo verspreid zijn kunnen de Nederlanders zich geïsoleerd voelen, speciaal ten tijde van een crisis. De bekende in Nederland geboren journaliste uit Sydney, Elisabeth Wijnhausen ziet echter bij de Nederlanders die gedurende al deze jaren beschouwd zijn als Australisch meest succes rijke assimilatoren bepaalde vormen van reaktie. De Nederlanders beginnen hun Nederlanderschap te her ontdekken. Zij keren terug tot hun Nederlandse kring en zoeken Nederlandse vormen in hun sociale leven. Dit proces wordt verder aangemoedigd door de nieuw aangekomenen uit Holland. Zij zijn gemiddeld jonger en hebben minder kinderen. Zij hebben meer vertrouwen in hun eigen culturele verbindingen en zullen publiekelijk de Australische tekortkomingen bekritiseren. Zij zijn minder geneigd om hun Nederlander-schap te verbergen. Plotseling is ethnic chique geworden. |
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