I was just on Twitter and discovered this fabulous new website called “Bridging the Distance”. It opens with the fact that over 300,00 Australians have Dutch roots. Are you one?
This beautifully-designed site is part of the 2016 Dirk Hartog celebrations this year. You can find some earlier posts I’ve already published so far about that here:
- https://dutchaustralian.com/dirk-hartog-2016-initiatives-around-australia/
- https://dutchaustralian.com/callout-for-australian-migrants-who-have-established-a-successful-business-in-the-netherlands/
- https://dutchaustralian.com/callout-for-dutch-migrants-that-have-established-successful-a-business-in-australia/
- https://dutchaustralian.com/new-dutch-academy-kicks-off-dirk-hartog-year-at-sydney-festival-2016/
- https://dutchaustralian.com/400th-anniversary-of-dirk-hartogs-landing-in-western-australia-in-2016/
- https://dutchaustralian.com/interview-australian-ambassador-brett-mason-now/
- https://dutchaustralian.com/celebrating-the-long-and-enduring-relationship-between-the-netherlands-and-australia/
The official Dirk Hartog website is here:
I still need to take a better look through the site, but it’s lovely – lots of interesting information, beautiful images and stories of those with a connection between the two countries. I’ve long been fascinated with this topic, which was one of the inspirations to start this website with my own first post in 2010:
Over the last few years, I’ve also collected and shared stories of Dutch Australians, which you can find here:
Share your story as part of the official Dirk Hartog project here (and read some others that are already there)
Let’s continue to celebrate our Dutch Australian relationship and connections, in this Dirk Hartog year, and beyond! After all, I’m currently raising two little Dutch Australians who have dual nationality and have experienced life in both countries.
I have also noticed that much of the information for these celebrations are in English, no doubt to include all of those who have Dutch roots but have not (yet) learned the language. Also, the Dutch are renowned for also mastering English well along with Nederlands. However, personally, I feel it’s important to continue to raise children bilingually where possible and you can read more about that here:
Ik leer ook het Nederlands en kan het vrij goed spreken, verstaan en lezen maar (nog) niet zo goed schrijven! Dus schrijf ik zelf in het Engles, maar comments en artikelen zijn altijd welkom op deze website in beide talen!
Renee
Dutch Australian 
I am the descendant of a Dutch family who emigrated to Queensland at about the time of World War One, along with a group of about 80 young people from Amsterdam who attempted to found a communal farm on socialist principles. I have been researching this group and would be very interested in contacting others who know of this brave effort in uncleared land near Mundubbera, west of Gympie in central Queensland between 1908 and 1920. Some of their descendants are still in that area, and other parts of Queensland, and Australia more generally.
LOVE it!! I hope you receive feed-back!!!