This is a website to bring together those who have connections to both Australia and The Netherlands, through my own perspective of living as a dual national Dutch Australian.

Who am I?

Hi, I’m Renée Tentori (previously Veldman-Tentori), a dual national Dutch Australian. I’ve spent the last 2 decades living between the two countries. Born in Brisbane, Australia, I met a Dutch backpacker many years ago on Fraser Island and we were married for 15 years. During this time we welcomed two little Dutch Australians to the world, (one born in each country!) who we now co-parent. All four of us now hold dual nationality and I feel that my life is likely to always to be split between the two countries in some way. This blog has helped me make sense of that in the past, and will no doubt continue to help me find my place and identify in the future. I desperately miss Australia and my family on the Sunshine Coast, but have also come to settle into a great life here in The Hague.

Are you a Dutch Australian?

There are many thousands of Dutch Australians out there, are you one?  You may not have dual nationality (in fact this is relatively difficult) but a Dutch Australian can be anyone with a connection to or interest in both countries. Some emigrated to Australia many years ago, or a lot more recently.   Or you may be an Australian living in The Netherlands.  There are many marriages between Dutch and Australians and couples/families often spend parts of their lives between the two countries.  You could also be from The Netherlands and studying or working in Australia short or long term. Perhaps you’re a second generation Dutch Australian looking to connect to your heritage. No matter what your specific situation is, I find it fascinating to celebrate the links between our two countries and you can find many examples to explore on this site.

A note on language

As I’m a native English speaker, this website is written predominately in English.  I have followed an integration and Dutch language course and am fairly fluent in het Nederlands – I can read and speak fairly well and am happy to have emails and website contributions in het Nederlands.  However if I was to write this website in Dutch it would be very difficult for anyone to understand or for me to express myself very well!  I do hope to improve my Dutch language skills though so look out for posts on this topic.