Dutch migration to Australia: The case of the Indisch Dutch.
A Symposium under this name and a dual book launch was organised by the Erasmus Foundation in conjunction with the Tempo Doeloe organisation. More than 100 people attended this symposium.The event took place at the Immigration Museum on 12 February 2006, which was the first major event in Melbourne this year to commemorate and celebrate the 400th anniversary of contact between the Netherlands and Australia.Nonja Peters, coordinating author of the book ‘The Dutch Down Under 1606 – 2006’, introduced her very impressive work to the audience.Joost Cote, co-editor with Loes Westerbeek, gave a fascinating talk about their book ‘Recalling the Indies: Colonial Culture and Postcolonial Identitie’s’.After a short interval Loes facilitated a very lively and moving ‘on stage’ interview session with several Indisch-Dutch Australians.The symposium was concluded with the official launch by Frank Mollen, Counsellor of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Canberra of the book ‘The Dutch Down Under 1606 – 2006’.The book: ‘Recalling the Indies: Colonial Culture and Postcolonial Identitie’s.’ was formally launched by Hans Nieuwland, Honorary Consul of The Netherlands in Melbourne.
Isabelle Rosenburg
‘The Dutch Down Under 1606 – 2006’, Hard Cover - ISBN: 1921 153 555 $ 69,95
Soft Cover – ISBN:1921 153 342 $ ??
‘
Recalling the Indies: Colonial Culture and Postcolonial Identitie’s.’
ISBN: 90 5260 1194 -- $59.95
The following is
part of the speech given by Dr. Joost Coté at launch of the book, ‘
Recalling the Indies: Colonial Culture and Postcolonial’Ladies and Gentlemen,We are here today to help commemorate the 400 years of contact between the Netherlands and Australia but today’s symposium gives special emphasis to the Indisch Dutch. We should keep in mind then, that much of this contact with Australia initially was not directly from the Netherlands, from Europe, but from Dutchmen already settled in Asia - in the Dutch East Indies - what is now Indonesia. And, as we know from Australian history, the early British colonies in Australia only survived through these contacts with Dutch settlements in the Indies - and also South Africa. So it is fitting that we give special emphasis today to that particular link between Australia and the Dutch who lived in what is now the neighbouring country of Indonesia. Firstly I have to say that this book has been very much a team effort, and not just on the part of Loes and me, and our Dutch colleagues. Especially I would like to emphasise that this book was only possible because of the contributions by the members of the Indisch Dutch community in Australia - at least from east coast Australia, because money didn’t stretch to allow us to interview in WA. The core of this book consists, then, of the stories they tell and the book traces, in a general way, their journey from childhood to older age, from life in the Indies to life in Australia.
Aim of the book
The aim of the book is to tell the story of the Dutch people who once lived in what is now Indonesia. This is the first time that the stories of this particular group of migrants to Australia has been told and it is a story that is largely unknown in Australia, or in English. Much of course has been written and published in Dutch but that is of little value to Anglo-Australians and the English speaking descendents of the Indisch Dutch in Australia. The second reason why publishing this book in Australia is important is because it tells a very human story that closely connects Australia with its largest neighbour, Indonesia.
This is part of a wider story then of Australia’s links with the Asian region. The book incidentally has already been translated into Indonesian because, interestingly enough, it is a story that also is part of the history of Indonesia. But it is also part of a wider story of a global Indisch Dutch diaspora. They all inherit the traditions of a unique 350 year cultural history that has been touched by many races, religions and cultures.
Content of the book
The book is divided into four parts. Besides the Introductory section, it consists of three sections reflecting the three stages in the history of the people we have interviewed: Childhood (the colonial period) War and Revolution (the violence that ended the Indies and the life lived there) and Migration (departure to the Netherlands and subsequent remigration to Australia). Each of these three sections contains a chapter of a selection of unedited, translated interview transcripts. Apart from these interview transcripts, each section contains one or two formal essays that discuss or analyze the particular period of time. Contributors to this book, besides Loes Westerbeek and myself, are well-known scholars in the field of Indisch history. They are Jean Taylor, professor of history at University of NSW, who has previously written on early Batavia; Ulbe Bosma, senior researcher at the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam, who has written widely on Indo politics; Pamela Pattiname. Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial Cultural Studies at University of Amsterdam; Esther Captain, director of De Indisch Huis, in The Hague; Wim Willems, Professor of History at Leiden University, who has written extensively in the migration and settlement of Indische mensen. It was not our aim with this book to write THE history of Indisch Dutch. That would have been a much larger task. For those interested you are referred to the book by Bosma and Raben,
De Oude Indische Wereld, which will soon appear in English translation. Also of interest to readers of our book will be the book by Wim Willems, ‘
Uittocht uit Indië’. Finally, a difficult question: who exactly are the Indisch Dutch, the Indische Nederlanders,
‘The Other Dutch’ ? The interviews suggest that they are a broad range of people, of many different backgrounds, with longer and shorter connections to the Dutch East Indies. I think we can all accept the concept Lia Kellners, founder of Tempo Doeloe has always insisted on:
‘The Other Dutch’ are all those who have experienced or who associate with the life of the Dutch in the former Dutch East Indies. Thank you
Dr Joost Coté is Senior Lecturer at the School of History, Heritage and Social Inquiry - Faculty of Arts - Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy - Burwood, 3125 Australia
