holland focus
Van Gogh and his food paintings the Vincent affair a private chat with Peter Paul Rubens
photo front page: statue at Tesselaar
CONTENTS
ARTICLES______________________ 6 A look at Van Gogh and his food paintings 10 Clogball, the Dutch football teams of Australia 15 Dutch backpacker Ken Boogers remembered 16 a private chat with Peter Paul Rubens 24 The Birth of the Dutch East India Company 28 Hans Nieuwland 32 Documentary started on the Lost Whote Tribes of Australia 38 Vergulde Draeck Survivors 42 The Vincent Affair 54 Dutch New York City in 2015 58 Sail Amsterdam 2015 62 Canberra Walking Festival
48 51 52 56 65 66 67
profiel van Louis Kramer Kiwikorrels - de grote adelaar van Haast De Leesplank kids Dutch Cuisine - Balkenbrij Brisbane conference Verbeeldingen - de bakker book review
g n i k s e e sons per
COMMUNITY NEWS____________ 40 culinary art and vorstelijk tafelen books 50 nieuws uit Zuid-Australië 64 Rembrandt Club news, radio programmes
Research journalist Griselda Molemans is working on a new book ‘Levenslang oorlog’ (a live long war) that exposes the truth about the amount of victims of Japanese forced prostitution in the former Dutch Indies. During the research she published some findings in the Volkskrant (a Dutch newspaper). She is looking for three Australian women or their surviving relatives, namely: A. Kew, A.M. Rooseboom-Williamson and H. Taylor. The question is if the women could remember the situation in camp Tjideng, Batavia or perhaps have left a diary. Responses can be emailed to info@qna-news.com
REGULARS___________________ 3 editorial 4 letters to the editor 22 Taals Taaltje - Wie is er hier eigenlijk Dutch? 23 Kaaskoppen - Goodbye to Dutch icons? 31 Dutch/Flemish movies - Ooops! Noah is Gone 36 Tegenvoeter - Ruud Hisgen 41 Gedicht Belicht - Frans Hertoghs
Dutch Australian Society Neerlandia Club Ltd (NSW) Established 1954
Address:
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Contact the President for details and bookings on (02) 9452 5014 (Sundays) 2
Letter from the editor As many people already know the printed edition of the Holland Focus magazine is no longer. Due to other commitments and we want to spend more time with our children and grandchildren we have decided to stop the printing of the magazine. We received many phone calls, emails and some letters where people expressed their disappointment. They say that they can no longer hold the beautifully produced printed version of the magazine in their hands. We understand that many older people do not have access to a computer or IPad and subsequently can no longer read the magazine. Perhaps neighbours, family members or friends are able to print for them the magazine or articles they like to read (printing can be done from a special pdf-file on our website). The many words of appreciation we received touched us deeply and it is great that we made that many people happy during the more than 9 years we produced the printed magazine. We hope to produce the online magazine for many more years to come. As the administration for subscribers is no longer needed as the online magazine is free, we do save a lot of time. We thank the many people that donated the money we owed them to us or charities, which is a nice gesture. This is the first real online Holland Focus magazine and we hope you will enjoy the many articles. As an extra service we will place the Dutch versions of some articles on our website as well. People who prefer to read the article in Dutch can do that now and it might help people who are learning Dutch to have the English article there too.
Kamp Westerbork
www.personalisedhollandtours.com a taste of Holland and Portugal We offer all holiday makers - from Dutch expats to those who simply want to see Holland for the first time - the chance to spend time discovering the wonders of the Netherlands and the Algarve in Portugal. Your personal tour guide Jan Veltrop will take care of everything during your entire stay.
f h 2 e t wri
E: editor@hollandfocus.com
Yum, appeltaart (re recipe in last issue) My cousin in Holland gave me this hint: Before you fill the baking tin with the apple mix, put down a layer of “bitterkoekjes” or Italian Amoretti biscuits. They will absorb all the fluids and give the “appeltaart a very special flavour. Enjoy! H. Van der Haar, VIC Thanks for the email advising that H.F. will now only be available online. Glad we can still read it, but a bit sad that the colourful magazine will not come to our mailbox anymore.
I’m sorry we won’t get the printed version of Holland Focus anymore. We and my family loved the magazine. Reading it on line is just not the same. We’ll still read Holland Focus online and we wish you all the best
I am sorry you will no longer send out the printed version but I suppose this is a result of the times.
Very disappointed that you will no longer provide the printed version of Holland Focus. Although we do have internet access, it’s not like browsing through the pages when sitting in my comfy chair with a cup of coffee. The magazine had grown to a beautiful production, but I can imagine it was quite costly to produce. Still... echt jammer, hoor!
Dear Iet and Freek, It is with much regret that I received your email about the closure of Holland Focus as a printed magazine, for as an old-fashioned reader I liked having it on my lap, sitting outside in the sun, reading it, but I can understand that changes had to be made in this electronic age.
I’m very sorry to hear that Holland Focus will no longer be in printed form, as I have always enjoyed receiving the magazine and reading it over a period of several days, in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee. Reading Holland Focus sitting behind my desk in front of my computer will hardly be as pleasurable.
Thankyou for all these years of dedicating to make Holland Focus the best magazine available in this genre. Sorry to hear that there will be no Holland Focus any more. Both my husband and I loved reading and re reading the articles.
I am disappointed that Holland Focus will only be available free of charge on line as it was always most wonderful to sit back in a comfortable chair and read the very interesting articles at my own leisure and to pass the magazine around to others who also appreciated reading it.
Sorry to see the magazine go it will not be the same online. We will really miss the Holland Focus magazine. So sorry to hear that. It’s not the same on the computer or IPad.
Sorry to read you are stopping the printed version. We hope you keep going with the online version.
I totally understand why you are going on line, but, I am so sad. The book was so beautiful to read, keep and to share with others. Yes I can print and share but it’s not the same beautiful glossy magazine that you have printed. Thank you though for all the work and effort that is put in by so many people so we can read the very interesting articles and keep me in touch with the Dutch. If there is no subscription then everyone must be doing it for nothing, so a very big thank you for that. Are you going to notify us as to when the next magazine is ready to read? I did go to your webpage and clicked on the last magazine, I was going to print a page but could not see how to do that, do I highlight, copy and paste into Word and then print?
Great initiative going online! Very sad to hear Holland Focus will only be online now. My dad loves the hard copy. Dear Mr Fuijkschot, I have just spent an uncomfortable half hour in front of my computer reading through the on-line version of Holland Focus. Therefore to say that I am DISAPPOINTED with the disappearance of the printed version is an UNDERSTATEMENT. I wonder why this decision was made: economic reasons?; reader demand? – I was never asked! I also wonder if you have given any thought to some of the consequences of the demise of the printed version. Older people, (the group most likely to have no access to computers of any sort and the internet), must ask their family or friends for a lot of help in daily life. Reading a magazine is something that they can do independently, but no longer with Holland Focus. How long will each issue remain available online? Will I
I am sorry to hear the printed version of the Holland Focus magazine will no longer be distributed. However, I am sure my wife and I will like the online version! I’m rather sad to note that “Holland Focus” will no longer be printed, but I will certainly try to remember to read future issues ‘on line’. 4
be able, in future, to refer some-one to an article I had read the previous year? How will I know there is a new issue out, I always knew when it landed in my letter box. These are purely practical issues. In a wider perspective, the printed version was there for everyone to see, even those that were not actively looking for it. It showed in words and fine artwork that the Netherlands is more than people wearing clogs and funny little pointed white bonnets! I know these thoughts will not alter the decision already taken, but I would be interested in your comments.
t h c o z ge Edith NOACH (1906 – 2000) Hi, I am looking for any friends or relatives of Edith Noach who was born in the German city of Cologne in 1906. Her father was Dutch and her mother was born in Switzerland. In May 1931 her parents emigrated to Amsterdam from Cologne. Edith gained qualification as a midwife and worked in Rotterdam and Amsterdam Her parents were deported to Westerbork in August 1943, but they survived the war. In August 1950 Edith was the marriage witness for my Mother in Amsterdam. On 14 August 1951 Edith left Amsterdam and travelled to Melbourne, Australia. She lived in Australia until her death on 15 June 2000.
Dear Holland Focus, I am not impressed with the letter you send me this week. We have been subscribers for a long time and have enjoyed reading the magazine. Now you have deprived my husband of reading his favorite magazine by going on line only. He is in a nursing home and cannot read from a screen. I think maybe a lot more elderly Dutch people are in the same boat so it is for the young only to be able to now enjoy the magazine. Yes we do want the money back that you now owe to us.
Robert Gyselman, Tasmania rggyselman@gmail.com
Dutch passport applications in Australia as of 1 October 2015 advice is to apply for a new one now. Don’t wait too long. It is possible that you need supporting documentation, which takes time to gather. For example a birth certificate, marriage certificate, documents from the Netherlands or from another country where you or your family lived before. Note that only complete applications can be accepted.
The Dutch embassy and consulates are busy with an increasing number of passport applications. The reason is that from 1 October 2015 it will only be possible to apply for a Dutch passport at the Consulate-General in Sydney. From that date on, it will not be possible to do so anymore in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth. It could therefore be relevant for you to apply now for a new passport.
Temporary facility in Melbourn: There is no new honorary consul in Melbourne yet. Officers of the Consulate-General in Sydney specially travel to Melbourne on a limited number of days to receive passport applications. The last day is 30 September 2015. An appointment is mandatory via: https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/1n6h2q98/10
The new situation will have an impact for many but a number of new developments can be helpful: Validity period of passport New passports applied for by adults are valid for 10 years. Passports issued to persons younger than 18 are valid for 5 years.
Dual nationality If you have both Dutch and Australian citizenship (which is possible in a number of exceptions) or if you have more than two nationalities, it is very important to always renew your Dutch passport within 10 years. If you don’t do this, you risk to lose your Dutch nationality. So be on time, at least 3 months before the end of that 10-year term.
Apply in the Netherlands The number of municipalities in the Netherlands where you can apply for a new passport when living abroad has increased. The advice is to make use of that opportunity if you need a new passport when visiting the Netherlands. This can even be done at Schiphol airport, though an appointment must be made in advance. Issuance of a passport is a matter of days. Please be aware that in order to apply for a passport, even inside the Netherlands, you generally need supporting documents. Please check this with the municipality in question.
Certificate of Dutch nationality In case you don’t need a Dutch passport for travelling because you also have an Australian passport, you can also apply for a Certificate of Dutch nationality. You can also apply in writing. Note that this is no document for identification or travel purposes.
Be quick For Dutch citizens in Australia who live far from Sydney and whose passports expire in 2015 or beginning 2016, the
Questions? Please contact SYD-CA@minbuza.nl 5
A Look at Van Gogh
and
His Food Paintings
words Paola Westbeek 6
This year, on July 29th, it will be 125 years since the Netherlands lost one of its most respected painters, the Post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh. To commemorate his passing and shine light on his life and work, cultural institutions and museums both in Holland as well as in the countries that were most significant in his life (Belgium, England and France) will be remembering the anniversary with a wide variety of interesting events and exhibitions. Born in the village of Zundert in North Brabant on March 30th 1853, Vincent’s career as a painter was relatively short. His oeuvre, however, was vast. Even during his darkest moments, the troubled Dutch artist managed to keep producing emotionally charged paintings that reach straight into the soul with their broad brushstrokes, sentiment and vivid colours. It is hard to believe that during his lifetime Van Gogh only managed to sell but one painting. 6
Though he showed an interest in art early on, before even considering a career as a painter, Van Gogh’s calling was to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a preacher. He was a deeply religious man who firmly believed his main purpose on earth was to serve others, especially the poor. In an effort to unite himself with their suffering, he led a simple life and did not care for worldly luxuries. He studied theology in Amsterdam and worked as a missionary in Belgium, but was neither successful as a student nor as a preacher. Therefore, at the age of twenty-seven, he decided to dedicate his life to art, hoping to somehow find solace in this creative profession.
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and even finished them with great care — but I quickly repainted them without mercy, and the colour they’re painted now is something like the colour of a really dusty potato, unpeeled of course.” Just one year later, while in Paris, he painted what could perhaps be seen as his most appealing potato still-life: Still-Life with an Earthen Bowl and Potatoes (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam). In this painting we see a fondue pan known as a ‘caquelon’ filled to the brim with ochre yellow and red potatoes. More potatoes are strewn about, and much like The Potato Eaters, the painting is executed in thick brushstrokes and a dark palette. Similar still-lifes (equally somber in colour) produced during the first half of his artistic career include: Still-Life with Cabbage and Clogs (1881, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), Still-Life with Vegetables and Fruit (1884, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), StillLife with an Earthen Bowl and Pears (1885, Centraal Museum, Utrecht) and Still-Life with Apples and Pumpkins (1885, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo). A change was noted in his oeuvre after he moved to Paris at the end of February 1886 and came in contact with leading artists such as Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat and most importantly, Gauguin. He was greatly influenced by their use of vivid tones, and it wasn’t long before colour became one of his main forms of expression. It should come as no surprise then, that some of his most colourful (food) compositions were produced in Paris just
Though most of us associate Van Gogh with his Sunflowers, Wheatfield with Crows, Starry Night and numerous self-portraits, the artist also produced a variety of food-related paintings. One of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, which is not only a brilliant example of his early work, but also of his respect and admiration for restrained, hard working people, is The Potato Eaters (at the Munch Museum in Norway until September 6th). Painted in 1885, the masterpiece shows a group of farmers huddled over a modest meal of potatoes and coffee. With its dark tones of greens, browns and greys, and brusquely painted faces, the monochromatic masterpiece is as austere as it is intriguing. To many, the large ears, fleshy lips and protruding features of those depicted were highly displeasing (if not shocking) and therefore, the painting was not as well-received as Van Gogh had originally hoped. In fact, he was fully convinced that this work would demonstrate his skills as a figure painter and become his first masterpiece. His mission in this creation was also to mythologize how simple people earned their daily bread by working the land. In one of his many letters to his brother Theo, dated April 30th 1885, he wrote that the painting was to show how the farmers have “tilled the earth themselves with these hands they are putting in the dish, (...) and that they have thus honestly earned their food.” In a letter written just a few days later, on May 2nd, he said the following about the heads of the figures : “I had finished all the heads
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Here, we notice that the colours are a bit richer. In the somewhat clashing composition we can also detect how he was influenced by Japanese prints. Other stilllife examples of this more colourful style of painting include his lively Still-Life with Apples and his Still-Life with Grapes, both produced in the autumn of 1887 and at display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. In the latter, the use of contrasting shades is especially striking. In February of 1888, Vincent left Paris for Arles where he would enter one of the most productive periods of his career. Of course, the lush landscape of the Provence with its explosion of colour would also leave its mark in his works. In his 1888 Still-Life with Blue Enamel Coffeepot, Earthenware and Fruit (private collection), Van Gogh proudly painted some of the first things he purchased when he moved into the famous ‘Yellow House’: plates, cups, pitchers and a coffee pot. Van Gogh did not have an extravagant taste in food and could do with very little. One thing he could not do without, however, was coffee. He once survived for five days on nothing but dry bread and twenty-three cups of coffee! Whether in his food paintings or other types of still-lifes, landscapes or portraits, Van Gogh’s work is moving and attests to an incredible vitality despite a most tragic life. On July 29th 1890, two days after shooting himself in a field outside of Auvers-sur-Oise, a small village near Paris, Van Gogh breathed his final breath leaving behind an oeuvre that would become renowned the world over. Note: Those who are planning a trip to the Netherlands this year and would like to know more about this important Van Gogh year (‘Van Gogh: 125 Years of Inspiration’), can have a look at the following links:
www.vangogheurope.eu , www.vangoghmuseum.nl and www.holland.com .
kroketten, bitterballen en frikandellen
a year later in 1887. One thing, though, remained the same — the simplicity of the composition. A wonderful example of this development is his Still-Life with Lemons (spring of 1887, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). Five lemons are seen on a simple white plate set on a table covered with a light blue tablecloth. Upon closer inspection, subtle nuances in colour, both in the lemons and in the background, can be noted. The influence of the impressionist painters is evident in his use of brighter colours and preference for a more finer brushstroke. During the course of that year, his use of colour would only intensify. Somewhere in the late spring/early summer, he painted his Still-Life with Decanter and Lemons on a Plate (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).
altijd te bestellen even Cees of Anneke bellen
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Clogball So you think Holland has never won a World Cup, that Oranje is forever fated to be the bridesmaid, never the bride, on football’s biggest stage? Well, you would be wrong: Holland won a World Cup back in the 1950s. Huh? More than a 1.25 million European immigrants poured into Australia in the late 1940s and 1950s, including 100,000 from the Netherlands. Football was an important way for these different European communities to express themselves in their new home: by the late 1950s, numerous Italian, German, Austrian, Hungarian, Yugoslavian, Czech, Polish, Maltese, Greek and Dutch teams had formed across the country, most adorned in national colours, symbols and emblems of the ‘homeland’.
the Dutch football teams of Australia words Adam Muyt photos Wilhelmina Soccer Club supplied by Tony Noy, ex-Wilhelmina player 10
These so-called ‘New Australian’ clubs revitalised and transformed football in Australia, changing it forever with new skills and ways of looking at, and playing, the game. They brought in new players, officials, backers and spectators to a game that had at times struggled to emerge from the shadows of Australia’s other three football codes. With football energised by this population influx, a ‘World Cup’ tournament became a fixture of the football landscape in Melbourne through the 1950s and early 1960s. The Dutch side thrashed Italy 5-1 in the 1956 final before reverting to type and losing the 1961 final, 1-0, to Poland. (see: http://neososmos.blogspot.com. au/2013/12/when-victoria-had-its-own-world-cup.html ) Dutch migrants established teams in every capital city and several regional areas across Australia in the 1950s and early 1960s. At least twenty Dutch sides are known to have formed, with suggestions that the actual number may have been more than twenty five. Many teams lasted only a season or two while others played on for a decade or so before merging or folding, a sign of the rapid assimilation of Dutch migrants into the broader Australian community. Perhaps surprisingly, a significant number still continue on in one form or another. While none of these surviving clubs identify exclusively with the Dutch community any more, almost all continue to use one or other symbol in acknowledgement of their roots and heritage.
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In the 1950s Wagga Wagga was home to the Clogs while Canberra had two Dutch sides, Be Quick and Hollandia (In 1958 the Canberra Times couldn’t resist describing one match between them as the clash of the clogs). Teams called Hollandia played in Mt. Isa and Hobart in this period while Neerlandia played for a few years in the Sydney competition in the late 1950s, even winning the Second Division title.
The earliest Dutch teams formed in 1950. One was established in Sydney with the backing of a colourful Dutchman, David Bos, who ran the Black Tulip Cafe in the heart of the city - and sold sly grog on the side. (see: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/23226331 ) Originally named Hollandia, the club soon changed its name to Sydney Austral. Successful in local competitions in earlier years, they struggled in later seasons and eventually merged with Western Suburbs in 1966.
Several Dutch teams emerged in Victoria in the 1950s. Three sides were established in Geelong in quick succession, Shell, Olympia and DSG (Dutch Society Geelong). Over in the La Trobe Valley, Morwell Soccer Club was apparently ‘taken over’ by Dutch migrants in 1954. A few years later Werkspoor formed as a junior club in Morwell then morphed into the Fortuna ‘60 Soccer Club. Fifty five years later Fortuna ‘60 continues on, still playing in orange. (see: http://www.foxsportspulse.com/ club_info.cgi?c=1-8852-124683-0-0&sID=244394 )
Informal scratch matches amongst Dutch migrants in Perth in 1950 led to the formation of the Windmills. Celebrating their 65th anniversary this year, the club is known today as the Morley Windmills and plays in Division 1 of the West Australian State League. (see: http://www.morleywindmills.com.au/ ) The Brisbane Roar, one of the A-League’s most successful sides, trace their roots back to Hollandia-Inala, founded in the south-west of Brisbane in 1957. Despite changes in name, structure and ownership, the team has stuck with orange over the years (The outfit this last season could easily have passed for the Oranje; even the rampant lion crest appeared to mirror that of the KNVB. (see: http:// www.brisbaneroar.com.au/). Today three clubs in South Australia acknowledge Dutch foundations, the Mt. Gambier Centrals Soccer Club, and Sturt Marion and Sturt Lions, who both trace their history back to Orange, Adelaide’s top flight Dutch side founded in 1954.
Undoubtedly the heart of Dutch soccer in Victoria was Wilhelmina DSC, established in 1953 in Melbourne by former Dutch East Indies businessman, John van Hoboken. The team began life in the lowly Victorian Fourth Division Reserves competition and within four seasons had made it to First Division where they won the Dockerty Cup, the prestigious state-wide knockout competition. And then in 1959 they took out the State League premiership. 12
Wilhelmina actively recruited top flight players from the Netherlands, a situation that contributed to the banning of Australia from FIFA for four years as the various ‘New Australian’ clubs circumvented paying transfer fee payments to European clubs by having players move to Australia as migrants rather than as professional footballers. (see: http://sesasport.com/?p=2205 ) Players from the Netherlands could earn almost as much here, if not more, as they could in the semi-professional Dutch league, a huge incentive for encouraging a move
to Australia. The most prominent players to go to Wilhelmina were Ajax’s Dick van Alphen and Sjel (Mike) de Bruyckere from Willem II. Van Alphen had played for the Dutch ‘B’ side while De Bruyckere was capped seven times for the Netherlands in the 1950s. Sjel became a major figure at Wilhelmina and in the broader Victorian football community, eventually being inducted into the Football Federation of Australia’s Hall of Fame. Aware that support beyond the Dutch community was critical for long-term success and survival, Wilhelmina soon based itself in the booming urban growth corridor of outer eastern Melbourne, an area also popular with many Dutch migrants. Changing its name to Ringwood Soccer Club Wilhelmina, the club marked the opening of its new facility at Jubilee Park Ringwood in 1962 with bands, marching girls and speeches before beating the
community links threaded across Australia at the time. Sydney Austral visited Canberra regularly to take on the two Dutch teams there and also played Wilhelmina on occasion. The Clogs also ventured to Canberra from the Riverina to take on Hollandia. Hobart’s Hollandia doesn’t appear to have travelled interstate though they did play a match in 1954 against a team from a visiting Dutch frigate, the van Kinsbergen. In the same year, a ‘Dutch’ side formed in Ballarat for a one-off game against a visiting Horsham team managed by a Dutchman.
‘Greek’ team, South Melbourne Hellas, 2-1 in front of 5,000 supporters. Wilhelmina was so prominent in eastern Melbourne soccer circles in the late 1950s and early 1960s that the club helped spawn a cluster of local district clubs too, each with significant Dutch backing, involvement and leadership. These sides included Hollandia, Fern Tree, Ringwood United and Mooroolbark. The latter club eventually played in the 1977 season of the National Soccer League, the forerunner of the A-League, meaning two sides (out of fourteen) had significant Dutch connections in that inaugural first season of the national competition (Brisbane Lions were the other).
In this period a huge number of Dutch-born players took the field for district and non-Dutch sides across Australia, a reflection that not all Dutchmen could, or even wanted to, play for Dutch teams. And recognising the limitations of relying solely on the Dutch community for players and support, within a few years most Dutch sides were actively recruiting players of any background and nationality to play for them.
Success for Ringwood Wilhelmina proved elusive in subsequent decades and in 1990 the club played its last match at senior level. The club continues today as Ringwood City FC, taking the field in one of the lower Melbourne metropolitan divisions. Its teams still play in orange tops adorned with a crest featuring a crown over a football, just like that used by Wilhelmina all those years ago. And Jubilee Park is still their home ground, with the Wilhelmina Room a major feature of the recently refurbished facilities. (see: http://www.ringwoodcitysc. com.au/ )
These days, if you ask those with an interest in football about Dutch connections with the game here, many will probably think of coaches Guus Hiddink, Pim Verbeek or John van ‘t Schip, or perhaps players like Central Coast’s Patrick Zwaanswijk or Orlando Engelaar from Melbourne Heart. True enough. But there’s another, arguably more significant, connection: those thousands of post-war migrants from the Netherlands, and their offspring, who have added a rich splash of oranje to the game here. They, together with other migrant groups, helped revive and revolutionise football in this country. Hup Socceroos Hup!
Tours and tournaments between the various sides were common in those days, a testament to the Dutch
NCCA, the business networking organisation for the Dutch and their associates in Australia
Are you interested in becoming part of the primary forum in Australia where individuals and businesses with links to the Netherlands meet and network? Would you like to broaden your industry connections and strengthen your business relationships? If the answer is yes, then why not join us?
The author is doing further research on Dutch football teams in Australia in the 1950s and 60s and welcomes any information and insights you may have on the subject. Contact him at adammuyt@yahoo.com.au
Visit www.ncca.com.au for membership and forthcoming events. Phone: 0413 581 362
Networking for Business
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Dutch backpacker Ken Boogers remembered About 600 people friends and family were present at the memorial service of Ken Boogers in Geldrop on May the 21st. They commemorated and celebrated the life of a young man who had passed away far too young. Ken, 25, from Veldhoven, was a passionate and experienced traveller. He had been to Australia, Asia and South America. Early 2015, he left for New Zealand to travel and contemplate life. After a wonderful stay in Farewell Spit on the South Island of New Zealand where Ken made many friends, they decided to have a goodbye party before Ken’s departure for the Netherlands. But when Ken didn’t show up at his own party, his friends alarmed the New Zealand police. Immediately the police started a search party, unfortunately without any luck. After a few weeks of unbearable uncertainty, Ken’s parents, along with his sister and brother, an uncle and aunt, went to New Zealand to participate in the search. But again without any results. Late April, the New Zealand
police found human remains at Farewell Spit. DNA research and an autopsy confirmed the remains were from Ken Boogers. Now Ken is back in his homeland and according to his friends and family has left for his final greatest voyage. During the memorial service, held on the castle grounds of Geldrop, Ken’s friends, his brother and sister and his father and mother spoke lovingly about Ken. A presentation showed images of a happy child, cute looking, celebrating a birthday with a huge cake and candles. Words spoken about a broad minded Human Resource student who liked to contemplate life and helped others where ever possible. Ken Boogers was buried in a nature graveyard in the Netherlands. words Birgit Blankers photo: facebook
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a new care facility is presently under construction
A private chat with
Peter Paul Rubens The exhibition ’Rubens Privé’ in the Rubenshuis, Antwerp really gave the impression we had a private chat with Rubens. Till June 28 the exhibition shows Peter Paul Rubens’ most intimate works. These canvasses by Rubens were not commissioned, but made with a deep love he cherished as a son, husband, father and brother in law for his close family. For the first time in hundreds of years these art pieces are shown in the house that was the Ruben’s family home.
words Marianne Visser van Klaarwater 16
Genius The city of Antwerp hopes to make the person Rubens more approachable. According to Philip Heylen Schepen from Antwerp Culture, the Dutch consider Rubens a difficult and troublesome story. A genius like Rubens is hard to analyse.
smooth face of his younger years is gone. His eyes still show the expression of a man with a strong character. Resolute and strong. Artist, but also diplomat in the service of the duke of Mantua. Finding it normal that everything he touched turned into gold and gained appreciation for everything he did.
The private Rubens The exhibition exists of two parts. The first part shows Rubens and his close family members as the outside world saw them. On the painting ‘Isabelle Brant’ (1621, by Van Dyck) we see Rubens’ first wife. Her outfit and ostrich feathers turn her into a distinguished lady. The décor forms the gazebo in Rubens’ garden which is still there today. Especially the familiarity makes us feel a part of that time. The aloofness is still there, though. Untouchable and an inaccessible Rubens stares at us in three self-portraits. The last one, from 1640, shows a very wrinkly face. The
Secrets of the heart The second part reveals the secrets of his heart in canvas and letters. Here we see Rubens’ second wife, Helene Fourment portrayed as a loving mother with their two children. The boy Frans looks up to his father Rubens with his big eyes. His little sister Clara Johanna looks a bit shy and pale. Under her chair is a sleeping dog, symbolic for married loyalty and confirmation of domestic bliss. Next to the stairs on the Pelske Helene gazes mischievously at us. It appears that she says: “Take me the way I am.” And he did that. Lovingly and realistically painting her cellulitis and fluid in her legs. 17
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Fluorescent Recent research by fluorescence shows that Rubens initially drew ‘Manneke Pis of Brussels’ on the Pelske next to her. He made the mascot of Brussels into a symbol of marriage and fertility. It is not the only discovery that came to light during the preparations of this exhibition. Research into the year rings indicate that the tree, used for the panel behind the portrait of Rubens oldest daughter Clara, was chopped down between 1608 and 1615. This led to the conclusion that the painting of Clara Serena was painted by Rubens himself and not as previously thought by a pupil. The clever face, the upturned collar and the draping over the shoulders point to Rubens. Showing his love for her by painting her intense, loving with a cheeky expression in her eyes. Rubenianum “Again and again we are puzzled. Who is this? When was it painted? Sometimes you just have to guess,” conservator and director of the exhibition Rubens Privé, the Dutchman Ben van Beneden explains. Enthusiastically and competent he talks about the role of the Rubenianum in the Rubens research. Just like in Rubens time, curators, collectors and others travel to Antwerp to research the art of painting and its background. Rockoxhuis Walking in the footsteps of Rubens the city guide Anne Claesen takes us to the Rockoxhuis. She points out two paintings of Maria and child. The first one is the ‘Holy Family with Parrot’ from 1614. The child holds an apple in his right hand, as a symbol of the fall of Adam and Eva. Around 1630 Rubens added a grapevine and a parrot to the painting. They symbolise the virginity of Maria. He also added the landscape and Joseph. Opposite is the painting ‘The Virgin adoring the sleeping child’. This artwork dates from 1616 and points at Maria’s bliss. Probably Rubens’ first wife Isabella Brant was the model and the child looks like their second child Nicolaas. Similar to Rubens Privé we were absorbed in Rubens’ world. Jesuits Ignatius de Loyola could relate to that too. As the founder of the Order of the Jesuits he was of the opinion that spectators should craw in the painting, so to speak. Art should be experienced with all senses. It had to evoke questions: what do I see? What is it doing to me? Their main church in Antwerp was the St Carolus Borromeuskerk (1615-1621). For this church Rubens designed the tower, façade, high altar, the stucco-ceiling and the Houtappel- or Maria chapel. Unfortunately the 39 ceiling paintings by the maestro were destroyed in a fire. 19
Onze Lieve Vrouwe Cathedral Employed by the Jesuits Rubens became the painter of the contra-reformation, the Catholic movement that stood up against Protestantism. We experienced the overwhelming heritage of this in Onze Lieve Vrouwe Cathedral (1521). In this part neo-gothic, part baroque church Rubens heroic paintings ‘The Raising of the Cross’ and ‘the Descent from the Cross’ are on display. Central in both is Christ. His full, thick biceps display physical strength. On the right panel are his mother and friends and on the left his enemies. The diagonal composition forces the viewer to make a choice. Does he choose good or evil?
St Jacobs church Finally Anne takes us to the St Jacobs Church (1506-1656), a part baroque, part late gothic building. Here in Onze Lieve Vrouwe Chapel is the last resting place of Rubens. The painting ‘Maria surrounded by Saints’ was painted by Rubens. Above his tomb are the words: …he who in between many a talent excels in the knowledge of history and of all noble and beautiful art was named after the famous Apelles (the most talented painter from Ancient Greece) of his time and of all centuries.” Through the exit at the Eikenstraat we turn left and walk over the Meir to the Central Station. Thanks to the NS (Dutch Railway) we are back in Amsterdam after 2 and a half hours. The memories of this special meeting with Rubens are still there. Tip The Rubens walk by Visit Antwerp introduces you to the friends and family of Rubens and his controlled sins. www.rubenianum.be www.rubensprive.be www.visitantwerpen.be www.toerismevlaanderen.nl copyright photos from page 16: Peter Paul Rubens, self-portrait, 1623, oil on panel, 85.7 x 62.2 cm London, Royal Collection, inv.nr. RCIN 400156. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2015
© Image Courtesy of the Board of Trustees
Peter Paul Rubens, self-portrait, 1638, oil on canvas, 109.5 x 85 cm Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv.nr. 527. © Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien mit MVK und OETM. Reproduction
Peter Paul Rubens, Helena Fourment and her children Frans, Clara-Johanna and Isabella-Helena, ca. 1636-1637, oil on panel, 115 x 85 cm Parijs, Musée du Louvre, inv.nr. 1795 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/ Hervé Lewandowski
Anthony Van Dyck, Isabella Brant, ca. 1623-1626, oil on canvas, 153 x 120 cm Washington DC, National Gallery of Art, inv.nr. 1937.1.47
Peter Paul Rubens, Helena Fourment wearing a fur coat (‘Het Pelsken’), ca. 1630, oil on panel, 176 x 83 cm Wenen, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv.nr. 688 ©Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien mit MVK und OETM. Reproduction
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insert: Peter Paul Rubens, Helena Fourment wearing a fur coat (‘Het Pelsken’), ca. 1630, taken with MA-XRF, photo by Geert Van der Snickt Peter Paul Rubens, Clara Serena Rubens, 1618, oil on canvas, 37 x 37 cm Vienna, Liechtenstein Museum, inv.nr GE105 LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna voor de Nederlandse tekst van dit artikel ga naar: http://www.10tips4trips.info/2015/03/
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Wie is er hier eigenlijk Dutch?
TaalsTaaltje door Frans Hertoghs
Kathy is de kiwimoeder van een klasgenoot van onze zoon. Ze werd vijftig en daarom organiseerde ze een groot feest. In de Community Hall. “Leuk,” zei mijn partner Maud, “daar gaan we heen.” We bekeken de fraaie uitnodiging. “Bring a finger food plate.” “Je eigen eten meebrengen.“ Dat blijf ik onbegrijpelijk vinden. “Ja,” zei Maud, “en ook nog je eigen drank.” “Dat je voor je eigen Dutch courage zorgt”, zei ik. “En je moet je ook nog verkleden als superheld of superslechterik.” “Een feestelijk feest,” zei ik. “Zestig kilometer rijden om feestelijk je eigen spullen te verorberen. En dat verkleden, zijn we daar niet al een tijdje overheen?” “Plus een passend cadeautje kopen, inpakken en meebrengen,” zei Maud. “Maar we moeten er heen, hoor.” Nu had ik toevallig die avond een live radio-interview. Ik kon helaas niet mee naar deze Dutch treat. “Dan maak ik wel een lekker cadeautje voor Kathy,” besloot ik, “Mijn vorstelijke zalmsalade.” Verkleed als haar echtgenoot - mij dus - vertrok Maud rond half zeven met parfum en een weggeefschaal met zalmsalade. Om middernacht was ze weer thuis. “Ongelooflijk” zei ze. “Er waren precies achtentwintig mensen. De hall was ijskoud. En we mochten pas om half elf eten.” “En, wat vond ze van de zalmsalade?” “Niks. Ik heb hem gewoon weer mee teruggebracht. Er stond finger food, weet je nog? Afwasvrij. Geen bordje, mes of vork te bekennen. Die fles wijn heb ik maar achtergelaten. Ik heb er zelf niets van gedronken. Ik moest nog terugrijden.” “Dutch frugality,” constateerde ik. In het Engels bestaan er meer dan duizend(!) uitdrukkingen met Dutch. Verreweg de meeste hebben een negatieve strekking of bijbetekenis. Maar wij kennen geen enkele Nederlander die zo’n namaakfeest zou geven. “Nou,” zeiden we met een welverdiend glaasje wijn bij het knapperend haardvuur, “wie is er hier eigenlijk Dutch?”
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KAASkoppen discusses actual affairs that keep the Nederlanders busy
a glance at the current Netherlands
Goodbye to Dutch icons? Many generations grew up with them: the HEMA, V&D and Blokker. They became wellknown Dutch icons in every major city. Soon, that could be a thing of the past. The wellknown chain stores can hardly survive and with great disquiet they see how newcomers like the Primark, Action, Apple-store and, of course, web shops rumble past them. The HEMA drastically restyled its shops. V&D has not made a profit for years and cannot pay their rental commitments because they struggle with a liquidity problem. The company has asked all owners of the buildings to agree to a rent-free period of 4 months and after that a structural lowering of the rent. Apart from that all employees were asked to agree to compromise their salary. The buying behaviour of the consumers has changed drastically over the last few years. The problem in the retail sector is mainly that many shops in the mid-end of the market, including V&D, did not adjust to the changed habits. Chains like V&D, Blokker and Hema, surely national monuments, are in heavy weather. The companies have age long histories: V&D started in 1887, Blokker in 1896 and HEMA (Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam) in 1926. History does not help if the shops do not stand out anymore. That is all that counts. Customers still prefer to go to shops for cheap as well as expensive products. For cheap products they choose the Primark and the Action. The Apple stores attract customers that want the expensive and luxurious gadgets. Costumers find the mid-end market not very special. Not very cheap. The supply at V&D and the HEMA is often seen as banal and is too limited. For the stuff in between the internet provides enough: often better priced and far more variety. Despite the restyling and reorganisation we have to wait to find out how long we will see V&D rise in the shopping malls. And if we can still go to the HEMA for a bargain in sturdy underwear or the famous rookworst.
words and photos Yolanda Edens 23
above: Philip II berating William the Silent, Prince van Oranje (by Cornelis Kruseman, Rijksmuseum) right: VOC ship on slope
The Birth of the Dutch East India Company (known as the VOC)
In the early 16th century Catholic Spain ruled the Netherlands, because Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, had inherited Flanders from his father, Philip le Bel (the Handsome) King of Castile and Spain from his mother Joanna the Mad, daughter of Ferdinand ll of Aragon. Charles thought of himself as more of a Fleming than a Spaniard and spoke fluent Flemish. He was a peaceable, but na誰ve ruler inflexibly against the influx of Protestantism. Even so, he never became a persecutor or instituted any Inquisitions in the Netherlands.
words Monica de Knecht 24
left: duke of Albe -Amsterdam Museum, right: Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
However he could not break the Dutch resolve to fling off the Spanish yoke, when William of Orange turned against his onetime master, Philip.
Unfortunately all this changed in 1556, when Philip II succeeded his father. Philip was a haughty and obsessively Catholic ruler, who was already causing trouble in Protestant England, as he was married to Queen Mary Tudor, an obsessively rigid Catholic herself, who was primarily interested in ‘payback’ on any influential Protestants during her father’s (Henry VIII) and brother’s (Edward VI) tyrannical reigns. Philip, as her consort, enthusiastically encouraged her and these two became a byword for their burning of Protestant heretics in the 5 short years of Mary’s reign, so much so, that she is forever known as ‘Bloody Mary’.
His proud motto “Je maintiendrai” (I will maintain) became a cry of hope and William succeeded in breaking, at least the northern Netherlands, from the Spanish bondage and the northern merchants became Calvinists. However the southern parts still remained “The Spanish Netherlands” for some time. The Dutch East-India Company, therefore, was born ‘out of the bowels’ of the Reformation and William’s rebellion. The Dutchman, Cornelis de Houtman had actually once been a maritime pilot for the Portuguese in the East Indies. Unfortunately he had “fallen foul of the courts of the Inquisition” (Godard, 1993: 9) because he was a member of the Dutch reformed religion. This astute merchant joined with nine other Amsterdam merchants to break the Portuguese trade monopoly and set up a
In the Netherlands, Philip ruled by terror because he believed that the Netherlands must be returned to Catholicism, just like he had tried to do in England. He installed a series of military governors, of whom the Duke of Alba is most remembered, especially for his brutalities during the capture of Mechelen, Zutphen, Naarden and Haarlem.
The first journey to East-India 1595 with Cornelis de Houtman and four ships sent by the Amsterdam Compagnie van Verre: The Duyfken, the Amstelredam, the Mauritius and the Hollandia
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Tokugawa Leyasu
Jan Pieterszoon Coen
company known as the ‘Far Lands Company’ (Compagnie van Verre) and in a very short space of time “eighteen expeditions, representing in all some hundred vessels, were set up by groups of owners belonging to different cities of the United Provinces”. (Godard, 1993:15). This was between the years of 1595 and 1601, assisted greatly by the local Asian knowledge of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten.
the 16th century and, at first, the Japanese regime embraced it. However Tokugawa Ieyasu began to see it as a threat, not to the Empire, but to the stability of the Shogunate. The Emperor, at this time, was little more than a figurehead. Ieyasu therefore implemented laws that forbade the practice of Christianity, together with seclusion from the west. No Europeans were allowed to trade with Edo.
Inevitably squabbles broke up between the different cities, but it was quickly realised by the canny Dutch, that if they were to become competitive against the English and the Portuguese, they must set aside local rivalries. Therefore, to that end, they built up a commercial structure offering a “united front” to all opponents (Godard, 1993:15). This was founded in 1602 and became known as the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the VOC. All central control, similar to a Board of Directors, was in the hands of the Heeren XVII (Gentlemen Seventeen) whose decisions were unchallengeable. This is amusingly verified by the fact that the Japanese thought of the Heeren XVII, as on a par with their own Lords under the Shogun, who were called daimyos.
The Dutch were allowed to trade with the Japanese in the Edo or Tokugawa period, owing to the fact that they were willing to sacrifice every principle for trade, including executing Christian missionaries and Japanese Catholics themselves and treading on sacred Catholic icons, as Anthony van Diemen himself advised Abel Tasman. (Finkel, 1975) The Heeren were selected from the six Chambers of Amsterdam, Middelburg, Hoorn, Delft, Rotterdam and Enkhuizen in “proportion to each Chamber’s commercial importance”. (Godard, 1993: 18). The VOC was able to “legislate, to hand down justice, to establish colonies and even to engage hostilities against foreign powers if there was any risk that such powers might thwart its legitimate interest. In a word, it was a state within a state with an initial capital of six million, five hundred thousand florins collected by national subscription, each share being worth three thousand florins”. (Godard, 1993:19). However the by-word of the VOC was long term investment, never just dividends on the return of a single voyage. Eventually their main headquarters were fixed at Batavia (now Djakarta) in Java. Any rivals were quickly eliminated until their spice trade became virtually omnipotent.
As witness this 17th century Japanese description of the Dutch Holland, or as it is also called Horan, or Komo (literally ‘Red-hair’) is the name of one of the provinces of the Netherlands. Now the Netherlands lie in the extreme N.W. of Europe. This territory has seven Provinces and seventeen daimyo. (Shellach, 1782) The Dutch were the only Europeans allowed to trade in Japan during the Closed Regime of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1635) until the Meiji Restoration (1868).
This was largely the work of the first Batavian governorgeneral, Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1618-23 and 1627-29).
Christian missionaries began appearing in Japan during 26
Not for nothing was this man known as ‘’Pieterszoonthe-Fearless”. He believed that the excess production of spices would lead to a fall in prices and “immediately set a deplorable example by ordering his troops.... to
inexorably harsh and therefore he engendered much bitterness, antipathy and jealousy. The power and scope of the VOC is best explained by comparing Holland’s trading empire in the sixteenth century to that of about a hundred years later. In 1532 the merchants of Holland commanded some 400 seagoing vessels which rose to at least 2500 in the VOC’s ‘heyday’ in the seventeenth century and the sizes of the ships doubled. The Netherlands became the shipbuilding capital of Europe in the seventeenth century.
devastate all the native clove plantations on the Islands of Banda, in the southern part of the Moluccas, in order to concentrate them henceforth in the Island of Ambon”. (Godard, 1993: 31). Several thousand inhabitants were incidentally massacred in the course of this exercise and the survivors were condemned, by him, to slavery. Pieterszoon-Coen was extremely clever, but also
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES Godard, Phillipe, 1993, The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia, Abrolhos Publishing, Perth. Wilson, Charles, “The Divided Netherlands” in The Golden Age of Europe, Guild Publishing London, 1987. Williams, Neville, ‘The Tudors’ in The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, edited by Antonia Fraser, Book Club Associates, London, 1979. Hayashi Shihei, 1782, “Explanatory Inscription to his print of the Shellach” in C.R. Boxer’s (1968), Jan Compagnie in Japan:1600-1817: An Essay on the Cultural, Artistic and Scientific Influence exercised by the Hollanders in Japan from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. James, David H. “The Rise and the Fall of the Japanese Empire”, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London 1951 George Finkel, 1975 The Dutchman Bold – Abel Tasman (Angus and Robertson)
commemorative VOC plaques on facades in Amsterdam Hoorn, Middelburg and Delft
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Hans is an avid sailor and has raced in many parts of the world. Here photographed with Mary.
HANS NIEUWLAND
Hans Nieuwland has been the Honorary Consul for the Netherlands in Victoria for 15 years. Recently he stopped being ‘the consul’. Hans arrived by boat in 1974 and settled in Melbourne. The first 10 years they basically had Australian friends and had no contact with Dutchies in Melbourne at all. Hans worked in logistics and spent a lot of time at Tullamarine Airport. One day in about 1979, he noticed a Dutch newspaper on a desk at one of the arilines and flicked through it. Harry Jansink, a Dutchman standing nearby said something like “You cannot read that”. Hans quickly put him right. Harry was a radio commentator for the Dutch programme at 3ZZZ – an ethnic radio station that is still going strong. He talked Hans into becoming part of the Dutch programme. “Soon I was doing many programmes and started a talkback programme. We had about ten people lined up for the talkback as we were too frightened that no one would call us.” 28
Hans was often invited to business functions–in the meantime he went to night school and got a degree at RMIT in transport logistics. A Dutch trade mission came out in the mid-80s, including representatives from the Port of Rotterdam. In Melbourne many ports were represented. Only Rotterdam, the world largest port at the time, did not have a representative. “One of the people from Rotterdam and I got talking about this and I was asked to write a proposal for that function. Half a year later I was appointed rep. of the Port of Rotterdam for Oceania.” Every year Hans had to go to Rotterdam and attend meetings during a full week. “All expenses paid, mind you”. He talked to export- and harbour experts in Melbourne, but it was a part-time job only and in 1985 Hans started his own consulting business in logistics. “One of our achievements is setting up an electronic tracking system for containers”. Soon after I joined the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne. Then it was a national organisation with the head office in Melbourne and offices in Sydney, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane and Adelaide. They were subsidised by the EVD (Agency for International Business and Cooperation, part of the Dutch Ministry of economic Affairs). I joined the board in 1990 and stayed with them for 10 years.” The Dutch consulate-general in Melbourne was closed down and moved to Sydney. The government was looking for an Honorary Consul. John Harrower the CEO of the Dutch Chamber carefully asked Hans if he was interested in becoming the consul to Victoria. Hans said yes and had to write a letter of application to Her Majesty Queen Beatrix and was duly appointed Honorary Consul. “I gave up my job as rep. for the Port of Rotterdam, as I believed that would be a conflict of interest.” In 2004 Hans had an idea to start an event on or near (then still) koninginnedag. “My vision was to promote the Netherlands in Australia. Aiming for 20% Dutchies and the rest Australians. Don’t charge entry fees, so all people can join in. My target was the Australian audience.” Hans approached different Dutch organisations, but none were interested. Only a few people that organised the Jongeren Borrel in Melbourne showed interest. “Basically Helga, Rein and I – with the help of some other people – started organising the first Dutch Orange Day to take place on Federation Square in 2005. On a Sunday close to “koninginnedag”. They organised sponsors, a beer garden, stalls with Dutch food and art, films in the ACMI and Dutch Folk Dancers. It was an overwhelming success, the counting system at Federation Square displayed 25,000 visitors. The second DOD was also on Federation Square and Hans approached the Guinness Book of Records as he planned to organise a klompendans (clog dance) with as many people as possible and guided by de Tukker Folkdance group. Dutch Orange Day made the Guinness Book of Records, although within a year the record was broken at
an event in Noord-Brabant. The press in the Netherlands named DOD the best organised Queen’s birthday party outside the Netherlands. DOD moved to Queensbridge Square on Southbank and as the DOD committee grew stronger, Hans became less and less involved. “At some stage you need to pull back, which I did”. “The concept has been taken on by the Indonesians and the Swiss.” Over many years Dutch flags waved in the wind on Federation Square on Queen Beatrix’ birthday, instigated by Hans. The NESWA organisation in Melbourne died a natural death as people became too old. “I feel strongly about the veterans and didn’t think that they were recognised as they should at memorial functions in Melbourne.” Hans suggested they should walk on ANZAC Day and have a ceremony at the Dutch tree in the gardens near the War Memorial. “Which was a better way to show appreciation for what they did and was very appreciated by the veterans.” One of the consul’s tasks is to assist Dutch people that come into a dire situation while in Victoria. Paul de Waard is one example (Paul came to the aid of a shooting victim in Melbourne and was shot too and nearly died). Hans visited him daily when he was in hospital, organised for his parents and brother to come over and stay in Melbourne. “The then Victorian Government paid for all the expenses, which was much appreciated. Paul has been back three times since and always stays with us and we visit him and his family when we are in Holland.” A few years ago a Dutch backpacker was abused by a man and his girlfriend. On Christmas Day 2012 she had enough and tried to commit suicide. The couple panicked and called 000, she was subsequently transported to a hospital. Hans and Mary visited her daily and were kept informed about her progress by doctors and the psychologist. After two weeks she was allowed to leave the hospital, but she had nowhere to go to and was not allowed to travel yet. After being assured by the psychologist that that would be the best solution, Hans and Mary kindly offered her their visitors’ apartment, which was attached to their house. She stayed with them until she was allowed to travel to the Netherlands. Hans could tell many more stories about Dutch people that needed help because everything was stolen of them, people with psychiatric problems or a man died and his wife speaks little English, she needed a lot of help. “But everything was arranged within 24 hours”. “An Australian guy from Port Lonsdale rang me and wanted to tell me his story about his time in the war with the Dutch.” It turned out that he was attached to two Dutch squadrons based in Townsville and many Dutch pilots escaped to Townsville from Indonesia. After Japan had capitulated they flew from Townsville to Lombok (an Indonesian Island). When they arrived a few Japs approached the plane, the crew was not sure if they 29
knew that Japan had capitulated and were a bit scared. But it turned out that they offered them a sword. “So, these were the first Japs that surrendered and this man in Port Lonsdale had that sword.” The military attaché who is based in Canberra came to Melbourne and we had a short ceremony.” The sword is now in Museum Bronbeek, in Arnhem. Three years ago Hans started a new business and only does projects he really likes and he and Mary travel a lot and stay away for many months. Early last year he and his family had a devastating experience, their house burned down in a bushfire which was started by falling power line poles. They managed to escape the fire in time, with their dog and chooks and not much else. They bought a house west of Melbourne and are renovating it.
Hans and Peter van Duyn (then president of DOD) opening Dutch Orange Day 2014
Hans looks back at his time as consul as a fascinating time. “As consul you meet people you normally don’t meet: queens, kings, prime-ministers etc. It was a wonderful experience.”
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Dutch/Flemish movies
Ooops! Noah is Gone words Darren Arnold
… is an animated Belgian co-production that’s known as Two by Two in much of the English-speaking world and Beestenboot in the Netherlands. Whichever title you see it under (or whatever language it’s in), there’s no getting away from the sense that what promises to be a fun family adventure winds up a disappointing mess, with little to engage its young target audience -- and even less for any accompanying parents. Toby Genkel’s tale takes its cue from the story of Noah’s ark, the same source material that Darren Aronofsky drew on for last year’s highly impressive Noah. If Aronofsky was criticised for what many considered to be some serious artistic license, his version was positively traditional compared to this one, which introduces a couple of furry alien-like beings (one known as a Grymp, the other a Nestrian) who don’t fit in with the usual evolutionary pattern; as such, they’re thus barred from entering the ark. As the ark departs and the water level rises, the two -- and a friendly, large, slug-like creature -- quest to find higher ground. This makes for an expectedly frantic spectacle in which the creatures have close shaves aplenty, and their task isn’t made any easier by the presence of a couple of nasty predators, who are always ready to pounce. It feels a bit wrong to be too hard on what is a reasonably good-natured children’s film, but Ooops! Noah is Gone… falls down in two main areas: firstly, it’s not remotely funny, and secondly, there isn’t a single interesting character in the film for the audience to engage with. In a year that’s already given us animated hits such as Shaun the Sheep and Home, filmmakers have to do a lot better than this to ensure that families part with their hardearned money. While Ooops! Noah is Gone… has little to recommend 31
it, the animation isn’t too bad, and there is a bright and cheerful use of colour throughout. At times the film brings to mind the likes of Finding Nemo and Ice Age, which although may initially sound like a good thing, ultimately serves to remind us of infinitely superior product. Although the film is undoubtedly a misfire, European animation is often worth a look as it’s interesting seeing what any territory outside of the US and Japan does with the technique; last year’s The House of Magic, while by no means a classic, was a decent stab at 3D animation by European filmmakers. Ooops! Noah is Gone… won’t give the competition much reason to fret, but despite its many flaws it might meet with more forgiveness on DVD; it may even come to your rescue on a rainy afternoon when you’ve got some small children to entertain.
picture by Rex Woodmore of the Vergulde Draeck
Documentary started on the
Lost White Tribes of Australia Last April I returned to Western Australia to film a documentary on my book, ‘The Lost White Tribes of Australia 1656 The First Settlement of Australia.’ Dirk de Bruyn, a senior lecturer at Griffith University, became interested in making the documentary after reading my book in 2013. After a couple of visits to Sydney, we agreed to make a documentary on the book. Dirk was particularly interested in the human aspect of the abrupt dislocation of the survivors of the Vergulde Draeck, the subsequent and continued cover up of their existence as well as the Aboriginal descendants of the ‘Lost White Tribe.’ Our first port of call was Ocean Reef, north of Perth: not only the site of the oldest European inscription in Australia, but also the site of a proposed marina. Initially we struggled to find the rock but through perseverance I rediscovered the inscription covered over in sand. I was relieved to see that it was still there. words and photos Henry van Zanden
But why stay at this particular spot?
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I imagined the shipwrecked sailor(s) seeking protection in the small caves, or standing on the high embankment beside an unlit fire, waiting … waiting for a ship arriving from the south west before changing course, tacking their northerly course route to Batavia.
of its salvage and preservation pending the outcome of future investigations into the inscription’s age. I understand that numerous experts will be consulted in their investigations. Holland Focus readers will be updated on the results of the Council’s investigations.
To the north, I also noticed a group of islands explaining perhaps why the sailors chose this location. Any ship sailing north would also have sighted the islands thus changing course to head further west, further away from the coast and further away from rescue.
During the documentary shoot, we were fortunate enough to interview some extraordinary individuals. Rex Woodmore Although he is best known today as an accomplished landscape artist, he also was and still is, a treasure hunter. When Rex was only 19 years of age, he teamed up with the infamous Allan Robinson to dive on the Vergulde Draeck. Although there were four other divers with him, Robinson had legally claimed the discovery of the wreck in 1963 and had applied for the salvage rights. Prior to 1964, there were no maritime archeology laws in Australia. Thus salvage operations, such as carried out by Allan Robinson and the souveniring by numerous individuals was legal. Realising the archaeological value
Dirk de Bruyn filming It has been a struggle to save the rock from its inevitable destruction after the Ocean Reef marina is built. The Western Australian Maritime Museum had proclaimed the inscription to be modern whereas Robert Bednarik, using scientific analysis of rock particles, believed the inscription to be at least 300 years old. Given the Museum’s position, the Hon. John Day, Minister for Culture and the Arts, was not able to protect the inscription under the existing Commonwealth or State shipwreck legislation. I took up his suggestion that I should raise the matter with Joondalup Council. I subsequently contacted Joondalup Council requesting permission to privately remove the rock at our own cost. However, my preference was for the Council to engage in its recovery, investigation and preservation. Joondalup Council, in turn, requested I ask the Minister for his approval for the removal of the rock. Ironically, the Minister’s confirmation that the inscription was not protected has ‘saved’ the rock. The Council has agreed to undertake the management
of the wreck could be lost forever, the Museum made a special request to anyone in possession of artefacts from any wreck older than 1910. All the items were subsequently catalogued but then returned with a museum certification to the owners. Robinson was later charged with the disposing of historic relics without a permit in contravention of the Historic Shipwreck Act of 1976. He was able to successfully appeal 33
the charges. He was also accused of having used gelignite to break up sections of the wreck. Rex disputes the accusation of the injudicious use of explosives. However, he did know that others were both diving and using explosives on the wreck after Allan and Rex had returned to shore. There was little Robinson could do to stop other treasure hunters from looting the wreck. One thing that did go missing was bronze cannons. The Museum claimed that there were no bronze cannons, but Rex was in no doubt that there was at least one bronze cannon. “We got in close to the reef where the water was shallow, Alan pointed to something protruding slightly above the mirror calm water “WOW!” A three hundred year bronze cannon pointing skyward from the side of the reef. Polished, literally by the sands of time, it gleamed like gold in the clear water. Taking a quick breath I dived down and touched the clear VOC crest on its gleaming sand polished muzzle. I was vaguely aware of Allan shouting something, but I was too overcome with excitement to respond. I came up for a breath and realised something was terribly wrong.
I knew I was in trouble, but thanks to the UEC training and experience I remained calm. I knew what to do, drop my weight belt and the buoyancy of my wetsuit would work like a life jacket. But I had one big problem; the safety release on the homemade weight belt wouldn’t work. The belt was jammed and with each receding wave, every time I tried to raise my head for a gulp of air, the weights dragged me down to the bottom. One moment I was swirling around on the bottom in the sand amongst the cannon and the next I was on the ragged rocks. I was totally exhausted, the fight and the breath had been knocked out of me. I gave up, this was the end of my nineteen years on this earth, and I knew I would soon be sucking sea water and sand into my empty lungs. In a surreal, silent, slow motion moment, my whole life, like a movie, replayed in front of my eyes. In the final episode it was as if I saw myself lifeless, dead, bloated and blue slowly drifting backwards and forwards amongst the weed. Suddenly! I burst back to reality. “This is not for me!” and my brain screamed out to the God that I didn’t think I believed in. “God please save me!” With that, my whole being seemed to explode with a super charge of Adrenaline, enabling me to throw myself to the surface. Oblivious to my drama, Allan had made it to safety. I caught a glimpse of him in the water near the boat and on board were Garry and my girlfriend. When I saw her I thought “This is the last time I will ever see you”.
A huge shadow folded like a giant hand above me and as if the awesome site of the cannon hadn’t been breathtaking enough, the first of an unheard of, six king waves tore my mask and snorkel from my face, scooped me up and hurled me onto the jagged rocks, knocking out the remnants of my breath of air and stunning me. I then fell back off the reef and plunged to the bottom where, even without my mask, I could see more cannons lying dark on the white sand. I grabbed hold of one, but the next wave was too strong for me, almost ripping my fins from my feet. Again like a giant hand the wave rolled over me and it squeezed me like a tube of toothpaste. I was torn from my anchor point, lost my grip and again hurled savagely, like a rag doll, onto the rocks.
I was still in trouble with the belt dragging me down. There was just enough time, before the final wave broke, for me to yell out to Allan for help. Strangely it had seemed so natural and so easy to shout out to God for help, yet I found it unnatural and embarrassing to call out to man. I quickly overcame my embarrassment and was able to get out two or three shouts for “HELP!” before the next wave grabbed me. Strangely this wave behaved differently to the preceding five. It still effortlessly scooped me up, but it didn’t smash me onto the reef, instead it gently rolled me, like a bag of bones, over the full width of the reef and into deeper but calmer waters. There was no way I would be able to swim back to the boat with the weights dragging me down, so 34
Robinson died a very bitter man. He had to battle the while blocking out stories of sharks waiting on this side police, the Western Australian Maritime Museum and the of the reef for an easy feed of stunned and injured fish, I press. Peter Bridge, a West Australian Historian, has been renewed my effort to drop the belt. particularly scathing at authorities. Quickly Allan Robinson was alongside me, he always Before the Shipwrecks Act of 1976 was enacted, Robinson carried a spear with him on this side of the reef to fend “gave 3000 ballast bricks from the 17th century Gilt off the sharks that I was trying to not think about. He Dragon wreck to the WAM. They took them to the tip seemed perplexed as to why I had not dropped my belt. at Lake Monger and dumped them! The next year, post He grabbed at the buckle and gave it a wrench. Nothing happened. His expression and manner changed. Reaching act, he was prosecuted for having a single brick in his possession. Perhaps the fact that some Museum staff for his knife he dropped his brand new spear and it sank members were heavily involved in the wreck looting into the depths. Then while he partly lifted me with themselves may answer a few questions. Later several one hand, with the other he sawed through the tough divers who registered their collections with the WAM webbing belt. It was difficult and seemed to take ages. Eventually I was free and bobbed around like a cork in my as per legislation, had their houses burgled and their oversized wet suit. Allan took the lead and we swam quite collections stolen, within 24 hours of their return to the owner!” a long way around the reef and back to the boat. Bruised Further on he added, “There is nothing that these and extremely tired, the swim back was long and painful, institutions would fear more than a stocktake.” so I used a clumsy combination of overarm, breast stroke and sidestroke, then while I was in the middle of a dog I am hopeful that the Museum had recently improved paddle, Allan said in an unusual serious tone of voice: their practices with the appointment of Alec Coles as the “Have a look under you!” then suddenly as if to correct CEO at the Western Australian Museum in 2010. I am himself he said ‘’Oh! It’s Okay. You can’t see without your looking forward to the day when the Museum will work mask.” with individuals and groups for the benefit of furthering “Why, what is it?” I asked “Nothing, just part of the our knowledge of Australia’s earliest maritime history. wreck,” he said unconvincingly. photo previous page: Henry van Zanden I didn’t think there was any wreckage this far from the reef. We were in open waters and thoughts of sharks crept back into my mind. I brought my The Lost White Tribes of Australia Part 1: legs up and avoided splashing like an injured 1656 The First Settlement of Australia fish. On the way home Allan told me he had seen A small community, all as white as a 10 foot Bronze Whaler shark ‘sniffing’ at my himself, he said about 300; that they scratched and bleeding legs. lived together within a great wall to It was a strange journey home and I had defend them from black men; that mixed emotions. I was confused and yet was their father came here 170 years ago sure that something, far more mysterious from a distant land across the sea … than possible death, had happened to me. I Lt Robert Dale 1832 WA had called out to the God that I thought I did not believe in. But who did I thank that day? I thanked the man that cut off my weight belt. An Ideal Gift And to what did I credit the surge of power Includes Free $20,000 scratchie (NSW that came over me when I needed it most? I Lotteries) credited my own system for its production of Free gift wrapping and Adrenalin. autograph upon request. From Rex Woodmore’s website: rex-woodmoore.weebly.com/ When the Western Australian police seized the Gilt Dragon artefacts from Allan Robinson, they were ordered to return the items after the High Court decided that Robinson was entitled to either salvage or compensation. Unfortunately for Robinson, he did not live to enjoy his treasure as he was not long afterwards charged with conspiracy to murder. Although he was found innocent, Robinson was discovered dead in his cell before the verdict was read out. He was found hanging from a sheet which had been tied to a window. 35
Only $44 Parcel Post or $48 Express Post. Multiple copies to the ONE address: Two books: $74 Three books: $104 Send cheque to: Henry Van Zanden PO Box 49N Campbelltown North NSW 2560 Pay by PayPal, visit: australiadiscovered.com.au
TEGENVOETER
KRAKKEMIKKIG rickety
Do you remember this old-fashioned word? KRAKKEMIKKIG! This year my father Jules, who was born in 1921, turned 94. Most of his friends and relatives have vanished out of sight and some out of mind, and his body has gone ramshackle. His mind, however, is fit and in perfect working order. Every Saturday afternoon he comes over to my apartment for a cup of coffee and an hour of fervent conversation. We discuss the books he read, the films he has seen and the political developments that he is annoyed about. Very often he comes up with suggestions for words which I should investigate.
36
words Ruud Hisgen
edge of being out of use. Words like ‘Ollekebolleke’ (one-potato, two-potato). KRAKKEMIKKIG is a word that sounds as if it could have fit the poetry genre of the ‘Ollekebolleke’ that he invented. Like sonnets Ollekebollekes have a strict prosodic form. The poem consists of two four-line stanzas. The last words of each stanza should rhyme. Its first line should be a yell or a cry and the second line should give away its theme. The second line of the second stanza must contain a word of six syllables (like ‘ollebolleke’) and all the other lines should consist of two dactyls (a foot with one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. I was trying to compose an ‘ollekebolleke’ for you with KRAKKEMIKKIG but gave up because the word lacks two syllables.
Some time ago he suggested the word KRAKKEMIKKIG. Why this silly word, I asked? Because, he said, it is a word that will make people smile. The way KRAKKEMIKKIG looks is the way KRAKKEMIKKIG feels. What you see is what you get. All those ‘K’-sounds in combination with the raucous ‘R’ and the concluding semi-harsh ‘G’ make the word sound creakily rickety. KRAK – KE – MIK – KIG. Vocalize these four syllables slowly ten times in succession and you can see my father as he goes waggling from his house to mine behind his wheeled trolley (ROLLATOR). Pronounce this word rapidly three times after another and you’ll see the old man’s mind flex and pull while his spirits reach higher and higher, fighting the gravitation laws of space and time. Growing old is a fight of mind and matter. Life is a battle of the mind trying to hold its grip on what’s going on outside the skull. The body is the home of the mind. Or maybe not only the home but also the spaceship Enterprise. My father has been exploring time and space for almost a century now. For more than two thirds of his life I have been one of his fellow passengers and I hope to be able to travel along with him for many more years.
The rickety Drs. P surprised everyone this week when he wrote an ‘Ollekebolleke’ as an obituary which he published in several newspapers. This annunciation was so successful that many budding poets responded by sending their ‘ollekebollekes’ as a kind of tribute. Here is Drs. P’s obituary:
However, my old father is not the only one who’s going KRAKKEMIKKIG. My own course is being steered in the same rickety direction. So, at this point in time and space you ask yourself, is KRAKKEMIKKIG, an old and ancient word? The answer is no. My favourite etymologist Nicoline van der Sijs lists the word in her chronological dictionary as 1964. NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR! That means that the word is half my father’s age and that it is even younger than I am. Apparently it was derived from the word ‘krakkemik’ which is related to the Antwerp word ‘krikkemik’ which means ramshackle and rickety. KRAKKEMIKKIG and ‘rickety’ sound as if they could be linguistic brothers or sisters. ‘Rickety’ (liable to fall down), however, is much older than KRAKKEMIKKIG and dates back to the seventeenth century. ‘Rickety’ is derived from the word ‘rickets’ also known as the English disease or in Dutch ‘rachitis’.
Your attention please! A short report: The undersigned Is no longer in sight –
The words rickety and KRAKKEMIKKIG are the kind of word that Drs. P must have loved. In June the Netherlands lost this eminent poet and singer of light verse. He was 95. His real name was Heinz Polzer (19192015). Most Dutch people grew up with his songs like ‘Veerpont’ (the ferry with its refrain: heen en weer, heen en weer, to and fro), or ‘Dodenrit’ (break-neck ride with its refrain: trojka hier, trojka daar, trika here, troika there). If you don’t know these hilarious songs just look them up on Youtube.
Which is here (except for Disinterested ones) Being announced Affectionately yours Drs. P photo previous page: An old man with a beard in a walking frame with an hourglass; representing lifelong learning http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0049774.html
Why would Drs. P have loved this word KRAKKEMIKKIG? Because he was fond of Dutch words which are on the 37
Vergulde Draeck Survivors Bishop Salvado 1840s Two Aborigines from the north came to the New Norcia Mission: “They told me through one of the mission natives that near the coast, four days journey north of New Norcia there were other white men. After looking into this matter I came to conclusion that these could well be the descendants of the mutineers Captain Pelsaert left behind.” Dom Rosendo Salvado, “The Salvado Memoirs”, pg 75. Salvado’s conclusion was not surprising by thinking that these men were associated with the two mutineers some 190 years before. Had he known about the Vergulde Draeck in 1656, 27 years later, his conclusion would have been closer to home for the wreck of the Vergulde Draeck was not discovered till 1963 much closer in both time and distance. The following is an extract from “Neergabby” written by William de Burgh words Tom Vanderveldt “....it must not be contemplated that we should enter the ‘Dream Time’ of the Aborigines. This field of expert anthropology has been touched upon by those with special knowledge of the subject, and sadly little is known of the activities, culture and habits of the people who hunted along the banks of the River and Brook; and fished in the streams and the large shallow waters of Garbanup before white men trod these shores. It is known that they were here and some of their camping grounds have been located by the accumulated grinding stones and cutting tools of granite, quartz or chert found near pools and, in some cases, where permanent water no longer exists. All of these relics have been carried here from further inland as none of these stones are to be found naturally in this area. Some appear to be fretted away by ageless exposure to sun and rain, and worn by moving sand, denoting great antiquity, whilst others are sharp and clean cut on the edges and would almost certainly be of a later time. We know from the writings of the early explorers that so many of the native people were friendly and some were of immense help during expeditions into the unknown bush. Such prominent men in our history as J. S. Roe, G. F. Moore, G. Grey and J. Forrest were unstinting in their praise of the intelligence and loyalty of some they employed. We also know that they were human and being so, nothing human was foreign to them which led to clashes between their own people and confrontation at times with the strange new world around them. Not one incident has come to light of hostility between the native people and the white settlers in this district and we know by the CowalIa records that they were employed and trusted as minders of stock on that property. As settlement along the River did not get under way until four years after Bishop Salvado began
his life’s work at New Norcia, it is very probable that the road to good relations was already paved by the Benedictine monks when the first of the new settlers rode the banks of the River and Brook in search of pasture for their herds and flocks, here where water was so plentiful. There are certain places which have been pointed out to succeeding generations of settlers as Aboriginal burial grounds, notably at the Junction, at Millbank and at Cowalla. There is much evidence from early writings to suggest that particular community burial grounds were not part of Aboriginal culture so perhaps these local sites only came into use after white man’s exotic diseases began to take their toll of the indigenous population. It is a widely known and firmly established belief that measles was a major killer of the black adult even as diphtheria was the greatest hazard of the white child. Finally they went away and left this district altogether. Perhaps the settlers were unable to pay them wages or life may have been more attractive in the towns but it is more likely that they followed the shepherds and flocks of the inland pastoralists and when the era of shepherding ceased they did not return. May God be with them and their posterity forever.” Legend has it that there was one Aboriginal group that had aptitude for growing food and were willing to assist settlers in their endeavours to sustain themselves. This bears out the remarks made by the author whose ancestors go back four generations, arriving in the colony in 1858 and have lived at Cowalla farm, some 20km east of the Vergulde Draeck wreck site, all that time until his son Sid built a house closer to the main road in 1964. Indeed, these bits of evidence, although classed as circumstantial by historians, indicate that there was a European presence in the district. However, it need not have been the survivors themselves that travelled along the Moore River inland (Following a river inland ensured water and wildlife and referred to as the River Highways). Since 1656 when the VD wrecked 38
and 1858 constitutes eight generations during which time the skin colour would have darkened. The British explorer George Grey commented on the skin colour of some natives as being lighter and was the result of European contact. This all took place in the district surrounding the VD wreck site so what other conclusions can there be? Now something remarkable emerges from a book titled: “The Salvado Memoirs -p 24. It shows a photo of two ‘native’ monks (see above) who went to Europe with Salvado and taken to the Benedict Monastry of Cava in 1849. By 1850 they were able to write a letter (in Spanish?) perhaps with some help but the photo tells another story as well. These two natives with their given names of John Dirimera and Francis Conaci give a clear indication of European features, in particular John (left) who was 16 in 1849 and less than one generation since 1829 when the
Swan River Colony was established. His nose is not that of a native, neither are his features. One might assume that Salvado selected them because of their aptitude towards learning, no doubt another language then their own native tongue. Bob Sheppard, an Archeologist, claimed that he had spent 16 years with a metal detector roving up and down the western coast to find anything that constituted an artefact that was evidence of survivors of a Dutch ship. I was told that by providing this evidence he could receive $15,000, made available by the Dutch Government. Whether he actually received this I don’t know. What I do know is that use of a metal detector is hardly the tool to furnish proof non-existence of other evidence such as photographic material and genealogy. With the natives of the Murchison and Shark Bay a wider method of DNA analysis and genealogy were used that will be promulgated soon in a forthcoming issue, after Professor de Knijff has edited my writings on the subject.
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DUTCH CULINARY ART This Dutch cookbook (in English) is essential for people that would like to learn more about Dutch cooking and are interested in the trends that decades long ruled the kitchens in the Netherlands. This generously illustrated book adorned with beautiful photos from e.g. Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Historic Museum is an excellent present for every enthusiastic home cook. Besides recipes the cookbook has cultural interesting background information. It is a mine of information for people interested in the Dutch culture. The occasion to publish the book was the 400 year New York celebrations in 2009. Mr De Rooij presented the first book to Princess Máxima.
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GB edicht
Het is een vreemd soort taal, gedichten. Normaal gebruiken wij onze taal alsof het geld is: je geeft het uit en je ontvangt het. Maar je kijkt er eigenlijk nooit naar. Je werkt ermee, maar je ziet het niet. In gedichten gaat dat anders: Dan kijk je in het hart van de taal. In het hart van de mens.
to keep the thirteen rusks that come in a roll fresh. For this we can thank Verkade, the Dutch company from Zaandam that first started selling their rusks in a tin BALANS in order to preserve their freshness. niet wat je hebt gedacht Although, I must admit to nog minder hebt not owning a tin myself, gevoeld geschreven gepraat and to not eating aofwhole rechtvaardigt jeabestaan lot of rusks, I still have weakness for them and will happily in hebt them gedaan maarindulge wat je from time to time. Especially if they’re topped in one of the following ways. a bit ofleven inspiration, Ieder mens maakt wel eens de Perhaps balans van zijn op. Je kijkt terug en je youJewant to try en je excuses, je gemiste denkt over wat er goed ging enshould wat fout. successen than the kansen en je meevallers. En elkesomething keer dat jeother terugkijkt krijg je verschillende more resultaten. Had je stom geluk of wastraditional je echt zo toppings. goed? Schoot je tekort of werd je gedwarsboomd? Beschuit Vitello Tonato: Tuna salad, thinlyhet sliced veal and De onbekende dichter heeft voor zichzelf antwoord gevonden op de vraag capers of zijn leven de moeite waard was. Hij weet van meet af aan wat hij gedaan heeft. Beschuitgedachten, ‘Cupcake’: Cream flavoured sugar achter daden – of niet-daden. Emoties, praatjescheese het zijn allemaalwith motieven andmij vanilla, sliced strawberries dark Zeg wat je gedaan hebt en ikand zal freshly-grated weten wie je bent. chocolate Er zit maar één echt rijm in. Maar toch voelt het korte vers aan als een volwaardig gedicht. Green Mean Beschuit: Slicedregel avocado, lime zeven juice, olive oil Dat komt vooral omdat elke in precies lettergrepen een stevig ritme heeft. andbehalve gardende cress En tweede regel eindigen ze allemaal met een -a- als klinker. Dat geeft er de Beschuit Italiano: mozzarella, cherry tomato andlos, net als de titel. samenhang aan vanPesto, een gedicht. De laatste regel staat basil De balans is in evenwicht. Sunshine Beschuit: Soft goat’s cheese, baby spinach and sun-dried tomatoes Beschuit Parisienne: Scrambled egg with black truffle Beschuit Elvis: Peanut butter and sliced banana Spanish Beschuit: Sliced Manchego cheese and figs Nordic Beschuit: Cream cheese, smoked salmon and chopped chives Nutty Nutella Beschuit: Nutella and chopped hazelnuts
elicht
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Located opposite the vicarage is one of the columns of the outdoor museum on Van Gogh. It shows a picture of Margot Begemann, who lived next door, and Vincent’s painting The Vicarage of Nuenen. right: The Vicarage at Nuenen, painted by Vincent van Gogh in October 1885. The vicarage was and still is located right next to Nune Ville.
The Vincent Affair Engage in an affair with today’s wayward artists in Van Gogh’s girlfriend Margot Begemann’s house
To commemorate the passing away of Vincent van Gogh, exactly 125 years ago, many museums and institutions home and abroad have come up with special exhibitions. One of these is The Vincent Affair in Nuenen, located diagonally opposite the Van Gogh museum Vincentre. Held until 1 October 2015, it focuses on the relationship Vincent van Gogh had in Nuenen with Margot Begemann. Van Gogh’s stay in Nuenen Vincent van Gogh resided in Nuenen, North Brabant, from 5 December 1883 to 24 November 1885. At first, he lived at and worked behind his parental house, the – still existing – vicarage at Berg 26, as his father was vicar in the Dutch Reformed Church, the present Van Gogh Church. In May 1884, he relocated his studio to the house of sacristan Johannes Schafrat of the Catholic Saint Clemens Church, and after his father died, in March 1885, he started living there as well. Of his total oeuvre, comprising 2200 works, he made around 500 in Nuenen. This is also where he made one of his personal favourites, The Potato Eaters, depicting members of the Nuenen-based peasant families De Groot and Van Rooij. By many, it’s considered as the most representative work from his Dutch period. Among the many other paintings he made during his Nuenen period were Avenue of Poplars in Autumn, The Old Tower at Nuenen, The Vicarage at Nuenen, The Watermill at Coll and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (one of two works stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in 2002 that were never found again). words and photos Ton van Rooij 42
left: In the monologue Margot Benemann, Vincents liefje (Margo Begemann, Vincent’s love), Bruni Heinke portrays the titular character, who looks back at her life. above: Vincent van Gogh embraced what was new and let go of what was normal. With that in mind and Van Gogh’s Tree Roots (1890), probably his last work, as an inspiration source, Artist Jólan van der Wiel created these awe-inspiring, timeless objects for The Vincent Affair. In this work, on display in the attic, he wants to experiment with the tensions between man and nature.
Romantic entanglement with Margot Begemann On 17 January 1884, Vincent’s mother Anna went to Helmond by train to do some shopping. When she wanted to disembark, she slipped and broke a thighbone. The next two months, Vincent lovingly took care of his mother. Margot Begemann, living at Nune Ville, the house next to the vicarage, also aided Anna van Gogh. Despite being twelve years older than Vincent, she instantly fell for him, a feeling that was mutual. They took strolls in the natural surroundings, and Margot came to visit him at his studio. An intense love affair developed, and Vincent was eager to marry her. However, the relationship met with firm opposition. Most furiously against it were Margot’s three (unmarried) older sisters, who lived with her in Nune Ville. “A huge amount of jealousy was involved here,” says Jan Kees Lemkes, chairman of foundation Van Gogh Village Nuenen. “And when it comes to love, jealousy can shoot in all directions.” Female siblings begrudging the happiness of their sister – doesn’t that sound like a real-life Cinderella story? “Yes, that’s in fact what it came down to,” Lemkes responds. ”All kinds of unjustified arguments were put forward. The Van Gogh family didn’t express so openly what they thought about the relationship, but it is assumed that they weren’t in favour of it. Of course, Vincent wasn’t exactly the ideal son-in-law: he behaved differently, he dressed differently, he spoke differently and he ate differently.” The continuous resistance against her relationship with Vincent affected Margot so deeply that in mid-September 1884, she saw no other way out but to commit suicide by
swallowing strychnine. However, the dose was not lethal. Margot subsequently was sent to Utrecht to convalesce, but her family told everyone she had moved to a foreign country. Vincent, however, knew she was in Utrecht and visited her there once. Vincent and Margot retained a mutual fondness, but the relationship was never taken up again. Not even when Margot returned to Nuenen in midNovember 1884. Exhibition The Vincent Affair For The Vincent Affair, Van Gogh Village Nuenen joined forces with the creatives at design and production agency Tinker and graphic design studio Edhv in order to breathe new life into the wonderful historical building that Nune Ville is. The focal terms of their research were: different, challenging, in the spirit of Vincent, experimental while authentic. To establish this, curator Edhv approached a diversity of artists and art collectives: Piet Bergman & Mascha van Wely, Lucas Maassen & Margriet Craens, Atelier NL, Raw Color, Mike Roelofs, Erwin Thomasse, Jólan van der Wiel and We Make Carpets. They transformed the kitchen and seven rooms in the heritage building into a provocative place that will stir the mind and touch the heart, while the walls, and even more so the characterful attic, continue to exude their history. Until 1 October of this year, you can see things here from a truly awe-inspiring different perspective – just like Vincent did! Lemkes: “We said to the artists: ‘Delve into the way of thinking of Van Gogh, get under his skin. Engage, as it were, in an affair with him in a manner that, from within your discipline, expresses your connection with Van 43
left: Just like Vincent van Gogh strived for perfection by continuously trying to improve himself, so does the collective We Make Carpets, which made this colourful work with numerous elastic bands and nails.
right: Vincent van Gogh experimented with colour combinations by rolling up differently coloured strands of wool into balls. This inspired the artists of Raw Color to devise their own form of mixing for The Vincent Affair by using shredders that produce paper slices in various colours.
Gogh.’ On information panels and in a brochure, the works are explained, accompanied by an applicable quote from one of Van Gogh’s many letters. This helps you understand what you see. In addition, there are regularly guided tours.” In this Van Gogh Year, lots of subjects could have been picked for an exhibition, but why was chosen for the affair between Vincent and Margot? “Two ideas stranded due to the economic crisis,” Lemkes recalls. “In the summer of 2013, we said to each other: ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get subsidy one more time to work on a new concept?’ And we succeeded in getting that: from the Province of North Brabant. For developing a concept, we didn’t want to turn to only the agency that had created the Vincentre, the Utrecht-based Tinker, but also wanted to see what could be provided from Eindhoven. We felt that if we wanted to crawl closer towards Eindhoven, we needed to get an Eindhoven-based agency involved, too – which became Edhv. Out if this arose The Vincent Affair.”
On 5 September, fourteen top musicians of the south Netherlands philharmonic (philharmonie zuidnederland) will bring a musical programme at event centre Het Klooster (Park 1, Nuenen) that Van Gogh certainly would have appreciated. Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro, for example, perfectly matches his later impressionist paintings, while Wagner and Beethoven are among the composers Van Gogh admired a great deal. About Wagner, he once said: “If only the art of painting had such an artist.” And on Beethoven, his view was: “He composes with notes like a painter with his colours.” Vincentre and outdoor Van Gogh museum Already on 10 April 1976, a Van Gogh documentation centre, which had been suggested by local Van Gogh connoisseur Ton de Brouwer, became a reality in Nuenen. But it would take until 18 July 2010 before a full-blown Van Gogh museum, the Vincentre would open its doors. Here you get a close look at the life that Van Gogh led in Nuenen. On display until 31 December 2015 are twelve original paintings by four of Van Gogh’s painter friends, who were all Eindhoven residents: Anton Kerssemakers, Dimmen Gestel, Antoon Hermans and Willem van de Wakker. In Nuenen and surroundings, an outdoor museum on the artist has been established as well. It comprises 22 locations; 14 of these can be found back in his work. At 18 of them, there’s an information column. A number of these is equipped with audio. By pressing a button, ‘Vincent’ starts telling a story. On 12 November 2014, something truly unique was added to this outdoor museum: the 600-metres long Van Gogh-Roosegaarde Cycle Path, realised by designer, light artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde. At the eastern edge of Eindhoven, he mounted luminous pearls into the asphalt, representing fragments of Van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night (1889). These pearls recharge during the day and light up at night!
Side-events tying in with The Vincent Affair In the framework of The Vincent Affair, various sideevents are held. One of these is the monologue Margot Benemann, Vincent’s liefje (Margo Begemann, Vincent’s love), performed twice at Nune Ville in June 2015. In this play, set in 1906, Margot Begemann, played by wellknown Dutch actress Bruni Heinke, reminisces about her life in general and her tumultuous affair with Vincent in particular. “Nune Ville is a location you can only dream of as an actress,” says Heinke. “It’s a gift to play her, at exactly the same location as where the love drama of Margot and Vincent occurred, 130 years ago.” On 4 July, the Nune Food Festival will be held in the backyard of Nune Ville. Delicious and honest food will be served, music will be played, workshops for children will be given and there will be plenty of room for lounging. It will be colourful and modern, but with a nod to Van Gogh’s time. 44
left: A replica of The Old Tower at Nuenen in the Vincentre. below: On display in the Vincentre is a Relievo of The Harvest, which Vincent van Gogh painted in Arles in June 1888.
Relievos: indistinguishable from original paintings A recent asset of the Vincentre is a so-called Relievo of the painting The Harvest, which Van Gogh’s made in Arles, France, in June 1888. A Relievo is a replica of a painting that cannot be distinguished from the original, not least because it has the same somewhat sculptural structure that real works can have due the thickness of the paint applied on the canvas. It’s the result of ground-breaking Fujifilm technology and the highest level of experienced craftsmanship, paired with Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum’s deep knowledge and understanding of the art. “A Relievo is so scientifically justified and technically ultimate,” Lemkes explains, “that only the best art experts, such as museum conservators, can tell what’s real and what isn’t. And therefore it’s absolutely revolutionary that a museum does something like this.” But should a museum not solely show the real thing? “Two things play a role in this,” says Lemkes. “Van Gogh has always said: ‘It would be so nice if art were accessible for a broader layer of the population.’ If you translate that to the present day, you see this for instance in the Van Gogh Museum, which indeed is accessible for everyone and welcomes 1.6 million people a year. The world, however, is a somewhat bigger place. So if you can broaden this accessibility by selling these works at a knock-down price compared to the price of the real works, then you’re truly acting in the spirit of Van Gogh. The Van Gogh Museum selected nine of his paintings to have Relievos made of. Each Relievo costs 25,000 euro, comes with an official certificate of the Van Gogh Museum and is released worldwide in a limited and numbered edition of 260. With this, a step has been taken in museum land that only a few years ago you would not have thought possible. A second argument to manufacture Relievos has to do with the use of the paint. For instance, the flowers in Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom, which we have come to know as being white, once were painted pink! What has happened, also with several other works, is that the red paint has vaporised or is still vaporising. Therefore the
worry is: how will such a painting look like in 50 or 100 years? The colours of Relievos, by contrast, will never change. So with the underlying technology you can make time stand still. There are always people who think it’s inappropriate to do something like this. But once there were monks who manually copied books. Then came the book printing, which was also reviled by many. Meanwhile, via lithography and photolithography, we now have even come to 3D photolithography. Since the days of the monks, things haven’t turned for the worse for us. We all can do much more than ever before. But the Relievo technology is new and something new always evokes resistance – and an interesting discussion!” Practical information The Vincent Affair can be visited until 1 October 2015, from Tuesday to Sunday between 10 am and 5 pm, at Nune Ville, Berg 24, Nuenen, Website: www.thevincentaffair.nl. The Vincentre, located at Berg 29 in Nuenen, is opened from Tuesday to Sunday between 10 am and 5 pm. From 8 July to 24 August, it’s also open on Monday from 1 to 5 pm. Website: www.vgvn.nl. For further information, visit: www.vangoghbrabant.com www.vangogh2015.eu ga naar www.hollandfocus.com voor de Nederlandse tekst.
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left: A statue of Vincent van Gogh in the Park in Nuenen. It was unveiled on 30 March 1984, on the artist’s 131th birthday. right: One of the exhibition rooms of the Vincentre, with, from left to right, speaking portraits of Anna van Gogh-Carbentus (Vincent van Gogh’s mother), Theo van Gogh (his brother) and art dealer Hermanus Gijsbertus (commonly known as ‘H.G.’) Tersteeg (his boss at Goupil & Cie).
The concept of ‘the wallbed’ has been around for a long time. While we may remember them from old American movies (the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges always seemed to enjoy them), they have continually been produced and installed, and are now enjoying a major resurgence in North America and Europe.
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Tiltaway wallbeds (also known as Murphy beds) are now available in Australia and are proving to be just as popular here as overseas. With the bed cabinet protruding only 403mm from the wall, they create space in any area including the home office, the spare room, the caravan, or student accommodation. Because of their light, finger tip operation, they are even appropriate for granny flats. They fold away fully made up (including doona and pillows) so they are an ‘instant bed’. Tiltaway Bed’s mechanism’s are manufactured in Canada and come with a 15 year warranty.
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pr
: n a v ofiel
Louis Kramer
Louis is een echte clubman. De DSWC ligt hem na aan het hart. En geen wonder, hij heeft zelf menig uurtje gespendeerd aan de bouw van de huidige club. Samen met zijn vrouw Betje heeft hij verschillende bestuursfuncties bekleed. Helaas is Betje hem dit jaar ontvallen en wordt natuurlijk erg gemist door Louis en zijn familie. We hebben hem opgezocht in zijn “unit” in een noordelijke wijk van Adelaide waar hij door zijn dochter Connie verzorgd wordt. En dat is goed want in juli wordt Louis 94 jaar. Hij is geboren op 28 juli 1921 in Rotterdam, de Hoofdplaat. Hij was no.10 van 13 kinderen en kreeg de naam Aloisius Joannes. Op een of andere manier werd dat Louis. Volgens hem zijn zijn jongste zus Sientje, samen met Louis, nog de enige overlevenden van de familie. Na de lagere school moest Louis direct aan het werk. Dat waren immers de “crisisjaren”. Louis werkte waar hij kon oa op tuinderijen en fabrieken. Toen in 1940 de oorlog uitbrak was Louis 19 jaar. Daar de familie aan de rand van de stad woonde bleef hun huis gespaard tijdens het bombardement. Maar het was wel verschrikkelijk, zegt Louis. De ontploffingen, het loeien van de vlammen en de stinkende rook.
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Het was ook een gevaarlijke leeftijd voor Louis. Zijn oudere broer Arie had een tabak- en snoepwinkeltje. Hij was “invalide” en Louis ging bij hem werken als “verzorger”en hoefde daarom niet naar Duitsland om te werken. Dit heeft altijd gewerkt, volgens Louis. Zo af en toe bezocht hij een cafe voor wat vertier. Bij een van die gelegenheden waren een paar Duitse soldaten bezig een jong meisje te plagen. Louis ging naar hen toe en zei, in het Duits, dat is mijn meisje die jullie lastig vallen. De Duitsers lieten haar gaan en Louis bracht haar naar huis. Dat meisje was Betje Ouwens. Gedurende de rest van de oorlog en ook daarna bleven ze contact houden. In 1943 monsterde Louis aan bij een ertsboot die op Zweden voer. In Malmo is hij gedrost en dwaalde de hele nacht door de stad tot er een geallieerd consulaat open ging. Bij het Engelse consulaat werd hij met open armen ontvangen en gelijk naar Engeland doorgestuurd. Daar werd hij opgeleid tot marinier. In 1945 capituleerde Duitsland. Louis kon naar huis. Daar wachtte Betje Ouwens op hem en op 2 juli 1947 zijn ze getrouwd. Voorlopig bij Betjes ouders “in”, maar dat werd moeilijker toen
het echtpaar Kramer achtereenvolgend drie zonen produceerde. Albert, Chris en Lodi. Het werd te bekrompen en er was geen hoop op een huurwoning. Ze besloten te emigreren, naar Australië. Op 2 juni 1957 stapten ze aan boord van de “Zuiderkruis”. Na aankomst in Woodside verhuisde het gezin naar het emigrantencentrum Pennington. Vandaar naar een z.g. Housing Trust woning. Daar is zijn dochter Connie geboren. Louis vond direct werk. Hij is tot zijn pensioengerechtigde leeftijd nooit zonder werk geweest. Maar zoals gezegd, zijn grote liefde is de Dutch club. Hij vertelt graag hoe de vrijwilligers een drassig stuk land ophoogden en daar hun clubgebouw op neerzetten. Louis. een pionier.
: admin@naasa.org.au
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NIEUWS UIT ZUID-AUSTRALIE DSWC Op Koningsdag hield de Dutch Club weer haar twee jaarlijkse festival. Het was een groot succes. Meer dan 2500 bezoekers gingen door de poort en werden getracteerd op “van alles Nederlands”. Haring, poffertjes, fricadellen, broodje paling enz. enz. waren verkrijgbaar en werden vlot geconsumeerd. Ook waren er kraampjes met Nederlandse snuisterijen. De dansvloer was constant bezet en ook de kinderen hadden hun “ruilmarkt/ vrijmarkt”. Het begon na de opening van het festival door de schaduwminister van multiculturele zaken, mevr. Jing Lee MLP. Veel bezoekers vinden dat het festival elk jaar gehouden zou moeten worden. De voorzitter van de DSWC twijfelt echter of hij daarvoor de vrijwilligers zou kunnen vinden. Het is veel werk, zegt Maurice McLeod. Wat opviel was dat veel 2e en 3e generatie emigranten, kinderen met hun kinderen en kleinkinderen, het festival bezochten. (foto Jan van Dulken ) NESWA Voor de laatste keer liepen onze veteranen mee in de ANZAC PARADE. De leeftijd en gezondheid beletten het deelnemen. Een jarenlange traditie is hiermee afgesloten. (foto’s Jan van Dulken ) Zeer goed bezocht was de 70e bevrijdings herdenking en de herdenking van de gevallenen. Dit werd op 9 mei j.l. gehouden bij het monument op het terrein van de DSWC, Salisbury. Na de opening door de president van NESWA, Dhr. Van Reeijwijk, sprak de Governor of South Australia, His Excell.Mr. Hieu van Le A.O. De ambassadeur van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden Mevr. A. Ruigrok sprak waarderende woorden. Sprekers waren ook de Hon. Consul voor de Nederlanden in Zuid Australie, Mr. W. Ouwens, Mss. G. Portolesi voor het Multicultural Dept en Brigadier Tim Hanna voor de RSL. Vertegenwoordiger van de 9e Brigade van het Australische leger was Maj. Michael Harris. Dit onderdeel verschafte de catafalque party en bugler. Na de plechtigheid was er gelegenheid om de veteranen te spreken. Het was een gedenkwaardige dienst en het NESWA bestuur kan trots zijn op de organisatie. Maar wat nu? Op de volgende vergadering zal daarover gesproken worden. (foto’s Jan van Dulken) Johan de Rooy 50
De grootste adelaar die ooit boven de aarde heeft rondgezweefd leefde in NieuwZeeland. Met zijn vleugelbreedte van wel drie meter kon deze keizer van de hemel een prooi van tweehonderd kilo optillen en wegvoeren. Twee stevig gebouwde mensen tegelijk de lucht in! Het zijn de adelaars die Tolkien heeft beschreven toen hij misschien niet eens wist dat ze ook echt bestaan hebben.
Waarom was deze reus zo uit de kluiten gewassen? Toen Nieuw-Zeeland zich 85 miljoen jaar geleden afscheidde van het oerland Gondwana werd het niet bewoond door zoogdieren. Behalve dan een piepklein vleermuisje. Haast’s adelaar leefde dan ook niet van zoogdieren, maar van moa’s. Dat waren reusachtige plantenetende loopvogels waarvan de grootste de tweehonderd kilo gemakkelijk kon halen. Alleen heel grote roofvogels konden zulke kolossen aan. En dat was dan ook het hoofdmenu van de adelaars. Onze Haast Adelaar was zelf ook enorm. Zonder de concurrentie van zoogdieren was hij gegroeid tot de grootste adelaar ooit. De vrouwtjes wogen meer dan 16 kilo, wat een heel gewicht is voor een vliegende vogel. Zijn klauwen aan de korte stevige poten waren zes centimeter lang en staken negen centimeter uit. De klauwen van een tijger. Uit archeologisch onderzoek van zijn prooi weten we hoe hij zijn prooi aanviel. Hij landde op de rug van bijvoorbeeld een moa en versplinterde het achtereind en de kwetsbare onderkant van de lange nek. Daarna kon hij op zijn gemak met zijn enorme, extra lange snavel het vlees losrukken en alle botten kraken.
kiwikorrels
De Grote Adelaar van Haast
Frans Hertoghs
Hoe kwam het dat deze legendarische vogel uitgestorven is? Het is het oude liedje. Mensen die onnadenkend dieren uitroeien door hun voedsel en broedplaatsen te verwoesten. De roofdieren worden opgeruimd vanwege de concurrentie bij de jacht. Dat is precies wat er ook met de Grote Adelaar gebeurde. Zo’n zevenhonderd jaar geleden belandden de eerste mensen, de inheemse Maori, in Nieuw-Zeeland. Het was een land vol vogels, allemaal dieren die totaal niet gewend waren aan mensen. Ze waren dan ook niet schuw. Het duurde niet lang voor de grote moa’s waren uitgeroeid, hele kerkhof-velden met moa botten zijn er gevonden. Ook de adelaar zelf moet bejaagd zijn. Onder Maori deden verhalen de ronde over gigantische donker gekleurde vogels, de pouakai of hokioi met rode veren op de kop, die met kinderen en zelfs volwassenen de lucht in gingen. Toen vijfhonderd jaar later de Europeanen arriveerden, waaronder de Duitser Julius von Haast, waren er van de Adelaar alleen nog maar wat botten over. Hij noemde de uitgestorven vogel Harpagornis Moorei ofwel de ‘Klauwvogel van Moore’, de beheerder van het land waar in 1871 de eerste botten gevonden waren. In Te Papa, Nieuw-Zeelands Nationale Museum in Wellington, hangt een reconstructie van Haast’s Adelaar aan het plafond. We weten niet welke kleuren hij droeg en ook andere details – zoals een kop met een wel heel gemene uitdrukking - zullen wel niet helemaal kloppen. Maar het is een indrukwekkend gezicht, dat je niet gauw zult vergeten. Hij lust je rauw.
Moa’s bevolkten Nieuw-Zeeland in allerlei soorten en maten. De Gigantische Moa kwam alleen maar op het zuidereiland voor en dat is dan ook de enige plaats waar overblijfselen van de Grote Adelaar gevonden zijn, in totaal van bijna tachtig verschillende vogels.
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Welkom bij
‘de leesplank kids’
De Leesplank Kleuters Vanaf zaterdag 18 juli gaat de eerste kleuterles van de Leesplank van start. De lessen worden op 30 Cloris Avenue, Beaumaris gehouden van 11.15 tot 13.15 uur. Juf Petra heeft 5 jaar op de peuterafdeling van de Nederlandse school in Singapore gewerkt en is de laatste jaren ook bij de Leesplank inval juf geweest. Ze heeft zelf drie kinderen die nooit in Nederland gewoond hebben maar die allemaal perfect Nederlands en Engels spreken. De lessen worden aan de hand van thema’s uiteengezet en verwerkt in kringgesprekken, werkopdrachten, spelletjes, liedjes, tekeningen, taalspelletjes en werkbladen. Het geeft de kinderen een fijn gevoel te weten dat er ook andere kinderen tweetalig opgevoed worden en dat ze dus geen buitenbeentjes zijn. Mocht u interesse hebben dan kunt u direct contact opnemen met Petra Okhuizen: 0400 997 520 www.deleesplank.com
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Alieska
laatste schooldag voor de wintervakantie, met Alieska’s kleurrijke schilderijen in de achtergrond.
F-woord “ de kinderen zijn ‘f’ woorden aan het leren: waarop een van de kinderen zegt: “mijn moeder zegt het f-woord,” juf: “oh ja, wat zegt ze dan?” kind 1: “ze zegt FOK.” zusje: “ nee ze zegt het anders” juf: “ en wanneer zegt ze dat dan?” kind: “ Als ze iets helemaal opnieuw moet doen!”
www.tnbtulips.com.au
Dutch New York City in 2015 words and photos Ray Cavanaugh
The area now called New York City had been settled for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. European contact was made in 1524 by an Italian explorer acting on behalf of the French. Onward he sailed. Nearly a century later, in 1609, an English explorer acting on behalf of the Dutch East India Company arrived. The first permanent Dutch settlers came in 1624, according to city-data.com. The colony of “New Amsterdam” was established the following year, and construction on Fort Amsterdam was soon underway. In 1626, the director of the new colony, Peter Minuit, “purchased” the island of Manhattan in a transaction that since has been the subject of much debate. Sixty guilders’ worth of goods was the reported amount exchanged for all of Manhattan Island. Even when adjusted for inflation, many find this a laughably small sum. However, others have pointed out that, from the Native American perspective, they were merely agreeing to share their land for this amount. It’s not like they were forever relinquishing it. And some contend that the natives present at the 1626 exchange were not even from the tribe which had the claim on Manhattan, so the Dutch essentially were duped. However good a deal the Dutch got, their New Amsterdam colony grew, albeit slowly, reaching a population of about 1,000 by 1650. Many of the Dutch were involved with the fur trade, supplying Native Americans with Europeanmade goods in exchange for furs. Sometimes there was tension between these two groups, though. And the 1640s in particular saw massacres perpetrated by each side. Aside from skirmishes with natives, the Dutch also had the English to contend with. The early 1650s saw the first in a series of the Anglo-Dutch Wars. In 1664, the English took control of the New Amsterdam colony, and renamed it “New York”. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674), the Dutch retook New York briefly, before surrendering it permanently to the English. The Dutch settlement never had a large population, and it was under frequent attack or threat of attack. However, it left a lasting cultural impact, especially in regard to religious freedom – a spirit that proudly lives on today. Another legacy is that of the Dutch names found in locations across the city.
gritty borough has become one of the trendiest, hippest places on the planet. Real-estate prices reflect this change. No matter how many three-million-dollar condos are built, though, there’s plenty of grit to be found if you walk far enough or hop a subway. Bedford-Stuyvesant The latter part of the Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant a.k.a. “Bed-Stuy” is named after Friesland native Peter Stuyvesant, the last governor of New Netherland. A few decades ago, the neighbourhood had become so rough that it was known as “Bed-Stuy, Do or Die!” Its main
Brooklyn Originally named Breukelen, after the town in Utrecht Province, Brooklyn, New York, now has over 2.6 million inhabitants. What was, for a long time, a hardscrabble, 54
previous page: Full size photograph of manuscript map in the Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana of Florence, Italy. The Castello plan is the earliest known plan of New Amsterdam, and the only one dating from the Dutch period. The text at the top of the image states: “Image of the city Amsterdam in New Netherland” by Jacques Cortelyou, General Governor of Nieuw Amsterdam 1660, New York Public Library, Digital Gallery left: Brooklyn, below Bedford Stuyvesant
streets produced the rappers Jay Z and The Notorious B.I.G. Recent years have seen considerable gentrification, however. Coney Island Originally known as Conyne Eylandt, it was full of rabbits, and frequented by colonial hunters in pursuit of them. The pursuit of a good time was the reason for going to Coney Island in the first half of the 20th century, when it was the glittering Disneyland of New York City. These days, it’s no longer as culturally relevant, but still a happening place: beachside boardwalk, amusement rides, hotdog-eating competitions, a minor league baseball park, and a set of towering housing projects several blocks away. By the way, Coney Island is not actually an island. It used to be an island, but later was connected to the rest of Brooklyn by landfill.
left: Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New Netherland, created ca. 1660 (attributed to Hendrick Couturier, in the past considered a Rembrandt), oil on wood, support: 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 in., on display at the New-York Historical Society. below: Coney Island
Lower Manhattan In the early 1600s, the Dutch established their first trading post in New Amsterdam, today’s Lower Manhattan. A fort was soon built to defend against hostile Indians and the occasional British invasion. In modern times, the area is the city’s financial hub, including Wall Street and the World Trade Center. An open memorial marks the spot where the old World Trade Center stood, while the new World Trade Center recently opened for commerce. At 541.3 meters in height, it is the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth tallest in the world. Harlem Named after Haarlem, the capital of Noord-Holland, this area was not settled as extensively as the lower part of Manhattan. Starting in the early 20th century, it attracted an influx of African-Americans and became the epicentre of the black cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. More recent decades have seen an influx of white residents, as well as immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. 55
left: Lower Manhattan; this photo Harlem
Dutch Cuisine BALKENBRIJ This time the recipe of a real old fashion wintery dish; Balkenbrij Balkenbrij is an age-old farmer’s dish that has been enjoyed throughout Brabant for centuries and was traditionally prepared during the slaughter season. Whilst Balkenbrij originally contained pig’s offal, you’re more likely to find bacon, liver and ribs in today’s version. The meat is cooked in a broth containing buckwheat flour and a mixture of spices such as black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and aniseed, before cooling and setting into a type of meat pie that can be cut into slices. Most Brabanders fry their Balkenbrij slices with a little butter in a pan (to give it a lovely crisp coating) and serve it on fresh fruit loaf. Delicious! Balkenbrij (or ‘karboet’, ‘tuet’ and ‘pannas’) shares some of the characteristics of American scrapple. Balkenbrij was one of the classic foods brought by Dutch settlers to the New World. An example of a recipe is given in a 1936 cookbook from Holland, Michigan. Traditionally,
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its preparation and consumption was an important economising custom, especially for the rural poor. In particular, it allowed farmers to make use of various lessdesirable parts of pork, which were made more palatable by being added to a seasoned porridge of groats or flour. The closely related ‘Panhas’, ‘Pannas’ or ‘Möppkenbrot’ are widely known in the whole northwest of Germany. A staple ingredient in most German versions is pearl barley. Originally, balkenbrij was prepared on farms at the end of the pig-slaughtering process, in the pot used to cook the swill. It was eaten soon, because of its poor shelf life. It is traditionally made of stock left over from the making of sausages like liverwurst boiled with flour (and sometimes blood, which turns the color from white to black) and bacon, together with odd scraps and various organ meats of the animal such as liver, kidney and/or lungs. All of these are cooked, ground, then cooked again
with flour (either wheat or buckwheat) or oatmeal, and a special spice mix (rommelkruid) consisting of liquorice, sugar, anise seeds, cinnamon, cloves, white pepper, mace, ginger powder and sandalwood, and finally poured into a pan or mold to achieve the form of a loaf and cooled off. The loaf of balkenbrij is then sliced (about 1cm thick), and the slices are dusted with flour and fried, traditionally in lard.
Recipe; 750gr speck (nice fatty one) 1 kg buckwheat flour 100gr allspice ﾂｼ jar of nutmeg Pepper / salt 4 litres of water with 2 large stock cubes (or freshly made stock)
Today, products for the broad consumer market are specially made of a planned portion of the slaughtered pig (blood, fat, minor muscle meat and sometimes organ meats such as liver or stomach). There are as many recipes as there are Dutch regions and especially well known is the variety from Gelderland with raisins. Balkenbrij is technically a distant relative of the English black pudding and Scottish Haggis. In his book De Dikke Van Dam (Amsterdam, Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2006) author Johannes Van Dam writes that two people were always needed to prepare traditional balkenbrij; one to stir the porridge and one to add the flour and hold the pot.
Boil speck in water/stock and all spices for at least ﾂｽ hour to 45 minutes. Slowly add 750gr flour and keep stirring. And yes, easiest with 2 people. It needs to become very firm and stirring will be a very heavy job in the end. Sprinkle a layer of flour on some platters and spoon the mixture in loaf shapes onto the platters. Try to compress as much as possible. Sprinkle flour over the Balkenbrij and let it cool down. Cut into 1cm slices and fry in butter till fully cooked and a bit crispy on the outside. Eat as is or on a slice of bread.
eet
k j i l e k sma
Lillian
Gﾃ傍ZINGER
SMALLGOODS LEKKERE
ROOKWORST Available from all good Delicatessens, IGA stores (Qld, NSW, Vic), or call for your nearest store Also available from the Gotzinger Deli; 126 Lahrs Rd, Yatala 07 5549 3955
Sail Amsterdam 2015
photo Nico Koster
words Erik Feenstra photos copyright Sail Amsterdam
August 2015: Sail Amsterdam Every five years Amsterdam is hosting the biggest Dutch maritime event, Sail Amsterdam. Unlike big regattas, as in Sydney in December, Sail Amsterdam is not a sailing competition, but a variety of tall (and smaller) ships, visiting the Dutch capital. This year the ninth edition will take place from August 19th until August 23rd, with a record number of ships attending. Many tall ships will visit Amsterdam for the first time, like the ‘Young Endeavour’ from Australia and from Spain the replica of ‘Nao Victoria’, the very first sailboat in history, that made a successful journey across the globe between 1519 and 1522.
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Parade of Sail The event starts with the Sail-in: the parade of tall ships, accompanied by hundreds of small boats, navigating through the Noordzeekanaal from the North Sea to the former harbour of Amsterdam. The evening before, all ships arrive at IJmuiden. In this seaside town the huge boats will gather and await their turn to go through the sea locks. Standing on the beach, the view over the sea with so many tall ships coming from all over the world, is quite spectacular, but it is nothing in comparison to their journey through the Noordzeekanaal to Amsterdam the next day. Hundreds of thousands of spectators will gather along the embankment of the about 30 kilometres long waterway, to have the best view. On many boats sailors will stand on the rigging, paying their respect to the inviting city. Depending on the wind direction, the sails may be shown in their full grandeur. Arriving in the harbour, the overview is majestic: huge ships slowly navigating to their moorings, small boats crisscrossing along them, graced by the sound of hundreds of foghorns to welcome them.
pieremachochel is a (rented) rowboat, but Sail has given it a twist: homemade floating vehicles, as a matter of fact anything able to float, are allowed. The ones looking the least like a ‘normal’ ship will win prizes. Some of the pieremachochels might sink, a team of lifeguards will keep an eye on them. How it all began In 1975, Amsterdam celebrated its 700th anniversary, with the first edition of Sail as the main event of that year. The organisation more or less followed an example of 1913, when the first Dutch show of the shipping fleet was held, at that time focussing on the city and the harbour. Many ships from all over the world received an invitation to attend ‘Amsterdam 700’. That turned out to be a huge success; therefore a permanent organisation (Sail Amsterdam Foundation) was formed, to organise a second edition in 1980 and then every five years: 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. In 2000 and 2005 more than 2 million spectators visited the event, including 360,000 guests from abroad. In 2010 the event drew ‘only’ 1.5 million people, mainly because the event was only 4 days. However, even in 2010 the event was the most popular public event in the Netherlands.
Five days event The parade is followed by five days of private floating arrangements along the quays on the tall ships, VIP-trips and a constant float of small boats along the tall ships. On the quays many activities will take place. Every night a concert on the waters of the harbour followed by firework will close the day in style. One of the highlights is the Vlootschouw (fleet review) on Sunday: an ancient maritime tradition. In the past marine ships accompanied the trade fleet on long sea journeys, to protect the merchant ships against pirates. Every day a vlootschouw was held to be sure that no ships or sailors were missing. This year, about one hundred ships will participate. Prince Maurits, patron of the Sail Amsterdam Foundation, will review the fleet. Usually, other members of the Royal Family will pay a visit to Sail Amsterdam too. At the moment, it is not known who will visit (and when), but since the royals do love sailing, some of them surely will attend a number of events.
Not just in Amsterdam Sail’s concept has been copied by other towns: Bremerhaven in Germany (since 1986), ‘Delfsail’ in Delfzijl (a small harbour city in the north of the province Groningen, since 1986), Sail Den Helder and Sail De Ruyter in Vlissingen. Den Helder is the marine town of the Netherlands. Michiel de Ruyter was a Dutch admiral (1607-1676), Holland’s most famous sea hero. He was born in Vlissingen, a former marine city with a ‘Small Sail’ held yearly. In 2007 the city celebrated the 400th birthday of the admiral by organising a large maritime event: Sail de Ruyter. To celebrate the Olympic Games in London in 2012, in Greenwich, the first edition of Sail Royal Greenwich was held. This spring the king and queen visited the Caribbean Islands, attending Sail Aruba 2015. Tall Ships A tall ship is a big seaworthy sailing ship, nowadays used to educate youngsters teamwork, beating fears, personal development and experience other cultures. Often, old cargo ships are adjusted, but also replicas of
Pieremachocheltocht Another highlight is the Pieremachocheltocht on Thursday: so-called pieremachochels navigate through the canals in the inner city. According to the dictionary, a photo Willemijn Ploem
photo Ewout Huibers
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photo Wim Haze
ancient tall ships are used. The term ‘tall ship’ has not been used at the time these ships carried cargo, but it became fashionable halfway the 20th century, when the first competitions between these ships were held: the
Tall Ship Races. Events like Sail Amsterdam invite these ships, creating a new market for education ships, but the tall ships are ‘the queens of the ball’ ‘as the organisation of Sail puts it in its announcement’, ‘the backbone of the event’. Please go to www.eropuit.blog.nl. Do you have any questions or comments: you are most welcome to react under ‘plaats reactie’). Article about the Sail Amsterdam 2015 will be placed in Holland Focus soon after the event.
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Mayor Van Der Laan starts count down clock, 100 days to go, photo Henk Rougoor
Fields of Fun 27 days of Tulips Tesselaar Tulip Festival September 10 to October 6, 2015 The 62nd Tesselaar Tulip Festival, one of Victoria’s premier tourist attractions will be on again. Each year the festival builds into a bigger and better event. This year over 100, 000 more Tulip bulbss have been planted, bringing the total to over 700, 000, including over 120 different varieties. Thousands of other flowering bulbs will be on show as well. You won’t see a show like this anywhere else in Australia, the colour is amazing. The world’s biggest clog will be unveiled! Yes that’s right the biggest wooden shoe in the world will be revealed at the Tesselaar Tulip Festival. Working in conjunction with internationally renowned chainsaw sculptor, Rob Bast the huge clog will be over 4 metres long and almost 2 metres high. Visitors will be able to sit in the clog and have their photo taken. The Tesselaar Tulip Festival has something for everyone, from children to grandparents and everyone in between. There is live daily entertainment, market stalls, and did we mention Tulips?! As well as seeing our huge display, visitors can wander amongst them and even pick their own to take home. Set amongst the Tulips is Victoria’s sixth richest sculptor prize, an acquisitive award boasting some of Australia’s best sculptors, with a $10, 000 prize. Set on 55 acres of working farmland, in the picturesque Dandenong Ranges, the Tesselaar Tulip Festival is less than an hour’s drive from Melbourne. The event attracts tens of thousands of visitors from around Australia and the world.
The Tesselaar Tulip Festival is open for four weeks, and offers themed days for a bit of extra fun. Themes include: Turkish weekend, Yarra Ranges week, Dutch weekend, Food, Wine & Jazz weekend, Irish weekend and Children’s weeks (during school holidays with super heroes The Avengers, and crazy characters The Minions). You can see a full list of events at their website www.tesselaar.net.au. Third generation tulip grower, Paul Tesselaar continues the proud family tradition, keeping his heritage alive at the annual Tesselaar Tulip Festival. The historic gardens were first open to the public in 1954, by his grandparents, Cees and Johanna Tesselaar. Adults $24, Concession $20, Kids U16 FREE ENTRY every day! FREE tea/coffee every Friday for Seniors. One hour from Melbourne, free car and bus parking on site. Tesselaar Tulip Festival, 357 Monbulk Rd, Silvan Vic.
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Canberra Walking Festival 27 to 29 March 2015
words and photos Kathleen Berg OAM around the world, and the Canberra festival attracts walkers from overseas who are eager to obtain Australian credits in their walking passports. To get the credit, walkers are required to walk on two days, on routes of at least 20km each day.
Canberra is a wonderful (and perhaps overlooked) destination for walking. It is blessed with an extensive shared path network winding past National monuments and through Nature Parks. Paths vary from paved, scenic, urban footpaths, to more challenging natural paths in the Nature parks, where it is hard to realise that you are in a major city as kangaroos jump past and colourful parrots fly overhead.
The most famous, and popular, of these multiday walks is the Nijmegen Vierdaagse, and given the Dutch love of walking, it is not surprising that many of the Australian walkers are formerly Dutch or have Dutch connections. The Dutch are also the most prolific of the overseas visitors.
For the 24th year in a row, Canberra turned on brilliant autumn weather as hundreds of walkers took to city’s walking paths for the Canberra Walking Festival, a sociable, multiday walking event, unique in Australia.
The Walking Festival routes showcase the city, taking in Parliament House, the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the Australian War Memorial and Lake Burley Griffin, and Red Hill and Mt Majura Nature Parks with their wonderful vistas. All routes were marked and walkers were provided with maps, and were supported by checkpoints and drink stations. Walkers who successfully completed their two day challenge received the Canberra Two Day Walk medal, while one day walkers received a certificate. Marathon walkers also receive the Festival Marathon Medal. Ages of participants range from 3 to over 90, with most
The Festival starts and finishes in inner Canberra which allows for a variety of trail types from walking through the Parliamentary Zone and around Lake Burley Griffin to taking in Red Hill and Mt Majura Nature parks. Distances offered ranged from leisurely 5 km walks to a full marathon Canberra Walking Festival is a member of the International Marching League (IML) whose motto is “Nos iungat ambulare” – “May walking bring us together”, and encouraging international friendship among walkers through walking challenges. There are 27 IML members 62
of the walkers over 50. While many walkers are happy to walk the shorter routes, and enjoy a social coffee stop on the way, the remainder opt for the 20 km and longer routes, with quite a number choosing to walk the maximum event distances of 73 km total. Among the Dutch Australian walkers taking part this year were Ton and Nel Allard, Tom Buykx, Lia Bronstijn, and Cornelia Gramlich from Victoria, Theresa van Heuzen, Thea Tyhuis, and John and Tony van Gerwen from Canberra and Maria Zuman from Sydney. Maria’s husband, Peter, is a long term helper, as are Ria van de Zandt and Marianne Pietersen, both from Canberra. Back walking this year after some year’s absence were Con and Ria Pepplinghouse from Ocean Grove. Readers may remember they were featured in a recent Holland Focus, celebrating their 65 years’ of marriage. Con is one of the fathers of multiday walking in Australia, having been involved for many years with the Ballarat Two Day Walk, which predated the Canberra Walk. A new generation is coming along, with six grandchildren of founder Harry Berg now taking part. The Watson Hystek family, who joined in the second year of the event, also has three young ones of similar ages who are all eagerly collecting their awards. The Control Centre was decked with flags of the countries of the participating walkers and there was a smell of frying bacon as the Scout troop was getting breakfast going for the walkers with early start times. Those walking the marathon set off first, just as the sun was rising. These are the most serious of the walkers, and include several well known Canberra racewalkers. They were followed by the 30 and 20 km walkers and lastly the 10 and 5 km walkers who are the biggest group, and have the widest age range- from 3 to 90. Once the Saturday walkers had set out, time flew and it seemed no time at all before day one walkers returned, day two walkers had gone on their way and were returning to collect their awards. Ninety bronze medals were awarded to first time finishers and more than 40 walkers received higher awards for 5, 10, 15 and 20 completions. Excitingly, this year silver medals (5 completions) were earned by, Rhys(7) and Connor (5) Watson and Jack Berg(7). The other young ones in the families are eagerly looking forward to qualifying for their silver medals. Nine walkers who have completed the challenge every year received their number 24 pins and are preparing for their 25th walk in 2016.
We look forward to welcoming all walkers, from sociable 5 km walkers to those who enjoy the maximum challenge of over 70 kms, to our 25th event to be held on 1,2,3 April 2016. See you there! For details, contact Canberra Walking Festival at aussiewalk@ aussiewalk.com.au or by phone on 02-6288 6401. See us on on social media at www.aussiewalk.com.au www.facebook.com/AussieWalk – www.youtube.com/aussiewalkers twitter.com/AussieWalk https://aussiewalk.wordpress.com/ photo previous page: proud young medal winners from Berg, Gniel and Watson Families; this page: Walkers setting out on challenge; Dutch walkers, recognisable in orange shirts
een bericht van de Nederlandse Radiogroep van 4EB FM 98.1
SBS Radio Dutch Wednesday and Saturday / 11am - 12pm SBS Radio 2 How to listen Sydney: Melbourne: Perth: Darwin: • • • •
97.7fm 93.1fm 96.9fm 100.9fm
Adelaide: Brisbane: Canberra:
106.3fm 93.3fm 105.5fm
Analogue or digital radio Digital TV Live and catch up at sbs.com.au/dutch SBS Your Language App
3ZZZ, Dutch radio is on-air every Monday from and every Friday from 8 – 9 am. 6/06/14 Please tune into 92.3 fm.
4 – 51pm, sbs_dutch_radio.indd
Het is weer DE tijd van het jaar dat 4EB FM 98.1 haar leden vraagt het jaarlijkse lidmaatschap te betalen. Het o, zo belangrijke lidmaatschap, want dat bepaalt immers de uitzendtijd van de Nederlandse Radiogroep!!! Nieuwe leden zijn dringend nodig en van harte welkom! Het lidmaatschap bedraagt $ 25,00 per persoon per jaar. Studenten en gepensioneerden betalen slechts $ 15,00. U kunt per cheque of over de telefoon betalen. Bel hiervoor tijdens kantooruren (07) 3240 8600 onder vermelding van ‘Nederlandse Radiogroep’. Wilt u liever via het internet betalen, ga dan naar www.4eb.org.au Klik ‘Join 4EB’, vul het formulier in en verstuur. Zo makkelijk is het! Zondag 19 juli zijn wij op de familiedag bij de NAQ Dutch Club, 123 Pine Road in Richland (Brisbane) met onze promotietafel, en natuurlijk kunt u ook hier betalen of lid worden. Op 25 juli as. wordt het jaarlijkse diner/dansant gehouden in het MaryMac Community Centre, 616 Ipswich Road, Annerley (Brisbane). Voor een avond met Nederlandse gezelligheid nodigt de Nederlandse Radiogroep u van harte uit bij hen aan tafel aan te schuiven. U mag in klederdracht verschijnen, maar het hoeft niet. Het thema van de avond is ‘Christmas in July’ en begint om 18.00 2:23 PM uur. Toegang voor diner/muziek is $40,00 per persoon, kinderen onder 12 jaar betalen $20,00. Bij de verloting zijn mooie prijzen te winnen! Voor meer informatie en toegangskaarten kunt u bellen naar 4EB FM 98.1 (07) 3240 8600 of email dutch@4eb.org.au Voor verdere informatie ga naar www.4eb.org.au. De Nederlandse Radiogroep heeft programma’s op dinsdag van 17.1518.00 uur, op woendag van 15.00-15.45 uur, op zaterdag van 16.00-17.00 uur en op zondag van 11.00-12.00 uur. Tevens op zaterdag van 17.0018.00 uur op de digitale zender Global.
Rembrandt Club news Sunday 16 August at 2pm The Great Western Male Choir will entertain you with their beautiful voices. This is a free concert for members and their guests. Kitchen and bar open at noon, but will be closed during the concert Saturday July 25th at 7pm Combined trivia night Rembrandt Club and Mt Druitt Lions Group Fundraising to help your local community $15 per person (Tables of 6) Includes nibbles and coffee.
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Brisbane gathers Water experts at a Live Conference with The Hague to discuss the Queensland-Netherlands Cooperation on Flood Risk and Water Management On the occasion of the visit to Australia of the Dutch Vice-Minister for Trade, Simon Smits, over forty experts on water management, infrastructure, planning, architecture, and government officials gathered in Brisbane’s hotel Royal on the Park on June 19th. Earlier that day, Simon Smits had met with Acting Premier Jackie Trad to discuss Queensland-Netherlands cooperation for the water sector. The conference connected experts from the Netherlands in The Hague through a video link with the participants in Brisbane, as the QueenslandNetherlands Cooperation on Flood Risk and Water Management discussed water governance. Ken Sedgwick, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Energy and Water Supply gave an opening speech. Arwin van Buuren from Erasmus University of Rotterdam then presented on governance of flood risk in Dutch practice, followed by Richard Jorissen, director of the National Flood Protection Program, who shared insights on ways of applying Dutch governance in Queensland. Dutch Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Henk Ovink, joined the discussion whilst working on flood risks in Eastern Europe. Ovink’s position as water envoy on behalf of the Dutch government is unique in the world. He previously served as advisor to the American Federal Government and to the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Taskforce. The Dutch-Australian water cooperation started following the Queensland 2010-11 floods and continues up until today. Queenslander Piet Filet, Convener of the Community of Practice, moderated the meeting on the Brisbane side. Gert-Jan de Maagd of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment was his co-host in The Hague. The extensive interest from both the Netherlands and Australia to share knowledge and expertise highlights the growing collaboration on the topic of flood risk and water management. For Queensland particularly, one of the most important dimensions of the cooperation between Queensland and the Netherlands has in fact been durable knowledge sharing, the forum thus seeking for ways to further develop the partnership. photos: Simon Smits and Acting Premier Jackie Trad and videoconference; View across flooded farmland in Wivenhoe Pocket towards Lowood from Wivenhoe Dam Wall, 12 January 2011 by Sommersetpedia.paul
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Jan en Kaspar Luiken: Het Menselyk Bedryf
De bakker Ze zijn druk aan het werk in deze moderne zeventiendeeeuwse bakkerij. Aan een stevige werkbank kneedt de bakker met zijn gespierde armen een flinke hoeveelheid deeg. Zijn krullen worden maar nauwelijks in bedwang gehouden door een slappe muts. Misschien heeft hij het deeg daarnet met zijn voeten voorgekneed, want zijn broekspijp is opgerold en zijn blote been steekt in een soort muiltje dat hij gemakkelijk uit kan schoppen. Over zijn ruimvallende bloes draagt hij een lang voorschoot. Een knecht knielt neer om rijshout en takken te rapen om het laaiende vuur nog hoger op te stoken. Vuur en rook slaan uit de open oven. Dat kan geen kwaad, want de grote kap die met stevige balken aan de zoldering hangt voert rook en hitte af. Ook de hoge zoldering helpt om de werkvloer te koelen. De gemetselde oven heeft heel wat te lijden gehad. Op de tekening is een heel stuk pleisterwerk verdwenen. Ook de kap is behoorlijk verweerd. Tegen de oven leunt een enorm grote platte ovenschep. Daarmee wordt het baksel in en uit de oven geschoven. De bakker heeft zijn gereedschap bij de hand. Op de grond staat een elegante water- of melkkan binnen handbereik, naast een simpele houten trog. Achter hem staat een versierde trommelzeef met roerstok. Vlak voor het raam zien we nog net een stuk van de enorme balans waarmee de ingrediënten worden afgewogen. In de ramen ontbreken houten kozijnen. Zijn het dure glasin-loodramen of goedkope tralies die aan de buitenmuur zijn vastgezet? Links achteraan is kennelijk de buitendeur. Een vrouw met een rieten boodschappenmand aan de arm. Is het de bakkersvrouw, of een dienstmeid die versgebakken brood komt kopen? Buiten schijnt de zon. Dat zien we aan de realistisch getekende schaduwen van de ramen. Hier wordt hard gewerkt aan een kwaliteitsproduct.
Wie het lichaam voedt Is voor de ziel ook goed
O, schepper van ‘t geliefde brood Als voedsel van het strefelijk leven, Wat heeft uw mildheid ons genood Om ons uzelf tot brood te geven O, brood dat uit de hemel viel, Stil ’t hongeren van onze ziel.
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The baker In this modern seventeenth-century bakery people are quite busy. The baker - his curly hair hardly controlled by a limp bonnet - is concentrated on kneading a massive lump of dough with his rather muscular arms. He may have prekneaded the dough with his feet, since his trousers are rolled-up and his bare foot sits in a kind of easy to take-off slipper. Under his wide shirt he wears an apron. His helper kneels down to collect brushwood and twigs in order to stir up the already roaring fire. Alongside him, against the oven wall, leans the wide flat shovel, to put the bread in the oven. In the background a woman walks in, a cane basket hanging from her arm. It could be the bakers’ wife, or a servant-girl wanting to buy some freshly baked bread. In the background fire and smoke is bellowing from the open oven. That is fine, since the huge oven hood sucks up all the smoke easily. The bakery has a high ceiling, capable of collecting a lot of heat and keeping the work floor cool. Still it shows that the oven has to endure a lot. Luyken clearly illustrated that oven and hood are both quite weathered. The baker is surrounded by his tools: an elegant water or milk can, a decorated drum shaped sieve, a simple wooden trough and on the work bench a huge scale to weigh ingredients. Notice the absence of wooden frames in the windows. Do we see expensive stained glass windows or cheap bars fixed on the outside wall? Outside the sun is shining. Shown by the realistically drawn shadows of the windows. People are working hard here to make a quality product.
Who feeds our body, May feed our soul.
Creator of the precious bread, Our dearest food for life on earth, You even offer without dearth To feed us with yourself instead. May bread, that fell out of the skies, Eternally our soul suffice.
Frans Hertoghs
Dutch TV
Dit seizoen is Dutch TV weer in een nieuw jasje gestoken. We zijn namelijk in de spik splinternieuwe studio’s van Channel 31 gedoken. We hebben daar een studio programma opgenomen met studiogasten die aan de hand van filmpjes, die al eerder door ons in Melbourne/ Australië gefilmd waren, praatten over verschillende onderwerpen. ADDRESS PO Box 169, Olinda Vic. 3788 T +61 (0)3 9751 2795 M 0419 465 516 E editor@hollandfocus.com www.hollandfocus.com
ABN 40 118 310 900 editor and publisher iet fuijkschot contributors to this issue: D. Arnold, B. Blankers, R. Cavanaugh, Y. Edens, E. Feenstra, F. Hertoghs, R. & Y. Hisgen, M. Joosten, M.de Knecht, A. Manintveld, A. Muyt, T. van Rooij, J. de Rooy, L. Schmitt, M. Visser van Klaarwater, T. Vanderveldt, R. van Voorst, A. Vromans, P. Westbeek H. van Zanden
advertising sales: T +61 (0)3 9751 2795 E advertising@hollandfocus.com
Zo hadden we Bert Cocu al op de bank over sport in Nederland en sport in Australië. Emmy Heikamp en de Cycling promotion Fund over bevorderen van fietsen in Australië versus Nederland en als eerste aflevering zaten wel 4 afgevaardigden van verschillende Nederlandse clubs in Melboune voor de camera en de conclusie daarvan was, meer met elkaar overleggen en meer elkaars evenementen promoten, zodat we alle doelgroepen in de gemeenschap bereiken. Andere onderwerpen die nog komen zijn: 1. Voor de liefde naar Australië naar aanleiding van een filmpje met de handschoen getrouwd. 2. Een hele aflevering over bijzondere backpackers 3. Documentaire over het contact tussen aboriginals en zeevaarders van de 17e – 18e eeuw in WA Met Nonja Peters als studiogast. Over een paar weken gaan we weer de studio in om de laatste programma’s van dit seizoen te maken. Voor up to date informatie ga naar: www.dutchtvonline.com en voor dagelijkse Dutch – Australian topics ga naar onze Facebook pagina’s Dutchtvaustralie of Dutch TV
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book review
“Vertrek” is a social biography of fifteen postwar Australian-Dutch families, taking central stage is the Paulusse family. It tells of their trips and triumphs as they sought incorporation in a conservative Angloceltic society that was years behind in attitude and sophistication. Told with typical Dutch candidness, it commences with their Amsterdam departure, Melbourne arrival, Bonegilla migrant assimilation camp, building their first house and the 1960s counterculture movements to the death of a child, the death of President Kennedy, befriending original 1914 Anzacs soldiers on Postman’s round the moon landing, marriages, HIV AIDS and the tuition-free School of Languages. The biography finishes with Bets and Piet’s – the author’s parents - last and final vertrek. Against the backdrop of this cultural cauldron, the author brilliantly lays out his own story as he progressed from a boy into manhood, experienced empowerment and characterized the virtues of courage and resilience. “It is a story of my personal awakening as it is a tribute to my family and other Dutch and Australian families and friends long gone. Through me, their stories remain alive, which I hope to share with you. They were my significant teachers and mentors who, to this day, continue to sustain and inspire me,” says Paulusse. Honest and wonderfully insightful, “Vertrek” offers an intimate look into the life of a man, a portrait of an extraordinary family and an exploration into a forgotten part of Australian- Dutch history. “Vertrek” by Keith Paulusse Hardcover ISBN 9781499031751; Softcover ISBN 9781499031706; E-Book ISBN 9781499031768 Available at Amazon, www.xxlibris. com.au . all major Australian book stores.
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