We basically collect everything that the migrants brought with them, which enables us to research the motives of their migration so that we can write the history of it. We are confident that the next generation will know and understand where their parents came from and why. It is not only descendants of the Dutch and Dutch East Indies, who will be interested. Our committee included the word Australia in our name because we are very much a part of Australia’s multiculturalism.
The DAHC has plans to have its own website for cultural and heritage information, promotion of community events and to maintain a register of pioneer Dutch and former Dutch East Indies families. We work with Museums Australia and are on their Victorian collections website.
See https://victoriancollections.net.au/organisations/dutch-australia-heritage-centre.
We have a 2 storey building at the back of the Dutch Club Abel Tasman. The challenge ahead is to keep building the bridge between the generation which has left such a rich heritage and the new Dutch-Australian generation. We aim to preserve this heritage for our children and grandchildren and aim to engage them in the Dutch-Australian history and culture.
