Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Saturday, 30 April I attended the Adelaide Dutch Festival, held at the Dutch Club community centre at Greenfields. The festival was officially opened by the honorary consul of the Netherlands, Mr Willem Ouwens, and was attended by people from around the state. The Dutch community have had a long history in Australia. Dutch explorers were the first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil. The Dutch ship Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon, made landfall in Queensland in 1606.

Throughout the 17th century, Dutch ships explored and charted the coastline of Australia. It is for this reason that for many years the continent that became Australia was known to Europeans as New Holland. Many Australian places carry this history of Dutch exploration in their names, including Rottnest Island, the Tasman Sea and Tasmania, which was previously known as Van Diemen's Land after a Dutch governor of the East Indies. In my state of South Australia the west coast islands of St Francis and St Peter were named by 17th century Dutch explorers. These islands have the oldest European place names in South Australia.

After South Australia was proclaimed in 1836, the Netherlands was one of the most active trading partners with the new British colony and Dutch ships were regular visitors to Robe and to Port Adelaide. The 19th century also saw Dutch settlers migrate to South Australia. The most prominent of these Dutch migrants was Guillaume Delprat, who was the general manager of BHP in the early 20th century, during which time he pioneered iron ore mining techniques and was involved in such iconic production sites as the Newcastle steelworks and the Port Pirie smelter. From these first few but significant early settlers Dutch migration to Australia increased significantly in the 1950s. Today there are over 300,000 Australians of Dutch ancestry, including nearly 3,000 in my own electorate of Makin. There is also a strong relationship between the respective governments of Australia and the Netherlands, which share similar values and a similar global outlook. The two countries have strong trade bonds and have partnered together to address global issues such as human rights, war crimes, fair trade and the Millennium Development Goals. Regular meetings are held between the respective leaders and ministers. As recently as December 2010, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd met with Dutch Prime Minister Rutte. Representatives of the Dutch government have visited Australia on several occasions. Queen Beatrix visited Australia in 1988 as part of Australia's bicentennial celebrations. The Dutch Prime Minister and Crown Prince both attended Australia in 2006 as part of the celebrations marking 400 years since the first European landing on Australia by the Dutch ship Duyfken. As a shared project between the Dutch and Australian governments, a replica of the Duyfken was built and sailed from Australia to the Netherlands and back in 2006. This shared celebration of common history shows just what a strong relationship there is between the governments and the people of Australia and the Netherlands.

I will briefly comment on the contribution of the Dutch community to my local area. The Dutch Social and Welfare Club—or the Dutch Club, as it is known—is located in the northern Adelaide suburb of Green Fields. It was one of the first community facilities established in the region and has provided an invaluable cultural centre for Adelaide's Dutch community. The club holds regular lunches and social events as well as a range of special events, including the annual Dutch festival, St Nicholas kinderfeest at Christmas and special remembrance services. The club also plays a valuable community service role, especially for groups that have unique needs, and works closely with the Netherlands Australian Aged Services Association and the Netherlands Ex-Servicemen and Women's Association.

It has been my privilege to attend many Dutch community events at the club over the years and I thank the Dutch community for their very warm hospitality on all of those occasions. I congratulate members of the Dutch Club for organising the Adelaide Dutch Festival and I particularly acknowledge the hard work of committee members: club president Gerrit de Vries, Kees Velzeboer, Peter den Hartog, Ernie Mullart, Jack Korver, Bob van der Hoeven, Marco Kuipers, Gary Rozenboom, Maurice McLeod and Anouk Werkhoven. Dutch people have been a model example of resettlement in a new country and today can be found making their contribution in every aspect of Australian life. I count many of them as personal friends and tonight I pay tribute to their contribution to our nation.