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In 2005 in her Thematic History of the Dutch in NSW
Kirsten Velhuis wrote:
4.10 Arts & culture
"At a very early stage the Dutch community in NSW demonstrated a great interest and
desire to be involved in cultural and artistic aspects of life. Many of the social clubs,
including Neerlandia and the Netherlands Societies in the Sutherland Shire and
Bankstown had drama and theatre clubs and put on regular performances in the 1950’s
and 60’s (Federation of Netherlands Societies, 1985).
The Dutch Society Concordia wasfounded as a theatre club, and it provided many performances in the Newcastle area28under direction of Pierre Hanssen (de Wit, J. 2004, pers. comm., 10 November). Choirs were also prolific in the 1950’s and evolved from both religious organisations and social
clubs.
A notable choir was the Dutch Choir and Folkloric Group Dee Why (no longer in
existence), under director Isidoor Lammers. This Choir was a combination of ‘Arti Vocale’,
a choir from members of Neerlandia and of ‘Dutch Charge’, a Presbyterian choir in Dee
Why (Hage, 2004). It has performed at the Sydney Opera House and the Carols by
Candlelight in Sydney’s Domain. Another successful choir is the Sunrise Choral Society
from Blacktown, which has performed with Marcia Hines and John English (Federation
of Netherlands Societies, 1985).
The NSW Dutch Folk Dancing Group, founded in 1951 by
Dr Cornelis Wouter keeps alive traditional Dutch folk dancing and has performed at many
festivals, fairs and community events (NSW Dutch Folk Dancing Group, 2001).
There are also a number of successful Dutch individuals who have contributed to the art scene
in Australia, of which the below are only a small selection:
Paul Cox, film maker;
Hendrik Scheltema, painter;
Gerard Haveke, sculpted the fountain in Sydney’s Hyde Park;
Jaap Flier, Artistic Director of the NSW Dance Company;
Pieter van der Stock, singer with Opera Australia;
and Willem van Otterloo, Chief Conductor of Sydney Symphony Orchestra
(Erasmus Foundation, 1994; Duyker, 1987a).
A final major contributor to the Dutch culture in NSW is the
Dutch Australian Cultural Centre
which was established in 1982 with the aim to collect and preserve the Dutch heritage in Australia.
Though not all in the Dutch community in NSW see the need for such a centre (Ten Brummelaar, 1994) and some even show concern it might compete or interfere with existing clubs and
organisations in some way (Talmacs, P. 2004, pers. comm., 03 September), the Centre
has received grants from the Australian and Dutch governments to achieve its goals. "
Jo Mulholland (Was Joop Mul) Webmaster DACC. 2014
