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Anne Maamke Boonstra
Role
Advisor International Heritage Cooperation
Email
a.boonstra [at] dutchculture.nl
 

Migrants‘ tales: Exhibition ‘People Movement Stories'

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Dutch migrants leaving a ship after arrival in Australia in 1952.
Caption
National Archives of the Netherlands, photo collection Elsevier, finding aid number 2.24.05.02, item number 063-1347, http://hdl.handle.net/10648/ae0ee0c8-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84
Authors
National Archives of the Netherlands
Discipline
Heritage
Country
Australia
Netherlands

Migrants‘ tales: Exhibition ‘People Movement Stories'

On 1 November 2023, the exhibition ‘Australia and the Netherlands. People Movement Stories’ opened at the National Archives of the Netherlands in The Hague.
By Lidwien Jansen, National Archives of the Netherlands

In the exhibition, twelve people tell the story of their migration to either Australia or the Netherlands. They share their motivations and give an insight into what happened during the journey and arrival in their new home, among other things. The exhibition connects these personal stories with official government documents, films and photographs. The visitors thus discover how the migration movement between the two countries changed over time and how migrants reshaped their lives after arrival.

Digital migrant collections

The opening of the exhibition marks the kick-off of the expansion of the migrant.huygens.knaw.nl website to include five new stories and digitised collections from National Archives of Australia and National Archives of the Netherlands. Migrants leave traces in the collections of local, regional and national archives, both in the country of departure and in the country of destination. 

Cooperation and connection

Within the International Heritage Cooperation Programme, the National Archives of the Netherlands is working with the National Archives of Australia to digitise these archives and make them accessible online. With the Migrant, Mobilities and Connection (MIGRANT) project, the Huygens Institute is developing methods to digitally connect these dispersed migrant collections.

Australia’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Dr Greg French, opened the exhibition. Originally created in 2022 to mark eighty years of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Australia, it was previously on display in Perth, Australia. The Australian Embassy in The Hague and the Dutch Embassy in Canberra financially supported it.  
 

People Movement Stories is freely accessible and can be visited until 2 February 2024 from Tuesday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the National Archives of the Netherlands’ public centre.

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