E. ten Brummelaar 'put together' ("collected") facts, figures, anecdotes, opinions, etc., re migrating from the Netherlands to Australia, in a small booklet: Tulips under the Gum Tree.
It would be good to build up a second edition, with additional impressions, stories, etc..
From page 33, Tulips under the Gum Tree, by Eef ten Brummelaar.
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” Are you Australian?
Yes we naturalised. Everything improved all the time. We thought it would be fair with respect to the (born-) Australians, who like so much for us to have their nationality.
We would never have had in Holland, what we have here now. A beautiful large house, a boat, two cars. In Holland I would have been happy if I had a bike.”
Anything you don’t like?
I have to think about that one. In the beginning I thought it strange that nobody said ‘gooday’ (“gedag zeggen”) to you.
Yes. a bit of the “How are you, all right,” but not really wishing you a good day.
I had to get used to other manners. In the beginning they looked down at us. We were only migrants! They thought we came out of the slums. And I did not speak enough English to defend myself.” page 33
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In Australia, combining the responses of the second generation with those of the Netherlands-born (5 years and over), at the time of the 1991 Census, a total of around 42,000 persons reported that they spoke dutch at home. page 24
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Are you Dutch-Australian? Then you’ll probably identify with THIS
.....
PLEASE NOTE......The LINK here, was to a NING website, which is now no longer active (no longer "free").
The IDEA is still worth pursuing!!! Please contact jo at ozcloggie . com !
Meanwhile.....
HAVE you checked out my art?
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