Aanpassen and invisibility : being Dutch in post-war Australia

This article reflects on the mass influx of Dutch migrants into Australia after the Second World War from the vantage point of the now rapidly ageing Dutch. It compares their experience to that of their children who are also fast approaching retirement age. It locates Dutch Australians’ adaptive strategies within the context of the historic, socio-economic and cultural expectations generated at the point of departure by both the relinquishing and receiving societies. It shows the strategies as further influenced by ethnicity, generation, gender, social class and religion. Its central thesis contends the compelling and sometimes dissimilar imperatives driving the Australian and Dutch governments post-war emigration/immigration programs coalesced to fashion ‘aanpassen and invisibility’, the strategies now viewed as the ‘hallmark’ of Dutch resettlement in Australia.