Soon you will be able to check out some of the stories, collected to date. We are still in the process of uploading Dutch Oral history stories on this site. Please come back later to have a listen and read more.
If there is one thing we must do – then it is collecting more of the stories of those Dutchies who came out here in the 1950s and 1960s. We willen uw verhaal documenteren! before that history is lost forever. Please contribute to our Oral History project. Vertel uw eigen verhaal. (Tell your own story).
We want to collect more personal stories. But we can’t do it all ourselves. Until our Museum Centre is built, we won’t have the resources to interview everybody we’d like to talk to.

Lekker op z’n Hollands – Double Dutch
But there are other ways to tell the stories of the Invisible Migrants. In 2008, the first national Dutch conference took place, Onze Hoe Wie, which was an outstanding success. Organised by Jaques Poot from Waikato University and the NetherlanNZ Foundation, as part of Het Festijn in Hamilton, a number of speakers brought together a wealth of information about the Dutch in this country.

The Dutch Connection aims to be a rich resource of information about Nederlanders in New Zealand. We’ve listed those links that we know about. If you’ve discovered any more online information, let us know? Please send us an email.

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In the Encyclopedia
The Nederlanders came to New Zealand with plenty of ambitions, and created what's really a success story in migration. People of Dutch descent make up some 4% of the population. Still, our story remains untold in Michael King's recent 'Penguin history of New Zealand'. We integrated so well, that we're often described as the 'invisible immigrants'.
Find out more about what we’ve achieved in the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Tasman’s Legacy
The Dutch contributed to New Zealand’s development in many different ways. For the full story, you can read 'Tasman's Legacy', an excellent book by Hank Schouten. You can order the book from the NetherlaNZ Foundation. Here are just a few salient facts: