TRAVEL BLOG
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Dutch Orange Day in New Holland
April 30 in the Netherlands is known as Queen's Day (Koninginnedag in Dutch). The day is a public holiday to celebrate the Queens birthday. It's actually the birthday of the last queen (Juliana), but it is said that the current Queen (Beatrix) kept it in honour of her mother, and also because her birthday is in January, too chilly to be celebrating outdoors.
Queen's Day is the biggest party of the year in the Netherlands, and on the day the streets resemble a huge market (vrijmarkt, or freemarket) as anyone can sell anything in the streets. Further info at Queen's Day: The World's Biggest Street Party.
Today I stumbled upon Dutch Orange Day, a little celebration the local Dutch community put on to celebrate Queen's Day in Melbourne.
Clogmaker - Queen's Day in Melbourne
Dutch Poffertjes - Queen's Day in Melbourne
Seeing the Dutch celebrating in Melbourne got me thinking what might have been. Not many people outside of Australia know that this continent was once known as New Holland (in fact probably not many Australians know that either).
New Holland Map - 1659 (from National Library of Australia)
When New York was still New Amsterdam (in 1644) the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman christened the continent Nova Hollandia. It wasn't until 1824 that New Holland officially became Australia.
The first recorded European sighting of the Great Southern Land was by the Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, who landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island, on 26 October 1616.
Probably the most famous contact the Dutch had with Western Australia was when the Batavia struck a reef off the coast. It is a classic story of mutiny and survival, which can be read in detail at the Batavia Story.
British ships also sighted the coast but as the Western Australian coast is a vast waterless expanse it was never colonised.
Queen's Day is the biggest party of the year in the Netherlands, and on the day the streets resemble a huge market (vrijmarkt, or freemarket) as anyone can sell anything in the streets. Further info at Queen's Day: The World's Biggest Street Party.
Today I stumbled upon Dutch Orange Day, a little celebration the local Dutch community put on to celebrate Queen's Day in Melbourne.
Clogmaker - Queen's Day in Melbourne
Dutch Poffertjes - Queen's Day in Melbourne
Seeing the Dutch celebrating in Melbourne got me thinking what might have been. Not many people outside of Australia know that this continent was once known as New Holland (in fact probably not many Australians know that either).
New Holland Map - 1659 (from National Library of Australia)
When New York was still New Amsterdam (in 1644) the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman christened the continent Nova Hollandia. It wasn't until 1824 that New Holland officially became Australia.
The first recorded European sighting of the Great Southern Land was by the Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, who landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island, on 26 October 1616.
Probably the most famous contact the Dutch had with Western Australia was when the Batavia struck a reef off the coast. It is a classic story of mutiny and survival, which can be read in detail at the Batavia Story.
British ships also sighted the coast but as the Western Australian coast is a vast waterless expanse it was never colonised.
Labels: australia, holiday, melbourne, netherlands
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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