DBWI: 30th anniversary of Australian independence from the Dutch

IC: Today, April 5 2009, marks the 30th anniversary of the colony of New Holland's historic independence referendum, and the founding of the Republic of Australia. I've just come back from a festival in downtown Vlaminghcem. So, what have you guys been doing today?

OOC: Australia is mainly Dutch, with a southeastern English state - kind of like a Dutch Canada with an English Quebec. PoD is the seas not being so choppy as in OTL on 19 July 1619, thus allowing Frederick de Houtman to lay anchor near Swan River, Western Australia that day.
 
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OOC: Just wait a bit longer. Give any thread 3 days. Or, if impatient, just post another post in the thread to bump it up. Personally, I think its a bit of thinking to do/post about Dutch Australia and how that culture would be, so you may want to post something giving up a perspective on the culture like "Oh, has anybody else been wearing clogs and worshiping windmills?".
 
Australian independence was inevitable after the independence of Indonesia. Indonesia was the Netherlands cash cow whereas Australia was the settler colony that milked it. Naturally Australia suffered disproportionately from the latter's independence, and when the Dutch tried to stabilize their economy afterwards, subsidies for Australia were amongst the first to go.
 
OOC: Point taken.

IC: Yeah, man, I was down in Uluru most of today. Went by Mount Hendrikus last weekend, though. Absolutely brilliant thing, that big ol' orange rock. No wonder the Dutch liked this land so much - everything around here's orange.

OOC: ITTL, places may have had name changes due to the fact that the Dutch would name different places different things. So far (and feel free to update the list as you respond):
*Mount Hendrikus - Ayers Rock
*Uluru - city near Ayers Rock. Analogous to Alice Springs.
*Vlaminghcem - Analogous to Perth. Biggest Australian city.
 
Throwing some questions your way....

Would the Dutch use it as a penal colony? Or would they colonise it like a Dutch America?
Where would Britains convicts go, the Southwestern Quebec-like nation you mentioned? How would Dutch settlers react to living next to a huge prison?
Would it cause tension between Britain and Holland?
What of New Zealand?
If two nations have claims on Australia, whats to stop France claiming the North, Spain the East etc?
How would any mass immigration affect Holland?

Hope ya don't mind, thought it'd give you something to chew on. :)
 
Would the Dutch use it as a penal colony? Or would they colonise it like a Dutch America?

The latter.

Where would Britains convicts go, the Southwestern Quebec-like nation you mentioned? How would Dutch settlers react to living next to a huge prison?

Southeastern. And, pretty much where New South Wales and Victoria are OTL. And this British colony would start out as a convict zone, but eventually become a settler colony, much like OTL. By ITTL 1910, convict use has ended completely.

Would it cause tension between Britain and Holland?

Yes, but not particularly so.

What of New Zealand?

British, along with most other things in the Pacific.

If two nations have claims on Australia, whats to stop France claiming the North, Spain the East etc?

Both the Dutch and Brits were very well established at that point, and had already laid claim to most of the continent.

How would any mass immigration affect Holland?

Underpopulation of Holland as they try to fill New Holland, followed by mass immigrations into both to fill the vacuum.
 
You seem to know what your talking about. Is this a TL you've written already or.......?
Do you want more questions?

I'm good at questions, not answers so much though... :)
 
What does, if you don't mind me asking, OOC mean, i've seen it loads but never bothered to find out, I normally work it about by myself but......? :)
 
At least the Walloons don't hate Australians that much anymore for providing most of the Dutch army that crushed that particular insurrection back in 1876.
 
You seem to know what your talking about. Is this a TL you've written already or.......?
Do you want more questions?

I'm good at questions, not answers so much though... :)

OOC: I just know stuff about Australian history and politics. It comes from living there all my life. I haven't written a scrap of the story aside from what I've posted here - this DBWI is a complete open book. As for a reference for what would happen if the Dutch and Brits had direct colonial borders in Australia, I merely assessed the situation between Dutch and British possessions in New Guinea and altered it slightly to better suit this potential alternate Australian political climate.
 
I am terribly disappointed in the slow and glacial pace of civil rights reforms in the apartheid state. Even today, as an American you can still find signs labeled "kleurlinge" ('coloureds'), "bruinmense" ('brown people'), and "Basters" ('mongrel') . There is nothing more degrading as an American journalist than to be strip-searched for possible "crimes against the Volkstaat" in Uluru.
 
OOC; If the Dutch start colonising Australia from 1619 they'll have a strong strangelhold on most of the best bits by the time the Brits overtake them in the Far East. I'd think that as well as the Perth area they'd grab the Murray basin as well. So if the Brits have a colony in the south east it would nearly have to be taken by force from Dutch settlers.
 
It's sad that we don't rule Australia anymore, but the country is big enough to deserve independence. At least they still speak Dutch and are loyal allies. I'm glad the Australians were colonized by the Dutch and not by the British, for example.

There is the fact, though, that without Australian claims on German New-Guinea, we might've stayed neutral in the First Great War. Well, at least that war ended well.

I haven't been doing much Australia-related today, but I did watch the news once I got home from school. Fascinating, those celebrations. Although I do think the Australians could've at least kept Queen Beatrix as their head of state. Or maybe make her third son, Prince Constantijn, king of the Australians as Constantijn I of Australia...

Well, that's all in the past, now.
 
I heard that a bunch of the world leaders went to the Australian capital as part of the celebrations. Queen Beatrix was there, of course, but so was Kaiser Karl Friedrich of Germany, King Harry of Britain and the President of North America, Mark C. Kennedy. The Soviet president couldn't attend, though; some sort of trouble with his plane, I hear.
 
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