Dutch Australia

What if Australia had been a Dutch colony? The Dutch had been there first and even called it New Holland once. If there was a more extensive Dutch exploration of Australia, it would have probably led to settlements and eventually a colony.

If Australia had been Dutch, what would have been its history? And what would it be like by today?
 
It would be relatively small by the early 1800s, then siezed by British. You may have boer/afrikaner analogs left over from the dutch settlement, though.
 
It would be relatively small by the early 1800s, then siezed by British. You may have boer/afrikaner analogs left over from the dutch settlement, though.

Why would it be seized by the British, not all Dutch colonies were seized by the British. Ok, they where during the Batavian and Napolentic age, but a lot where returned: Surinam, Dutch antilles, Dutch Goldcoast, Dutch India, Malacca, the Dutch East Indies. Why wouldn't Britain return a Dutch Australin colony. It wasn't at such a strategic position as the cape.
Returning a Dutch Australian colony wouldn't stop the British from creating their own colonies on Australia though, so maybe you get a divided Australia.
 
The thing about a Dutch Australian colony is that it could have been founded over a century before Cpt Cook charted the East Coast. The Dutch charted the south coast to Spencer Gulf in 1627 and the southern tip of Tasmania in 1642, between them just missing the best parts of Australia. If the Dutch had put down some settlers in this area they could grab hold of the Murray river and control vast tracts of good grazing and irrigation land and develop Australia for more than a century longer than OTL.
 
What if Australia had been a Dutch colony? The Dutch had been there first and even called it New Holland once. If there was a more extensive Dutch exploration of Australia, it would have probably led to settlements and eventually a colony.


Hamburger,

The resulting history would be interesting but the first question you need to answer is why Holland would colonize Australia at all.

The Cape was settled by a minority religious group wanting to get some distance between itself and the rest of Holland, what would become Indonesia was grabbed because of the huge amounts of money to be made there, and the UK initially 'settled' Australia with the weirdest reason of all; they needed prison space.

In the OTL Holland had no interest in Australia because they couldn't see any reason to have any interest in Australia. Ship parties visting the shore aren't going to find gold or gems easily. The area where those items are located are far inland and, unlike the Spanish meeting Amerinds wearing gold jewelry, the Aborigenes weren't wearing much of anything. While Australia does have regions somewhat suitable to farming close to the coast, similar regions in South Africa are far closer to Holland.

Having someone grab the Cape before Holland could send to Boers further afield and having the Aborigenes trade gold/gems/whatever for European goods could spark Holland's interest, but you'll have to decide why the the Dutch would be interested in Australia first before working on what a Dutch Australia would look like.


Bill
 
Well, the dutch lose the 80 years war in most run throughs. Generally speaking, they head for Indonesia, the Philippines, and Oceania HARD. They have just enough population to put down enough of a base so that when the next great power to decide the dutch would be easy, jiucy prey, they can put up a hell of a fight. But as soon as the dutch navy gets defeated, the ground forces are gonna be defeated in detail, and they're pretty much staying there this time, because by the time that this rolls around, all the neat places are already full up. I can't imagine that anyone could ever really hold it, what with the islander-dutch cultural fusion (I bet there's some weird syncretistic mixings between the reformed and sun I abrahamists). Well, maybe with some HEAVY social engineering, but that level of that sort of thing is beyond anyone who doesn't have a knowledge of sociology beyond OTL 2013 levels, and the ruthlessness to enforce it. Maybe the corporate state that a very lucky Sweden might have gotten to become. Though they'd have had much richer prey than some quickly assimilating dutch refugees... Yeah, no one who could hold it would have any interest in doing so.
 
Makassan fishermen from Sulawesi in Indonesia are known to have frequented the coast of Arnhem Land in northern Australia for sea cucumbers and to a lesser degree, pearls. The sea cucumbers were valuable in the Chinese folk medicine market. Perhaps the Dutch might expand upon this by making a permanent settlement in Northern Territory, which eventually leads the northern part of Australia to end up as part of the Dutch East Indies (not unlike the western half of New Guinea). The population would be a diverse mix of ethnicities, with Indonesians comprising the largest component, followed by the Aborigines, Europeans, and East Asians.
 
First of all as a Dutchman I really like this idea, however a number of concerns are already raised. Though it is somewhat 'unlucky' to discover the region without finding the best locations...

Yet one aspect, distance, which really is an issue for any European Colony. The most obvious spot for a first Dutch settlement (at least similar to the Cape) would be in modern Western Australia. Though a trading post in the modern Northern territory is a plausible option too.

Actually England wasn't the Netherlands biggest concern, in fact at certain times the North Sea was our pond ;), the biggest threat came from the Western European continental hegemon, France.
In fact MarshalBraginsky, have you ever heard of the Netherlands Antilles, a clear inheritance of that era; true the divorce of the jewel of our former colonial Empire the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, was somewhat problematic. However that post WW II era period was coloured by the period just before WW II and what happened during the same war.

I also agree with Pompejus, that the Netherlands probably won't get the Cape Colony back, if it got seized; but Australia doesn't have such a position on the trading routes.

Finally though Bill Cameron I never heard that all Cape settlers were from religious minority groups; then again I from a Dutch Roman Catholic background (back then second rate citizens) and at that time Calvinists could split, if a dispute occurred.
 
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A little bit on the Netherlands Antilles, and correct me if I am wrong, but the Dutch still has those islands, right?

Yes, certain Islands now are special municipalities of the Netherlands and other Islands are a distinct part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (note that kingdom of the the Netherlands concerns all the possessions of the Dutch Queen (soon king), whereas the Netherlands usually means 'the Netherlands proper.')
 
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As an Australian I like the idea too. The Dutch were clever because they didn't track up the coast of Africa to be at the mercy of the monsoons, instead using the circular ocean winds and currents to go across to Australia and up the coast to the Indies. This reliability allowed them to do round trips in a year, and may have been a reason to set up a victualling settlement near Perth. My guess is that further exploration would occur from there with the Murray river and good bits beyond being discovered before 1700.
 
This is an interesting one. It makes me wonder what happens when the Brits start putting pressure on the Cape Colony. Do the Boers decide to go inland, as OTL? Or do some/all decide to migrate to Dutch Oz?
 
There was a similar thread not too long ago. I have issues with the search function on here, though. So...

I would guess the first settlements would be around OTL Perth. The Dutch would be looking for a location between the Cape and the Spice Islands, and the rest of Western Australia is pretty inhospitable. I figure they'd try somewhere further north first and quickly realize how miserable it is and move south. If they're smart, and lucky that is. Perth seems like it's out of the way if your going from the Cape to the Indies, but as Riain pointed out, it's actually pretty reasonable thanks to the wind.

Now, how they turn a maybe-kinda-useful outpost on the way to somewhere better into a full-fledged colony is another matter. I'm not saying it'd be likely or particularly easy. I just think if it were to happen it would start in SW Australia. The SE would eventually become the more populous area, but it's just too far from their other colonies to make sense early on.
 

ingemann

Banned
There was a similar thread not too long ago. I have issues with the search function on here, though. So...

I would guess the first settlements would be around OTL Perth. The Dutch would be looking for a location between the Cape and the Spice Islands, and the rest of Western Australia is pretty inhospitable. I figure they'd try somewhere further north first and quickly realize how miserable it is and move south. If they're smart, and lucky that is. Perth seems like it's out of the way if your going from the Cape to the Indies, but as Riain pointed out, it's actually pretty reasonable thanks to the wind.

Now, how they turn a maybe-kinda-useful outpost on the way to somewhere better into a full-fledged colony is another matter. I'm not saying it'd be likely or particularly easy. I just think if it were to happen it would start in SW Australia. The SE would eventually become the more populous area, but it's just too far from their other colonies to make sense early on.

Rather easy, the Dutch never turned Cape into a full-fledged colony, it accidental developed into one. The VOC ruled the outpost with a iron fist and the few farmers living around te colony, grew more and more tired of the VOC tyranny and high and began moving inland and away from Kaapstadt. This forced VOC to extent their force inward after them and slowly Kaapstadt grew from a outpost feed by a few farming families in its hinterland, to the centre of colony. A similar process could easily happen in Australia, with the farmers spreading inland and along the southern coast and the VOC being forced to expand to keep control over them.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
I would guess the first settlements would be around OTL Perth. The Dutch would be looking for a location between the Cape and the Spice Islands, and the rest of Western Australia is pretty inhospitable. I figure they'd try somewhere further north first and quickly realize how miserable it is and move south. If they're smart, and lucky that is. Perth seems like it's out of the way if your going from the Cape to the Indies, but as Riain pointed out, it's actually pretty reasonable thanks to the wind.

Now, how they turn a maybe-kinda-useful outpost on the way to somewhere better into a full-fledged colony is another matter. I'm not saying it'd be likely or particularly easy. I just think if it were to happen it would start in SW Australia. The SE would eventually become the more populous area, but it's just too far from their other colonies to make sense early on.

IIRC Albany was for a while the primary port in the west and was where clipper ships put in because it had the superior harbor. I think it was only when the shoals or rocks at the entrance to the harbor at Perth were dynamited that it developed as a deep water port. So that makes it tricky for 17th or 18th century Dutch.
 
Rather easy, the Dutch never turned Cape into a full-fledged colony, it accidental developed into one. The VOC ruled the outpost with a iron fist and the few farmers living around te colony, grew more and more tired of the VOC tyranny and high and began moving inland and away from Kaapstadt. This forced VOC to extent their force inward after them and slowly Kaapstadt grew from a outpost feed by a few farming families in its hinterland, to the centre of colony. A similar process could easily happen in Australia, with the farmers spreading inland and along the southern coast and the VOC being forced to expand to keep control over them.

I guess I was preparing for a cynical response and ended up being my own cynic. It is possible, I just didn't want to assume one outpost would lead to a totally Dutch Australia. Australia is bigger than S. Africa and the Outback is an even rougher climate than the Veldt, but I suppose that won't stop them. I did forget about/underestimate the tyranny of the VOC. It's a very cool idea, I think. Having "Trekboers" roaming across Australia. I'd agree with you and others that to understand the evolution and culture of Dutch Australia your best bet is to look to the Cape.

IIRC Albany was for a while the primary port in the west and was where clipper ships put in because it had the superior harbor. I think it was only when the shoals or rocks at the entrance to the harbor at Perth were dynamited that it developed as a deep water port. So that makes it tricky for 17th or 18th century Dutch.

Fair enough. I really just said 'Perth' because I am not too familiar with the region. I meant the Southwestern tip of the Australia. Looks like Albany is in an even better position. It is amazing how much the tip of SW australia looks like the tip of SW Africa.
 
Terribly sorry if this is considered necro-ing a thread, but I came across it as I was looking for anything on this site related to a couple of articles...

http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/blogs/article/-/7076336/australias-secret-history/

Evidently, there IS evidence (at least, marginally) that there was at least some Dutch settlement in Australia; albeit probably unintentional...

There's even a whole group dedicated to looking into the links:
http://www.voc.iinet.net.au/

So, there you go. You have a handful of ships luckily (or un-luckily?) shipwrecked near Perth / Swan river. There's enough of a critical mass (say a few hundred survive?) so that when the next ship comes by, there's actually some construction/surviving population there. Viola: you have the seeds for your settler colony.
At the very least, its a much more agreeable climate than Indonesia, ideally located on-route, next to no local/native resistance, and an at-least decent location for establishing a headquarters/center for regional trade.
 
next to no local/native resistance, and an at-least decent location for establishing a headquarters/center for regional trade.

Eh, the Aborigines were unlucky in that the gunmen they faced were already well experienced in crushing Native Americans and were better armed than the initial wave of settlement that the Native Americans themselves faced.

A couple hundred civilian settlers with no access to goods and weapons from the homeland, however, could probably be crushed by an organized Aborigine tribe. If they don't starve, they would have to live in peace with their Aborigine neighbors at least until they can re-establish contact with the VOC. It's possible, but very difficult.
 
Explorers like Tasman visited the place back in the 17th Century. The Dutch knew about it and had no interest in it because there was nobody there with to trade. That was why they were in the East Indies to begin with.
 
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