The Era of Jan Stracke 1990- 1997
This was the second period of great activity for the Erasmus Foundation. Although the period of Jan Stracke as president was shorter than the one of Jonas Kreveld, he achieved a great deal in his 7 years. To put he society on a firmer legal basis we became incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act with Reg No: A0024583P on 12 February 1992. Prior to that the society did not have its own legal status, but the need for public liability insurance necessitated this step. (Note: the constitution was updated in 2009).
Monthly meetings in the Danish Club included well-known speakers such as Norman Geschke (Victorian Ombudsman), Paul Cox (film director), Hans Vonk (Dutch Conductor and Artistic Director Dresden State Opera and Staatskapelle), Prof Carl Wood (Monash Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) and Prof Dr Henk van Os (Director Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). Another highlight was the visit and conference of Dutch cabaretier Freek de Jonge in May 1994 in the Dutch Club Abel Tasman. During all these years we received a great support from the Dutch Consulate in Melbourne and the Embassy in Canberra. For example, the Freek de Jonge event was made possible due to their financial support.
Reaching out to the wider community came to a crescendo during the reign of Jan Stracke. Jan was an accomplished amateur painter himself and he managed to organise two art exhibitions from works by Dutch born artists in Australia. The first one was the “Second Landing” exhibition in the Access Gallery of the National Gallery of Victoria, which was opened by the Dutch Ambassador Cornelius Bast in 1993.
The second one, “The Rembrandt Connection”, was in an advanced stage by the time of his untimely death in April 1997. It was completed that year by his daughter Wil with much help from Thea Winoto, the succeeding EF president. Mrs Rita Kok-Roukema, wife of the then Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok who was visiting Australia, opened the exhibition on 4 November 1997.
Apart from these two art exhibitions, Jan and Thea Winoto were also actively involved in an historical exhibition about the migrant experiences in the Bonegilla migrant centre. This exhibition was organised and curated by Dirk and Marijke Eysbertse who also wrote the accompanying book “Where Water Meet”. The book’s publication was financed by EF with the help of donations. This exhibition was first staged in the Old Treasury Building Melbourne, where Sir Arvi Parbo opened it in April 1997. It was later moved to the Latchford Barracks in Bonegilla and opened in September by the Dutch Vice Minister Social Affairs and Employment Frank de Grave to commemorate the Bonegilla '97 - 50th Anniversary Festival. Thereafter it moved to Adelaide in December 1998 and even to The Hague in the Netherlands in 2000. The book “Where Water Meet” was very successful and went into a third printing in 2006.
We also supported another exhibition, “The Other Dutch”, organised by the Tempo Doeloe Club to remember Dutch people born and bred in Indonesia. It opened in March 1996 in the Dutch Consulate in Melbourne.
Apart from all his other activities, Jan Stracke also managed to find some time to organise authors and the editing of essays, together with Benoît Grüter, for a book on migrant stories. The book was initially to be called “The Move Down Under”. However, Jan’s death meant that a new editor was required and eventually the book came out in February 2006 as "The Dutch Down Under 1606 – 2006" which was coordinated by Nonja Peters of the Curtin University in Perth. We also provided funds for her to establish a website “daaag.org” to publish some of these migrant stories on the Internet.
Jan was regularly involved in fund raising for the various activities. Funds were raised from the Dutch Embassy and Dutch Consulate on a regular basis. In addition funding was obtained from a variety of companies and individuals as well as the Prins Bernhard Fund and the Dutch Emigration Fund.
This multitude of activities was of course hard to sustain for committees that came after Jan Stracke and things became more tranquil after him. However, Thea Winoto was initially heavily involved in finishing what Jan had planned and full credit has to go to her for her part in helping to successfully complete these activities.
Continue: From 1997 - Various Presidents