Various Presidents -
From 1997
When Thea Winoto took over as president after Jan Stracke, she initially had her hands full in sorting out projects commenced but not yet completed. She also proved her mettle by arranging for Dutch author Jan Brokken as our guest speaker on the day of our event as our planned speaker fell ill. He had only just arrived here for the Melbourne Writers Festival.
In 2000 Jan Bylstra took over as president from Thea for 2 years followed by Loes Westerbeek from 2002 – 2005, Isabelle Roosenburg from 2005 – 2007, David Runia 2008, Nico Spelbrink 2008 and 2010, iet Fuijkschot 2009, Henk van Leeuwen 2011- 2013, Keith Reitsema 2013 – 2015 and Jan Bylstra from 2015.
In June 1999 the Danish Club was closing as a venue and we found the Brighton Yacht Club as our new home till May 2007, when it no longer became viable. Thereafter a number of venues were used, including the Junior Common Room of Queen's College in Parkville, the Q.P.O Bar & Bistro in Kew and the Dutch Club Abel Tasman. The latter became our regular venue from March 2012.
In general, we enjoyed a number of Dutch authors as speakers in the nineties and noughties years. These included five well-known authors in 1994 (Marion Bloem, Astrid Roemer, Aya Zikken, Josien Laurier and Kristien Hemmerechts, in the same event), F. Springer in 1999, Adriaan van Dis, Tom Krabbé and Fleur Bourgonje in 2004 (in separate events), Arjen Duinker in 2005, Ariëlla Kornmehl in 2007, Inez Holander Lake in 2009 and Kader Abdolah in 2011. The help of the Dutch Consulate in Melbourne and the Dutch Embassy, particularly after the Consulate’s closure in December 1999, were instrumental in obtaining these authors as speakers.
Other well-known Dutch speakers in this period were: Prof Martin Veltman in 2001 (received Nobel Prize for Physics in 1999), Prof Frank Bovenkerk (Criminology, Utrecht University) and Prof Ronald de Leeuw, (Director General of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam) both in 2006, Prof Hans Clevers in 2015 (Molecular Genetics and Paediatric Oncology University of Utrecht) and Prof Andrea Maier in 2017 (Professor of Ageing at Melbourne University and the VU University in Amsterdam). A special evening in 2012 was with H.E. Patrick Renault, Ambassador of Belgium, who spoke on the topic "How the Belgians see the Dutch".
Throughout our history we were always conscious of the popularity of showing Dutch films. The venue was often the Dutch Club Abel Tasman. However, Loes Westerbeek started a new tradition by engaging the Australian Centre of the Moving Image (ACMI) on Federation Square in the Melbourne CBD. She organised two screenings in 2003 and another one in 2004. The latter two were followed by a Q&A with the film’s director (Rolf de Heer and Paul Cox respectively). From 2012 we were able to have an annual Dutch Film Day around April in the ACMI (with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions). The last Dutch Film Day (the 9th since 2012 and the 12th in total) was held in 2022.
The Erasmus Foundation publicity included a brochure, flyers, posters, emails, SBS and 3ZZ radio and a website from about 2004. Our logo had a few iterations in its history. Initially it was a stylised name. This was followed by a copy of the famous Erasmus portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger. In 2004 we obtained our current logo. It was a work of art created by graphic artist Jeanette Lotz, who was a friend of Loes Westerbeek. The sign is the widely known signature of Erasmus.
By 2015 it was recognised that to continue as a separate organisation would be difficult to sustain in the future. It was therefore proposed to cancel our Incorporation and to change our legal status to become a sub-group of the Dutch Club Abel Tasman. This was agreed by the membership on 8 Nov 2015. Our mission and character was retained but the new structure simplified the management of the society. This change was legally finalised in March 2016.
From the end of 2022 the Erasmus Foundation will end the staging of activities in person and only on-line activities will occur, including maintaining its website and Facebook page. Emphasis will also be given to raising additional donations for the Willem van Otterloo Fund.
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