In the meantime, Nico Feddema, and Pieter Leeflang of the Klaverjasclub Neerlandia, thinking in 1968 that the Dutch Community would never get their act together, had decided that the Klaverjasclub would try to go it alone to obtain a clubhouse. In order to do that, they had drawn up and adopted a Constitution in October 1968, changed the name of the Klaverjasclub to the Dutch Society Neerlandia of WA and they applied for Incorporation, which was granted on the 4th of March 1969. When at the aforementioned meeting (20 May 1969) they heard of the good news that a Federation of Dutch Clubs and Associations would be formed, they offered to hand over their Constitution, the Incorporated name ‘Dutch Society Neerlandia of WA Inc’, as well as their established Group Travel Scheme to this yet unnamed Federation. This proposal, of course, was accepted with open arms by all the delegates as this would save the Federation a lot of time and money, which they did not have as yet. But this proposal still had to be accepted by all the members of all the individual clubs. This was done and accepted with great enthusiasm, only the Windmills Sports Club were the exception as they voted against participating.

It was not until early 1969, when once again a series of meetings was called, initially to publish a combined newsletter, or more to the point, to support the publication called ‘Contact’, that was produced by one of the Dutch Church Organisations in WA.

At these meetings there were some prominent Dutch people present.

Initially an agreement was reached that all the clubs present would give their support and publish articles in the existing Church magazine ‘Contact’. This was accepted with great enthusiasm, but the drawback was that there was little, or no income generated, to cover the printing cost of the magazine.

At a follow-up meeting held on the 20th of May 1969 it was disclosed that the ‘Contact’-magazine had accumulated a debt of over $800.00. There and then a proposal was raised to start a Federation of Dutch Clubs in WA.

The advantages of this federation would be many, because combined they could organise large functions to raise funds and clear the accumulated debt. Secondly, it could establish a large membership and thirdly, together they could eventually obtain a clubhouse.

At the next meeting held on the 24th of June 1969, the proposal to proceed was officially accepted and a steering committee elected, which was: President, Nico Feddema; Secretary, Pieter Leeflang and Treasurer Karel Nissen. Nico Feddema and Pieter Leeflang were at the time the president and secretary of the Klaverjas Club Neerlandia and Karel Nissen de president of the Checkers Club ‘King Damas’.

Nominations were soon sought for an independent Executive committee, as well as other Committee members and the following people were elected as the first official Committee of the Dutch Society Neerlandia.

President, Teun Verboon; Secretary, Let van Lunteren; Treasurer, Karel Nissen; Committee Members, Karel Mijnsbergen, Taets van Amerongen, Henk Heesemans and Pieter Leeflang. So, on the 24th of June 1969 Neerlandia was officially established.

And now, all those years later, Dutch Society Neerlandia is still in existence. The core members are older whilst others have passed on. New Dutch immigrants are moving to Perth and although their reasons for moving to Australia may be different to those migrants of the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s, the need to stay in touch with the Netherlands and with the Dutch culture is as prominent as ever.

The ways of communicating with ‘home’ are now so much easier. Family and friends in the Netherlands are now accessible through Skype, Facebook, and other electronic communication media. Dutch products are easily obtainable through online stores. These may be some of the reasons that membership of the Dutch club has not increased in larger numbers with newer Dutch migrants.

A group of new generation Dutch people, realised the importance of Neerlandia, and in 2009 they started work on finding ways to attract new members. It was, and it still is, a slow process but after years of being almost dormant, Neerlandia is becoming a hub of activity yet again.

While expectations, lifestyle, and interests of earlier migrants are dramatically different to those of newer migrants, the need to get together and to celebrate the Dutch Culture is as lively as ever. Therefore, new Dutch migrants are now finding their way to the Club. Even though some of the activities in the club may have changed, we still enjoy the ability to meet and greet and to introduce our Australian family and friends to this piece of ‘Holland’.

Dutch Society ‘Neerlandia’ is very much alive again!

In February 2016 the Dutch Club moved to the German club, The Rhein Donau Club Inc. with a view of selling its clubhouse at Cambridge Street. This sale eventuated in October 2016. Both Neerlandia and The Rhein Donau Club Inc. are enjoying this new situation, which appears to be a win-win situation for all involved.