400 years Netherlands-Australia: Allies: Operations: Merchant Navy

The hospital ship Oranje with wounded Australian and New Zealand soldiers on board, August 1945. This former merchant ship used to belong to Stoomvaartmaatschappij Nederland but was donated to Australia before the war.

Merchant navy

As with the naval vessels, many of the merchant ships that escaped from the Dutch East Indies in March 1942 went to Ceylon or Australia. Twenty-one merchant ships from the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) arrived in the ports of Sydney and Adelaide. They were quickly used to supply Australian and US troops and transport them to New Guinea. During the war, they transported an estimated 100,000 troops and nearly a million tonnes of supplies, often in difficult circumstances and unknown waters. Three of the ships were lost in April 1944 due to an explosion in the port of Bombay.

In addition to the use of the KPM ships, the US War Shipping Administration chartered 19 large Dutch ships in 1942 to transport troops in the Pacific. However, the ships continued to sail under the Dutch flag and with Dutch crews. These vessels (which belonged to the Rotterdamsche Lloyd, the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, the Verenigde Nederlandse Scheepvaartmaatschappij, the Holland-Amerika-Lijn and the Java-China-Japan-Lijn) were converted into troopships in the US. They transported an estimated quarter of a million Americans westward and sixty thousand eastward, and none of them was lost during the war.

Dutch merchant ships were also used as hospital ships. Even before war broke out in the Pacific, one such ship, the Oranje, belonging to the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, was donated to Australia. It sailed in the Indian Ocean until the end of 1943, and transported over ten thousand wounded Australian and New Zealand troops.

KPM’s head office in Australia was located in Sydney. It was responsible not only for its own ships but also for ships and personnel belonging to other shipping companies in Australian waters. This work was originally carried out by 40 people, but by 1945 the number had grown to 162 to match the expansion of activities. KPM branches were also opened in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Indonesian crewmembers formed a distinct group within the KPM. There were around 2,000 Indonesians on board the 21 KPM ships that reached Australia in March 1942. After arriving there, they wanted to receive the same pay as other seamen doing the same work. Chinese seamen had earlier managed to secure higher pay, equal to that of Australian seamen, with the envoy’s support. However, when the Indonesians informed the KPM head office of their request in March 1942, they got no response. With the backing of the Seamen’s Union of Australia and the militant Waterworkers Union, they organised a strike in April in which about 700 Indonesian seamen stopped work. KPM sent the strikers ashore, where they were treated by the Australian authorities as illegal immigrants. They were arrested and imprisoned, first in different prisons, but later, in 1942, in an internment camp at Cowra, 200 kilometres west of Sydney. Australian, Indian and Chinese workers replaced the strikers on board the ships. The other 1,300 or so Indonesian seamen continued sailing. The KPM headquarters provided shore facilities for them. From June 1942, KPM ran accommodation for Indonesian seamen in Sydney. When Townsville became the base for Dutch merchant ships later in the war, KPM opened a canteen there. The Indonesian seamen’s pay was eventually raised in June 1943.

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	The hospital ship Oranje with wounded Australian and New Zealand soldiers on board, August 1945. This former merchant ship used to belong to Stoomvaartmaatschappij Nederland but was donated to Australia before the war. Merchant navy As with the naval vessels, many of the merchant ships that escaped from the Dutch East Indies in March 1942 went to Ceylon or Australia. Twenty-one merchant ships from the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) arrived in the ports of Sydney and Adelaide. They were quickly used to supply Australian and US troops and transport them to New Guinea. During the war, they transported an estimated 100,000 troops and nearly a million tonnes of supplies, often in difficult circumstances and unknown waters. Three of the ships were lost in April 1944 due to an explosion in the port of Bombay. In addition to the use of the KPM ships, the US War Shipping Administration chartered 19 large Dutch ships in 1942 to transport troops in the Pacific. However, the ships continued to sail under the Dutch flag and with Dutch crews. These vessels (which belonged to the Rotterdamsche Lloyd, the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, the Verenigde Nederlandse Scheepvaartmaatschappij, the Holland-Amerika-Lijn and the Java-China-Japan-Lijn) were converted into troopships in the US. They transported an estimated quarter of a million Americans westward and sixty thousand eastward, and none of them was lost during the war. Dutch merchant ships were also used as hospital ships. Even before war broke out in the Pacific, one such ship, the Oranje, belonging to the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, was donated to Australia. It sailed in the Indian Ocean until the end of 1943, and transported over ten thousand wounded Australian and New Zealand troops. KPM’s head office in Australia was located in Sydney. It was responsible not only for its own ships but also for ships and personnel belonging to other shipping companies in Australian waters. This work was originally carried out by 40 people, but by 1945 the number had grown to 162 to match the expansion of activities. KPM branches were also opened in Melbourne and Brisbane. Indonesian crewmembers formed a distinct group within the KPM. There were around 2,000 Indonesians on board the 21 KPM ships that reached Australia in March 1942. After arriving there, they wanted to receive the same pay as other seamen doing the same work. Chinese seamen had earlier managed to secure higher pay, equal to that of Australian seamen, with the envoy’s support. However, when the Indonesians informed the KPM head office of their request in March 1942, they got no response. With the backing of the Seamen’s Union of Australia and the militant Waterworkers Union, they organised a strike in April in which about 700 Indonesian seamen stopped work. KPM sent the strikers ashore, where they were treated by the Australian authorities as illegal immigrants. They were arrested and imprisoned, first in different prisons, but later, in 1942, in an internment camp at Cowra, 200 kilometres west of Sydney. Australian, Indian and Chinese workers replaced the strikers on board the ships. The other 1,300 or so Indonesian seamen continued sailing. The KPM headquarters provided shore facilities for them. From June 1942, KPM ran accommodation for Indonesian seamen in Sydney. When Townsville became the base for Dutch merchant ships later in the war, KPM opened a canteen there. The Indonesian seamen’s pay was eventually raised in June 1943.



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