Lawant Family
By Marg Powell, Specialist Library Technician, Metadata Services | 10 July 2023
Japanese internees and Dutch migrants: reflections of the lives of the Lawant family
Pencil sketch by Catharinus Lawant of the internment camp, Tjitaroermplein, at Bandung. Showing the boundaries which were fenced with barbed wire on the inside, and plaited bamboo screening on the outside. 3281, Lawant Family papers and works of art, Item 1.
This small yet significant collection reveals just a small part of the story of the Lawant Family - in particular Catharinus Lawant, his wife Maria and daughter Martina, who were interned during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, in the Second World War. Catharinus Lawant was born in Assen, Netherlands and after the First World War was employed as a wireless operator on passenger liners. He met and married Marie van Woerden in 1915 and settled in Bandung, West Java (then Netherlands East-Indies). They had two children, Johannes in 1928 and Martina in 1929.
Pencil sketch by Catharinus Lawant of men undertaking kitchen duties at the internment camp, Tjitaroemplein, Bandung, October 1943. 3281, Lawant Family papers and works of art, State Library of Queensland. Item 6.
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Catharinus and his family were interned in separate camps from December 1942 until their liberation in 1945. After the war many former internees were left destitute, and faced the threat of the Indonesian Republic. They made their way back to the Netherlands, having lost many friends and relatives, their experience leaving them both physically and mentally affected.
Two leaftlets air dropped by the Allies to internees, advising them of the progress of the war, and giving instructions to wait for assistance and supplies. 29 August and 4 September 1945. 3281, Lawant Family papers and works of art, State Library of Queensland. Items 19 and 20.
In 1960 Catharinus Lawant arrived in Brisbane aboard the 'Groote Beer' with his wife Maria, his daughter Martina and her husband Karl Schotz, travelling under the Netherlands Migration Agreement, later taking up residence at Moggill, Brisbane. Karl and Martina were naturalised in 1965. His son Johannes Lawant, had emigrated to Australia 9 years earlier in June 1951 aboard the 'Sibajak'. He initially lived and worked in Victoria, before moving to Brisbane. Johannes married Johanna Kessler in Brisbane in 1964.
View the collection, in the John Oxley Library Reading Room
Read more ...
National Archives of Australia:
- Lawant, Catharinus, Series BP25/1 Item ID 4068689
- Lawant, Maria, Series BP25/1 Item ID 4068687
- Lawant, Johannes, Series BP25/1 Item ID 4068688
Dutch internees and their rescue, by Harry Poeze
Related collections ...
- 31736, Nienke and John Firrell Papers, State Library of Queensland [film and audio recordings]
- OH24, Migrant Women Oral History, State Library of Queensland [photographs and audio recordings]
- 29147, Marijke Degeus photographs, State Library of Queensland [photographs]
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