“CITYNEWS” readers may not have been familiar with the Dutch spelling of the word ‘Boemerang’ but that all changed yesterday when Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop and new Dutch Ambassador Erica Schouten launched a special commemorative magazine aimed at capturing the history and close ties of the two nations.
The Canberra launch of “Boemerang” followed the official launch of the magazine in the Netherlands on October 5 during ‘Aussie Oktober’, attended by Australian author Peter FitzSimons and Dutch underwater archaeologist Martijn Manders.
Launched during this, the Dirk Hartog anniversary year, which celebrates one of the Dutchmen who quite literally put Australia ‘on the map’ 400 years ago, “Boemerang” is seen as symbolic of the Dutch-Australian connectedness.
Ambassador Schouten said, “Bound by our shared history, values and enterprise, the shared stories of our nations have now literally been bound together in this special one-off publication.”
“Boemerang” has been launched ahead of the Dutch royal visit to Australia from October 31 to November 4 during which King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will receive copies of the commemorative magazine.
The publication was made possible through the partnership between the Australian Embassy in the Netherlands, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, DutchCulture, the Dutch Embassy in Australia and the National Archives of the Netherlands.
‘Boemerang’ is available for download at: http://bit.ly/2d6x20H (English) http://bit.ly/2dWkokP (Dutch)
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