This picture shows my mother (second from right), her siblings and my grandparents about to leave Rotterdam in the Netherlands on the Wassenberg family’s voyage of emigration to Australia aboard the Groote Beer in 1955.

I stumbled onto this topic because I found Maggie walking around with a copy of this picture:

The Groote Beer was one of three emigrant ships owned by the Dutch Government after the Second World War. She was converted from the Costa Rica Victory and was used as a troopship under Nederland Line management.

In 1951-52 she was converted to an emigrant carrier and managed by Holland America.

A note on the back of the postcard my mother gave me says the family’s voyage in October 1955 was the last for the ship.

According to this site:

The ships were fitted with passenger accommodation for about 800 in a single class, with large dormitories outnumbering conventional cabins. The Groote Beer averaged 13 voyages to North America during its years of service as an emigrant ship. Voyages were also made to Australia and South Africa. In 1960, the Groote Beer was transferred to the Trans-Ocean Steamship Co and in 1963 was sold to John S. Latsis, Greece. She was renamed the Marianna IV in 1964 and back to Groote Beer in 1965. In 1968 she was once again the Marianna IV. By November 1968 she was laid up in Piraeus and finally scrapped in June 1970 at Eleusis, Greece.

The ship travelled to Australia via Cape Town because of the Suez crisis.

I often wonder why my grandfather decided on Australia instead of South Africa or Canada. Those countries were also actively encouraging Dutch migrants.

I’m pleased he came here, of course.

The Wassenbergs have a proud history which can be traced back over centuries.

I haven’t spent much time researching it, but plan to do so in the future.

The bottom picture is possibly the first of the Wassenberg family in Australia. Mum’s note says it was taken at Drouin in 1955.

Drouin is a small town in a dairyfarming district about 60 miles east of Melbourne.