Flying Dutchman to finally dock at Big Dutch Day Out

A Flying Dutchman has docked in Foxton in time for this year’s Big Dutch Day Out celebrations.

The celebrations of Dutch culture and its connection with Aotearoa are brought to the forefront every year at Foxton’s De Molen Dutch flour mill windmill, with national delicacies, music and fun.

The event is part of annual week-long festivities of Dutch Week, celebrating the birthday of the Dutch sovereign, currently King Willem-Alexander, after World War II.

But this year marks the arrival of a special feature, gifted to the museum Oranjehof Dutch Connection Centre ahead of the Big Dutch Day Out next Saturday.

Arjan van der Boon, co-chairperson of the centre, said a 2m-by-2m replica of De Heemskerck, or the Flying Dutchman, that brought Abel Tasman to Aotearoa in 1642 would be officially unveiled during the festivities.

De Heemskerck and De Zeehaen were the ships Tasman used to bring his 110 sailors across the Southern Ocean, Boon said.

Ard van der Vorst, the Netherlands Ambassador in Aotearoa, said the colourful replica of De Heemskerck was built with plans and help from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, one of the Netherlands’ greatest cultural institutions. “Eric Hill, from Cambridge, spent years on crafting the ship with native timbers.

“It truly is a magnificent gift that talks about the links between the Netherlands and Aotearoa New Zealand, which have existed for almost four centuries.”

Van der Vorst said he was grateful and proud that Hill had donated the ship to the Dutch community and the museum.

Van der Boon said the ship was gifted to the museum in 2023, but given its size they were unsure where to display the replica.

“We found a local engineer, who was willing to take a punt at the challenge,” van der Boon said.

“He created the construction that will now amaze our visitors as they set foot in the room that tells the story of Europe’s first encounter with tāngata whenua.”

The Flying Dutchman would float in the museum’s Abel Tasman room, joining a smaller model of De Zeehaen that was gifted to the site a few years prior, van der Boon said.

The Big Dutch Day Out would be held at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom in Foxton, next to De Molen, from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, April 27.

A painting by Robert Jenkin, of Golden Bay, shows explorer Abel Tasman’s ships, De Heemskerck and Zeehaen, at anchor in Golden Bay on the night of December 18, 1642. A much smaller version of De Heemskerck has been gifted to Oranjehof Dutch Connection Centre in Foxton.