Maria Adriana Geertruida Johanna Hurkens

Nicknamed 'Miep'; Roman Catholic; by profession a piano teacher and lampshade maker. Born in 's-Hertogenbosch, daughter of Cornelis Hurkens (1873-1955) and Maria Francisca Antonia Wijsbek (1875-1943). On 7 August 1935 she married Heinrich Peter ('Henk') Persoon (P0137) in Amsterdam. In May 1941 the couple lived at Cornelis Anthoniszstraat 49-III in Amsterdam; according to an Amsterdam police report the municipal Labour Exchange then filed a complaint against them for unlawfully drawing wage advances (f 108, outcome unknown). The marriage was dissolved by the Amsterdam court in June 1944. She emigrated to Australia and died on 17 August 1960 in Melbourne; according to the burial register of Fawkner Memorial Park she was buried on 14 September 1960 in a communal grave (Protestant B section, grave FMP-PRTB-3320). Her alien file (National Archives of Australia, B78, 1960/HURKENS M) shows that she emigrated in two stages: on 29 March 1955 she flew by KLM aircraft (flight KL-843, PH-LDR) to Sydney to join her son, who then lived at 54 Swan Street, Windsor (Brisbane); her registration was issued at Brisbane. On 31 July 1955 she left Australia again, returning for good on 31 October 1957 aboard the ship Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (arriving at Melbourne, migrant visa N.57/1312, The Hague). In early 1958 she lived at 28 Old Kent Road in Greenacre (Sydney); later that year her alien file was transferred to Melbourne, where she died in 1960. Passport E.5.7624/5 (Amsterdam, 22-2-1955). She first gave her occupation as lampshade maker, later as saleswoman. Description: about 1.60 m, blue eyes, greying hair, divorced. A stamp 'DECEASED 17.8.60' confirms her date of death. On the forms her date of birth is typed as 10 February 1915, while some handwritten entries mistakenly show '10-12-15'.