Remnants of a bold post-war Dutch social housing project in Brisbane are being demolished to make way for a major redevelopment.
More than 300 houses were built by about 100 migrant workers, who brought with them almost all the materials from The Netherlands.
But now the Dutch Houses of Coopers Plains will soon be gone.
Stefan Armbruster reports.
"Good afternoon and welcome to the Dutch houses. As you can see, this house is more or less original," says Fred Breemen.
A much loved home in Coopers Plains that's still in Dutch hands.
Marijke van Breemen shows photos of when her family first moved in, in the 1950s.
"There's my mother with the three older ones. That's in front of the house. These might have been taken in 1956 or 57."
She lives with her husband Fred in one of a few dozen homes left from a post-World War Two social housing experiment.
"(FRED)This is Dutch history. (MARIJKE) You used to be able to say the Dutch houses and people would know. Now you say it to someone who's not familiar with the area and the go, 'Where?'"
Straight out of the 1950s, Dutch designed and built, two and three bedroom prefabricated houses were made of concrete, but untested in Australian conditions.
A Dutch company brought almost everything from The Netherlands to build them -- including a whole concrete factory, the roof tiles, the timber floor boards, windows, doors and even the kitchen sinks.
Beryl Robert is a historian with a long-time interest in the Brisbane suburb of Coopers Plains.
"They're really quite a significant historical aspect of Coopers Plains. Unfortunately we've lost a lot in the last few years."
They were meant to answer Brisbane's post-war demand of 17,000 houses at a time of labour and material shortages.
"Basically it was housing commission and it was affordable housing for people on low incomes."
Just over 300 were built before the company hit financial troubles.
100 of them were allocated to the Dutch workers and their families.
Fred van Breemen proudly shows off his house.
"This room is still original, it's still got its old ceiling in just like in 1953. The door is still the same, the old doorknob is on there, haven't changed them yet."
But they proved too expensive to build, and not really fit for Brisbane's climate, as Marijke Breemen recalls.
"These houses are quite cool in certain parts of the house, but in the afternoon I used to have to hose the front of the house down to cool it down."
Now, once again Brisbane's population pressures are driving construction in Coopers Plains -- and the Dutch houses are going.
Local MP Peter Russo says the state government land has been sold to a developer to provide a mix of social, low-income and private units and town houses.
"It's not so much there's something wrong with them. It's just age -- they're way past their use-by-date. [That's] where they're at."
Concrete for concrete, but this time the new high-density units and townhouses have air-conditioning.
Privately owned, the van Breemen house is one that will be saved from developers.
But the time of the Dutch in Coopers Plains is slowly coming to an end.
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