Among the many Dutch servicemen who passed through Australia during the Second World War, few went on to build a career as remarkable as that of Jan Bakker. Remembered in the Netherlands as intelligence officer, Engelandvaarder, Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) operative and later the legendary spy known by the codename “Virgil”, Bakker’s Australian period occupies only a small place in most biographies. Yet it was in Australia that he received the training and experience that would shape much of his later career.
His story also highlights an often-overlooked aspect of Australia’s wartime role. Camp Columbia in Brisbane was not merely the headquarters of the Netherlands East Indies Government-in-Exile. It was also a centre where Dutch military and intelligence personnel were selected, trained and prepared for service in the final stages of the war and the turbulent years that followed.
From Bandung to England
Jan Bakker was born in Eibergen in the Netherlands in 1922 but grew up in Bandung in the Netherlands East Indies. His father served as an officer in the KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army), and the military environment in which he was raised would strongly influence his later career.
During the Second World War he found himself in Switzerland, where his stepfather, Major-General A.G. van Tricht, served as Dutch military attaché. Like many young Dutchmen determined to continue the fight against Germany, Bakker sought a way to reach Allied territory.
In late 1943 he embarked on a dangerous Engelandvaart. Travelling under a false identity, he crossed France, traversed the Pyrenees into Spain, passed through Madrid and Lisbon, reached Gibraltar and finally arrived in England in February 1944.
Even during this journey he demonstrated qualities that would later define his intelligence career. He collected information, interviewed resistance members and escapees, and investigated the mysterious death of New Zealand General Reginald Miles in Spain. These activities attracted the attention of Allied intelligence officers.
Arrival in Australia
After joining the KNIL in March 1944, Bakker expressed his ambition to become an officer. His aptitude for intelligence work was quickly recognised and arrangements were made for him to be sent to Australia.
At the time Australia had become the principal base for Dutch military operations in exile. Following the Japanese conquest of the Netherlands East Indies, thousands of Dutch military personnel, government officials and civilians had regrouped in Australia. Brisbane in particular became the centre of Dutch wartime activities.
The headquarters of the Netherlands Forces Intelligence Service (NEFIS) operated from Camp Columbia at Wacol, Brisbane. From there Dutch intelligence personnel worked closely with Australian, American and British counterparts. Intelligence gathered through NEFIS contributed to Allied operations throughout the South-West Pacific Area under General Douglas MacArthur.
It was into this environment that Jan Bakker arrived.
Training for intelligence work
Bakker underwent officer and parachute training in Australia before being commissioned as a reserve second lieutenant in November 1944.
That same month he was assigned to NEFIS under Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Hendrik Spoor, the highly regarded intelligence officer who would later become Commander of Dutch forces in Indonesia.
Spoor quickly recognised Bakker’s abilities and arranged for him to undertake specialised intelligence training at the School of Military Intelligence in Southport, Queensland. There Bakker excelled, graduating with distinction in June 1945.
Although only briefly mentioned in Dutch biographical accounts, this Australian training was highly significant. Intelligence work in the Pacific theatre demanded skills that differed from conventional military service. Officers were trained in information gathering, interrogation techniques, security procedures, counter-intelligence and clandestine operations.
Australia provided a relatively secure environment in which such specialist training could be conducted while remaining close to the operational theatre of South-East Asia.
For Bakker, the Southport course represented the transition from aspiring military officer to professional intelligence operative.
From Brisbane to Indonesia
Following Japan’s surrender, many NEFIS personnel moved north as Dutch authorities attempted to re-establish control over the former Netherlands East Indies.
Bakker was among those who entered this complex and increasingly violent post-war environment. His knowledge of Malay, familiarity with Indonesian society and intelligence training made him particularly valuable.
By 1948 he had become head of the Intelligence and Security Group of the KNIL T-Brigade. During the Second Dutch “Police Action”, Operation Kraai, he played a role in intelligence operations surrounding the capture and interrogation of Republican leaders, including Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta.
His reputation continued to grow during the Indonesian independence struggle, where he developed extensive intelligence networks and survived several assassination attempts.
The making of “Virgil”
After Indonesian independence, Bakker served in Netherlands New Guinea and later became involved with Dutch foreign intelligence operations.
Under the codename “Virgil” he developed one of the most successful intelligence networks in Dutch post-war history. Working closely with Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA, he obtained valuable information on Indonesian military planning during the dispute over Netherlands New Guinea.
His greatest success came in 1959 when Dutch authorities obtained details of Indonesia’s planned military operations against the territory. The intelligence provided by Bakker and his network was considered of major strategic importance during one of the most tense periods in Dutch-Indonesian relations.
By then, however, the foundations of his intelligence career had been laid many years earlier in wartime Australia.
An Australian chapter worth remembering
Jan Bakker is usually remembered in Dutch history as an Engelandvaarder, intelligence officer and master spy. Yet his Australian chapter deserves attention in its own right.
His story demonstrates how Australia functioned not only as a refuge for Dutch exiles during the war, but also as a training ground for a new generation of Dutch military and intelligence personnel. Through institutions such as NEFIS and facilities such as Camp Columbia and the School of Military Intelligence at Southport, Australia became an important link in the chain connecting wartime exile to post-war developments in Indonesia and New Guinea.
For Camp Columbia historians, Jan Bakker provides a compelling example of how the Brisbane-based Dutch intelligence apparatus helped shape individuals who would go on to play influential roles in some of the most significant events of the post-war Dutch world.
His career may have reached its greatest heights elsewhere, but an important part of that journey began in Australia.
Jan Bakker artefacts at the Bronbeek Museum
Sources:
B. de Graaff en C. Wiebes, Villa Maarheeze. Geschiedenis van de Inlichtingendienst Buitenland (1999)
Artikel getiteld: ‘Topspion Virgil en ‘De Nederlandse zaak’ ‘ in: De Opmaat, 1999 (twee afleveringen)
De Schakel, Kwartaaluitgave van de Stichting Genootschap Engelandvaarders, juli 2016 – 37e jaargang, nr. 149
Getuigenverhalen, interview Jan Bakker
Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie, Den Haag, J.A. Bakker, Toegang 164 Archief J.A. Bakker (Inlichtingen en Veiligheidsgroep Nederlands-Indië & Inlichtingendiensten), NIMH, gebruikt voor dit Wikipedia-artikel onder Creative Commons licentie.
“Jan Bakker, topspion Virgil en ‘de Nederlandse zaak'”, Alfred d’Arnaud van Boeckholtz, familie-biografie van Jan Bakker
Vuur van Engelandvaarder en spion bleef altijd branden. Trouw (30 mei 2016). Gearchiveerd op 25 mei 2023. Geraadpleegd op 25 mei 2023.
Het Parool, 14 mei 1969. www.delpher.nl. Plantinga, Sierk (juli 2016). In memoriam: Johannes August (Jan) Bakker 1922-2016. Gearchiveerd op 25 maart 2023. De Schakel – Kwartaaluitgave van de Stichting Genootschap Engelandvaarders 37e jaargang, nr. 149