Anthony Liem still has memories of the Indonesian war of independence. He was barely three when a bomb exploded near his home in Semarang, on the north coast of Java, in late 1945. "My father was a doctor, so he went out and treated the dead and wounded," he says. 
Little did Mr Liem know his future father-in-law in Sydney, Fred Wong, was also doing his bit for Indonesian independence.
In a period of history that has largely been forgotten, Australians such as Mr Wong played a central role in the Indonesian fight for freedom from Dutch rule.
This remarkable connection between the two countries is explored in Armada Hitam (Black Armada), which opened at the Museum Benteng Vredeburg in Yogyakarta on Monday. It is also on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.
The Dutch administration had fled to Australia in 1942 after the Japanese occupation of what was then the Dutch East Indies.
They brought with them 10,000 Indonesians, including political prisoners. That was something of a shock to Australians given the White Australia policy, Mr Liem says. In late 1945, when the war was over, the Dutch prepared to return to Indonesia in the Black Armada - ships loaded with military arms and personnel - in order to re-establish colonial control.
However, Australian maritime workers sympathetic to the independence cause boycotted the ships, refusing to supply them with coal, food and munitions.
Support for Indonesian independence grew and Australia soon led the way in political recognition of Indonesia.
A decade ago, Mr Liem discovered his father-in-law's role in the struggle when he read a research paper, Unbroken Commitment: Fred Wong, China, Australia and a World to Win, by University of Western Sydney academic Drew Cottle.
Mr Wong, a greengrocer from Leichhardt, helped organise meals for strikers in Chinese cafes.
"The whole family didn't know anything about this political background," Mr Liem says.
Mr Liem believed the fascinating story of this period of transnational co-operation needed to be told to a wider audience.
In 2008, he approached the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and the Museum Benteng Vredeburg in Yogyakarta and suggested an exhibition.
"I thought it was an excellent story about the maritime connections between the two countries that has almost been forgotten, " says Stephen Gapps, curator of the National Maritime Museum.
Mr Liem marvels at the support for Indonesians at the time.
"This is a story about Australians 70 years ago who had the courage to stand up for their beliefs and their courage and foresight of a modern, multicultural, dynamic Australia," he says.