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The Hungarian-Speaking Community in Australia Arrival and Settlement The first recorded Hungarian-speaking immigrant is believed to have arrived in Australia in 1833. He was Isaac Friedman who spent time in Sydney, Hobart and on the goldfields of Victoria. He made significant contributions to the Jewish community and enabled Tasmania's first synagogue to be built. According to The Australian People, edited by James Jupp, subsequent Hungarian migrants became pioneer industrialists and were likely to have been Australia's first manufacturers. The first sizeable group of Hungarians arrived in Australia after the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1848-49. The Revolt sought to establish Hungary's independence from Austria and set up more a democratic society. Many of this first wave of refugees joined the Australian goldrush. In the 1860s, the first formal Hungarian association came into being in Sydney. There were many free migrants in the period before the First World War. At this time the Roth family made their home in Australia. This family produced several prominent public servants, including a Chief Protector of Aborigines in Queensland. Another member of the family published significant works on Aboriginal culture and yet another became a pioneer of physical education. According to Egon Kunz in The Hungarians in Australia, there were about 450 Hungarian citizens in Australia when the First World War broke out in 1914. They were held in an internment camp during the conflict and labelled "enemy aliens". Just prior to the Second World War, in 1938, several hundred Jewish refugees arrived in Australia from Hungary. This period of migration brought more women than men and most of the arrivals were professionally qualified. Post Second World War immigration comprised refugees and other Displaced Persons from camps set up throughout Europe by the International Refugee Organisation. Many migrants from this group were known as "Westwarders", due to their desire to live under a Western-style democratic government rather than communism. They were later joined by "Border-Jumpers", who fled Hungary and its communist regime. Migrants from this period began arriving in Australia from European ports in 1949. The crushing of the anti-communist uprising in 1956 created yet another group of Hungarian migrants who became known as The Fifty-Sixers. According to Kunz, these refugees settled easily into Australia.They attracted a lot of sympathy because of their predicament and they were also skilled, with professional and technical qualifications. By 1961 the Hungary-born community of Australia peaked. Many Hungarian immigrants in the next two decades came from the Vojvodina province of Yugoslavia, which had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. This treaty saw Hungary reduced to a third of its former size. According to the 1996 Australian Census there are more than 26,000 people living in Hungarian-speaking households. Community Contacts Organisations that represent the Hungarian-speaking community: New South Wales Hungarian Consulate General, Republic of Hungary 203 New South Head Rd. Edgecliff NSW 2027 Phone 02 9328 7859 Hungarian Council of NSW P.O. Box 469 Marrickville NSW 2204 Hungarian Historical Society of Sydney 267 Beaucamp Rd. Matraville NSW 2036 Phone 02 9661 9007 Hungarian Senior Citizens Association / Hungarian Social Club P.O. Box 356 Croydon Park NSW 2133 Phone 02 9698 3569 Magyar Social Club 22 Marinella St. Manly Vale NSW 2093 Phone 02 9610 6226 Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia 541 George St. Sydney NSW 2000 Phone 02 9267 9722 Fax 02 9261 4427 Victoria Hungarian Consulate 123. St. Georges Rd North Fitzroy, 3068 Phone 03 9486 3397 Hungarian Cultural Centre / Hungarian Youth Centre 760 Boronia Rd. Wantirna VIC 3152 Phone 03 9801 7970 Hungarian Social Club 760 Boronia Rd. Wantirna VIC 3152 Phone 03 9887 4118 Hungarian Reformed Church of Australia 121 - 123 St. Georges Rd. North Fiztroy VIC 3068 Phone 03 9481 0771 Hungarian Catholic Centre 21 Elgin Ave. Armadale VIC 3143 Phone 03 9509 5068 Geelong Hungarian "Szent Laszlo" Association President Mr Istvan Csepany 365 Purnell Rd. Lovely Banks VIC 3214 Phone 02 5276 1126 Hungarian Human Rights Foundation of Victoria Inc. 760 Boronia Road, Wantirna VIC 3158 Phone 03 9758 4620 Australian Capital Territory Embassy of the Republic of Hungary 17 Beale Cres. Deakin ACT 2600 Phone 02 6282 3226 Western Australia Council of Hungarian Associations in W.A. President Mr Laszlo Csaba AM 32 Mosaic St. Shelley WA 6148 Phone 08 9457 3299 South Australia Hungarian Association of South Australia President Mr Sandor Farkas 82 Osmond Terrace Norwood SA 5067 Phone 08 8332 1603 Fax 08 8331 8707 Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia, Chairperson: Randolph Alwis PO Box 344 Curtin, ACT 2605 Phone:02 6282 5755 Fax: 02 6282 5734 email: fecca@coombs.anu.edu.au Special Events Calendar SBS Radio's Hungarian Language Program presents special coverage of these and other community events throughout the year. March 15 Anniversary of the Revolt and subsequent War of Independence against Austria in 1848. August 20 St Stephen's Day. St Stephen was the first King of Hungary and he was crowned in 1001. October 23 Anniversary of the anti-communist uprising, 1956. Recommended Websites www.mti.hu A Hungarian news site updated daily www.hungary.com This site is a Hungarian network. The homepage is in English. www.hudir.hungary.com This site contains information on the Arts, Education, Environment, Government, News, Health, Science and more. In Hungarian and English. |
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