Török Family in Australia
Both our parents were born during the First World War, in Hungary which, at that time, was part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. Our father was born and christened Béla Antal Sándor Mária Török in the southern town of Szeged on the 6th of October 1914. Our mother was born and christened Ilona Irén Mária Láng in the town of Szepesváralja on the 11th February 1916. The Versailles Treaty, at the close of the War, resulted in the annexation of this part of Hungary to the newly created country called Czechoslovakia and our mother’s family thus became refugees migrating to the northern Hungarian town of Miskolc. They married in 1940 and had three boys László 1942, Béla 1943 and András 1945.
Our grandfather, nemescsói Béla Antal János Török, was a lawyer in Szeged and our grandmother, was ittebei Katalin Mária Emilia Ilona Kiss. Our grandfather served in the army in the First World War but, due to severe arthritis, worked behind the scenes as a trainer. The First World War was devastating for Hungary as it was stripped of 2/3 of its territory and over a 1/3 of its ethnic Hungarian population.
Our father Béla, completed the judicial and bar examinations with honours in 1942 and was received as a judge in criminal forensics. He became private secretary to two Ministers of Justice in Hungary. As fate would have it, in October 1944 on his thirtieth birthday, he and all other reserve officers were called up for active military service resulting in the family finding themselves in Bavaria Germany.
The family migrated to Australia in 1949 (download of Migration story below) and worked to establish themselves in this haven. Our father studied once again became an accountant and later a solicitor in respective businesses. Two of his sons also became lawyers and one an accountant. Both parents died in 2012 and the family increased by 14 grandchildren.
¬
Christopher Stephanie, Maureen, Maryanne, Les and Andrew
