Living in Australia

Török Family in Australia

Both our parents were born during the First World War, when Hungary was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Our father, Béla Antal Sándor Mária Török was born in the southern town of Szeged on the 6th of October 1914. Our mother, Ilona Irén Mária Láng , was born in 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. 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 Versailles Treaty, after the First World War devastated Hungary stripping 2/3 of its territory and over 1/3 of its ethnic Hungarian population.

Our father Béla, completed his judicial and bar examinations with honours in 1942 and was received as a judge in criminal forensics. He later served as a private secretary to two Ministers of Justice in Hungary. As fate would have it, on 6 October 1944- 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.

(download of Migration story below)

The family migrated to Australia in 1949 working hard to establish themselves in their new homeland. Our father resumed his studies, becoming first an accountant and later a solicitor. Two of his sons perused careers in law and one became an accountant. Both parents died in 2012 and the family has since grown to include 14 grandchildren.

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