20-October-2006
Speeches, Community
Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Melbourne
20 October 2006
His Excellency, Mr Lajos Fodor, Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary.
Honorary Consul
Members of the 50th Anniversary Organising Committee
To especially Sandy Watson and Susan Gordon Brown.
And to all of those 56’ers who are here tonight, and are very much part of this exhibition. You really have a lot to be proud of.
Ladies and gentleman.
To me it’s a great privilege to play a small part in tonight, and to launch the 56 Faces Book.
I am also pleased to represent the Prime Minister, John Howard.
In fact I have got a written contribution from him to read to you, but he did ask me last night when I ran in to him in Canberra to convey his enormous admiration to those who came here from Hungary. He wanted to say he has a great appreciation for the contribution so many of you made.
I’ll read his full message:
It gives me great pleasure to send my best wishes to all those attending the 56 Faces exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.
The 56 Faces exhibition, capturing the stories of Hungarians who came to Victoria as political refugees following the 1956 Hungarian uprising provides an opportunity to commemorate the Hungarian resistance to communism. It is also an occasion to acknowledge the prosperity of the Hungarian community in Australia.
The Hungarian Australian community has made a marvellous contribution to all areas of the Australian community, including business, teaching, culture and the arts.
By sharing its unique customs with the wider community, it continues to maintain its vibrant traditions in the spirit of friendship and harmony.
Once again, I take this opportunity to wish the organisers and all those attending the exhibition the very best for an enjoyable and successful event.
John Howard
I might just add a couple of words of my own.
It is appropriate for me to be here tonight a couple of days before the start of Refugee week. There are a couple of citizenship ceremonies around the country this week to commemorate, to feature and to recognise the great contribution of refugees.
Since the end of World War II, Australia has welcome about 680,000 refugees, of course over 6 million migrants all up, but 10 per cent of those have been refugees of some sort or another.
Many of those political refugees like those here tonight. And they represent over 80 different nationalities. Even in the last decade we have had a 100 000 who have arrived here as refugees and have resettled in Australia.
As part of my responsibilities as Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs, I have recently spent a lot of time with the African communities. 30 000 have arrived in the last four years, and some of them have spent up to 10 or 15 years in refugee camps before coming here.
You can see the extraordinary change, and trauma really in many respects, of what they suffered back there. And to then come to an environment, and to a new country with such totally different circumstances, it takes great courage.
So I have some sense, some small sense, of the courage it would take to do this, to live through some of the experiences the people here in this room tonight have lived through.
Of course more than 200 000 people fled Hungary in 1956 after the Soviet tanks crushed the uprising.
About 14 000 of those refugees came to Australia, and we are very lucky that they did. They have integrated so very effectively, and become such an important part of our community.
I do thank those Hungarians that joined us, and made outstanding contributions in all walks of life as the Prime Minister said.
I was really keen to participate here tonight because of a personal experience.
I went through Latrobe University many years ago, too long ago actually. I did an economics degree. And in my second year at Latrobe I took a subject called comparative economic systems. And I thought it was really a filler if you like, just a subject I had to do to complete the course.
There was a Hungarian lecturer who had come here after the 1956 crushing of the uprising. He was one of the 56’ers. And he inspired me because he lectured in comparative economics, and it was my first introduction really to the power of the system and what it can do to people. What can it do for good, and what it can do for bad.
He introduced this in such a passionate way, as you would expect. He gave us all such a wonderful insight into the importance of freedoms, and the fact that we do have charge of our own destiny in terms of what systems we do support and put in place, and the importance of democracy. He compared it to other systems around the world.
I would not be here tonight if not for that, it developed in me a keen interest in politics which has fostered ever since. I was really inspired by that mans experience and really grateful for the insights that he gave me.
So I do have a strong, a very strong personal interest in what we are commemorating here today.
I do think along the way the 56’ers and all that followed have really enriched the Australian culture and character, like so many others have done in their own way.
When I think of the Hungarian contribution, I always associate it with a large measure of sophistication and worldliness. There are great cultural depths, I do think, to Hungarian people and they brought that with them and shared it.
I also think they have reinforced the work ethic, I do think the Hungarian people have got a great work ethic and it has further reinforced that part of the Australian character.
I think most of all, and again it perhaps relates to my experience at university, the Hungarians have brought a great love of, and great value of democracy. They do deeply respect and honour the freedoms that we have in this country, and they have enriched our character and our support for the great freedoms which are very much an attraction to the people who come here from around the world.
So I do thank all of them here tonight who came in 56, and those who came subsequently, and the great contribution they have made to the character and culture of Australia.
Ladies and gentleman, this exhibit gives voice to some of the stories of the Victorian settlers in a powerful and revealing way. I thought both the exhibition and the book, which I had a chance to see last night, are very powerful stories, very powerful way of demonstrating the experiences of so many who came here.
I would like to congratulate the photographer, Susan Gordon-Brown, really super job. And the writer, Sandy Watson who have developed this excellent exhibition.
I also commend the individuals in the Hungarian community who have contributed their stories, and the partners who have supported this project including Arts Victoria, Regional Arts Victoria, and of course the Hungarian Community Centre here in Melbourne.
Also in the presence of the Ambassador I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the recent award of commemorative medals of the Republic of Hungary to two former Ministers of Immigration, and four former Australian Immigration officers who assisted Hungarian refugees to move and settle in Australia.
In fact I was at my Department this afternoon in Canberra for a couple of hours and they told me a lovely story about these commemorative medals.
These commemorative medals were given this week on Monday night, to these people, and those representing those people. There was the Honourable Athol Thornley who was Minister from 1956 to 1958, and there was the Honourable Alexander Downer Senior who was the Minister from 1958 - 1960, and on Monday night the Honourable Alexander Downer Junior, our current Foreign Minister, accepted the award on behalf of his father.
Andrew Metcalfe, the Secretary of the Department accepted the medal at the presentation on behalf of the Hon Athol Thornley, that was on the Monday, and on the Tuesday it was discovered that Athol Thornley’s grandson is currently working at the Department of Immigration, Brian Thornley.
So the Hungarian Embassy, and thank you for this, organised another ceremony later that week and presented to Brian his grandfather’s commemorative medal. Brian has now donated that medal to the Department, and that will be framed and placed in the foyer of the Department as a constant reminder of this association.
Finally, I would just like to formally launch the booklet on behalf of Sandy and Susan.
I think the booklet does tell the story of the work portrayed here on the walls in a very powerful and lovely way, and I must say the Government and my State Director, John Williams, were very keen on behalf of the community to assist financially is a small way with this project.
It’s a great presentation and a powerful story, and I’m delighted to formally launch it on behalf of Sandy and Susan.
I wish you all the best with the exhibition and the booklet, and thank you for this opportunity to be a part of the function.
[ends]