Sir Peter H. E. Abeles AC (Ábel Péter), entrepreneur businessman, transportation magnate, benefactor (1924-1999)

Part 2

As a corporate mogul, he faced his share of many unsubstantiated attacks and allegations: unscrupulous business tactics,…

Sir Peter H.E. Abeles AC (Ábel Péter) Part 2, Hungary, 1949

Sir Peter H. E. Abeles AC (Ábel Péter), entrepreneur businessman, transportation magnate, benefactor (1924-1999)

Part 1

(Sir) Peter Abeles, was born in Vienna in 1924 into a Hungarian-Jewish family. His father was an affluent metals dealer.…

Sir Peter H.E, Abeles AC (Ábel Péter) Part 1, Hungary, 1949

Family Story of the Late Adam Azzo from Assyria

Short Story

My Family Journey began from Assyria, whereby we were forced to flee to The Former Soviet Union due to the Genocide Committed against my People, the Assyrians During WW1 by the then Ottoman…

Adam Azzo, Assyria, c1975

WHY WE LEFT SPAIN – I assume that like most migrants dad was looking for a better life for his family.

THE TRIP- I was 7. I have some memories of the trip. I remember feeling that this was a BIG event. Not like buying a car but much, much bigger. I remember…

Ignacio & Teresa Delgado, Spain, 1968

My parents, being born in England, came to Australia after the 1st World War. They met during the Depression, then went back to England to obtain work. My sister & I were born during the next war. We were able to return under the 10 pound scheme, …

Janet WELCH, ENGLAND, 1949

James McQuillan was born about 1849 in Ireland, probably County Derry. He was the fourth surviving child and third son of John McQuillan and Mary Anne Kaylay (Kelly). He had two older brothers, John and Rodger, and an older sister, Helen or Ellen Mary…

James McQuillan, Ireland, c1866

JUDITH CASSAB (Kaszab Judit) CBE, AO, artist, painter-portraitist, writer (1920 – )

Part 2 (Arrival in Australia)

In Australia, she quickly gained a reputation for her unique expressionist style and true interpretation abilities that…

Judith (Judit) Cassab (Kaszab)CBE, AO (Part 2), Hungary, 1951

JUDITH CASSAB (Kaszab Judit) CBE, AO, artist, painter-portraitist, writer (1920 – )

Part 1.

Judith Cassab (Mrs. Kampfler), the internationally recognized Australian painter, was born in Vienna on 15 August 1920 to Hungarian parents Imre…

Judith (Judit) Cassab (Kaszab)CBE, AO (Part 1), Hungary, 1951

My grandfather George Fathers, born 1862, Somerset, England; died 1934 Geraldton, WA.

In 1882 at his first marriage in Sydney NSW, he was described as a carpenter, and also in 1891 at his second marriage in Victoria. He lived NSW and Victoria for 20…

George Fathers, England, 1897

My Great Grandfather- Alfred Cornelius Fathers

Son of John & Sarah Jane (Nee Williams).

Born- 11-11-1835 Henstridge Somerset UK.

Died Ð 12-10-1918 Auburn New South Wales Australia.

Worked Ð HS Agricultural Laborer UK (still at school …

Albert Cornelius Fathers, England, 8Feb1877

Dr. Bela Gosztola (1909-1988)

Hungarian Army medical officer, public service medical practitioner & surgeon, District Medical Officer in Australian administered Territory of Papua-New Guinea.

Part 11

The doctor quickly earned the respect…

Bela (Béla) Gosztola (part 11), SOPRON, HUNGARY (Austro-Hungarian Empire), 1949

Dr. Bela Gosztola (1909-1988)

Part 1

Hungarian Army medical officer, public service medical practitioner & surgeon, District Medical Officer in Australian administered Territory of Papua-New Guinea.

Béla Gosztola was born on 17 April…

Bela (Béla) Gosztola, SOPRON, HUNGARY (Austro-Hungarian Empire), 1949

My parents decided to immigrate to Australia in 1954 in order that their children have the opportunities for a better life and a more prosperous future. Their own life had been a life of subsistence, mainly living off their families farms eeking out…

Helen Zervopoulos, Greece, 1954

My name is Elham Jamali and my story begins in 1978 with the Islamic Revolution in Iran. I was 16 years old, a teenager forced to leave the country I was born in and I loved, because of my religious beliefs. I remember sitting in our house, terrorised by…

Elham Jamali, Iran, 1981

Len Bakker and Maria Kuiper were both from South Holland; Len from Dezilk a small farming village and Maria from Heemstede. Both farming families. Len was the middle son of 8 siblings and Maria was the oldest of 5. Len’s family was very poor and…

Len @ Maria Bakker, Netherlands, 1952

Reason for leaving homeland – Seeking a better life for my wife and two children. Since seeing a Chips Rafferty film and watching Sir Donald Bradman playing cricket at The Oval in England as a child, I always wanted to live in Australia.

About…

Michael Tossell, England, 1975

WILLIAM MEEKE FEHON ÐTRANSPORT PIONEER

William Meeke Fehon was an adventurer. Born in 1834 just before Queen Victoria ascended the throne, during the golden age of steam trains, by the time he had reached 25 years of age he had sailed to South America,…

William Fehon, England, 1858

KAMALAKARAN (Harry) Ratnam is a man dedicated to helping the sick people of Ipswich and Brisbane. Born in Malaysia, he went to Dublin to study medicine and ended up as a much loved GP (general practitioner) in Riverview Ð a suburb only 40 minutes from…

Dr Kamalakaren Ratnam, Malaysia, 1981

Mary Plummer was baptised on 8-3-1835 in Horsely, Gloucestshire, England. Her parents was Thomas Plummer and Mary Anne Howell, and was the fifth of eleven children. Thomas and Mary Plummer and six children, Harriet, Jane (deceased), George, Jane,…

Mary Plummer, England, 1840

My brother Graham and I arrived in Brisbane in November 1951 after a six week voyage from England. We were 10 pound poms.

After a shot stay at the Migrant Hostel at Kangaroo Point I departed by train to Chinchilla 300kms west of Brisbane where I was to …

K. Stuart Towers, England, 1951

Rowland Nutt was baptised on 30-7-1832 in Upping Ham, Rutland, England. His parents was John Nutt and Mary Anne Grabham, and he was the youngest of eight children. The children in order was Henry Grabham, Hannah Hughes (died), Mary Anne, Hannah Hughes,…

Rowland Nutt, England, 1849

My father was in the British Army and served in South Africa in the Boer War in 1898 and returned to England in 1902. He was wounded in the fighting. He finished his service in 1908 after 12years. He went back to Preston where his girlfriend lived. Both…

John Davenport, England, 2/14/1949

My parents decided that very little opportunity existed on the little but beautiful island of Kalymnos in the post-war period and if the children were to be given a start in life it would need to be elsewhere. My parents borrowed the necessary amount…

Anthony Papaconstuntinos, Greece, 1955

My sister Marie Part 2

In later years when I too was a mother, Marie told me that her marriage had been arranged by our parents and she had accepted it as the norm at the time. However, in common with many girls from her generation she knew nothing whatsoever…

Marie Grace John (Part 2), India, circa 1981

Samuel Scott and Clare Audrey Gove spent the majority and all of their early life respectively in India.

Samuel (better known as Scott) joined the British Army in England (Cornwall) at the age of 14 as a boy soldier and was shipped to India in 1912. Clare…

Ron, Samuel, Clare, Evelyn, Gove family. GOVE, INDIA/ENGLAND, 1951

Reason for leaving homeland – Poor conditions, hunger and opportunities

I came to Australia on the Ship “TOSCANA”. It took 37 days from Messina to Melbourne. We stopped at the Port of Aden then we came through the Suez Canal; the…

Francesco Violi, Italy, 11.09.1951

It is only speculation as to the motives why my forebears left their homeland, but it can be assumed that the main reason would be a better life. William was one of eight children born into a family that had been in the same county “Durham”…

William Todd, England, 1854