Dr EGON F. Kunz

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Story of Dr Egon F. Kunz PART TWO

For some years he had pursued a personal interest in unearthing the story of Hungarian migration to Australia. This research bourgeoned into his thesis for a Master of Arts (honours) from Sydney University. By the time it was published in 1969 as Blood and Gold: Hungarians in Australia, Egon had accepted a position as Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Demography at the Australian National University in Canberra.

It was there he commenced his major research, a detailed survey and scholarly analysis of the background, motivation, education, hopes and varying levels of achievement of thousands from the DP ships that crossed the world to a new home. This landmark work, entitled Displaced Persons: Calwell\’s New Australians was not published until 1988, twenty years after his research had begun. In the years between, he co-authored with Elsie “A Continent Takes Shape” (1971) – a ‘coffee table’ book that detailed the discovery and exploration of Australia through maps – and demonstrated their love of cartography as a medium for displaying a country’s evolution.

Another by-product of his DP research was Intruders: Refugee Doctors in Australia (1975) that exposed the treatment of European doctors and surgeons, whose qualifications were not recognised in Australia despite shortages of doctors. This work had a significant affect on the attitudes towards the recognition of foreign qualifications.

Egon\’s Kinetic Theory of the refugee in flight (1973), a theory on the factors forming refugee movements, brought him broad international recognition. He lectured widely as an acknowledged expert on the refugee and migrant experience generally.

The Hungarians in Australia (1985), expanded on his original 1969 work. He wrote both the Hungarian and Post War Non-British Migration sections for the 1988 Australian bicentennial publication The Australian People.

By that time, he had moved on to head and reorganise the library at the then Institute of Aboriginal Studies, further broadening his understanding of the ‘building blocks’ that made up modern Australia.

As a social researcher, historian, demographer, librarian and author, Egon’s endeavours were recognised worldwide. Egon, (who was commonly known as ‘Frank’ from his middle name ‘Francis’) retired from professional life in 1984 leaving behind a career in diverse but complementary disciplines.

His passion was not confined to intellectual and literary pursuits. He was a life-long football fan, who was instrumental in the founding of Sydney’s Mosman Junior Soccer Club in 1967, and Canberra\’s Hughes-Garran in 1969.

A few weeks before his death from cancer on 19 July 1997, Egon received one of Hungary’s highest honours, the Medal of Merit Cross, for distinguished service to Hungarian-Australians, particularly in the fields of scholarly research and the publication of Hungarian immigrant history.

A tribute to Egon, that included an old interview, subsequent interviews with his sons, as well as family home movies, aired on Hungarian television in 2004.

Dr Egon F Kunz made an integral contribution to bridging the gaps in our appreciation of the migrant experience.

Submitted by Attila J. Ürményházi

(Approved by Egon\’s sons, 4 August, 2008)

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