GEORGE EILER

Story

George was born in Bisse Hungary on the 19th Dec 1909. His ancestors were Schwabbs from Bavaria, probably came to Hungary to take up farming. George\’s family used to speak German at home. He had three elder brothers Janos, Adam and Imre and an elder sisiter Erzsi. He eventually learned the trade of Toolmaking. He was always interested in scouts and the cadets. He married Magda, who was initially intending to be a nun in a convent in Pecs. They had two children born in Diosgyor, Magda,1937 and Henry 1939. George\’s last job was in Szekesfehervar. He was a patriotic man and joined the Arrowcross Party during the War. As the war came closer to our city Szekesfehervar, George realized that he had to escape to the West with his family. During bombing raids George hid his family in an underground shelter he dug out underneath the family home.

One cold November night in 1944 George decided to escape. He put his two children Babi and Ocsi (Magda and Henry) and some meagre belongings on a little handcart which he pulled to the local Railway Station. Next he and a few men from the factory commandeered an empty cattle train and loaded the factory machinery on, together with about 30 families. They lived on the train for two weeks slowly making their way between bombing raids to Austria, to a place called Vocklabruck. The only accommodation found here was some 30 underground bunkers near Regau. They occupied these. So the families lived here from 1944 until 1949. The families had to ransack the countryside for food and firewood etc. Horses were disappearing from the surrounding farms, only to end up as sausages at the dinner tables. The Eiler family had a newborn baby boy in 1948 called Charlie. For George going back to Hungary after the War was out of the question due to the teatment netted out to political prisoners. Luckily emigration started in 1948 to North and South America and Australia. We were lucky to be accepted by Australia. In Naples we caught the ship Skaugum in June 1949 heading to Melbourne. .

It took the ship a month to get to Melbourne. From Melbourne by train to Bonegilla near Albury. Then to another Camp in Cowra for a year. George was under contract working on the Railways and building Burrinjuck Dam in NSW. Magda and Henry went to the local Convent School, where they made a lot of friends and got introduced to the Australian way of life. The Duffeys taught them plenty of skills on their farm. George made a promise after landing in Australia, never to smoke again nor get involved in politics.

George soon got a better job working at Dunlop Rubber in Drummoyne. He soon bought a few acres of land in Merrylands near Sydney for market gardens etc. On this land he built a shed. His wife was keen to leave the camp behind and in we moved with kero lamps and primuses etc. George\’s wife Magda got a job as a bookbinder in Redfern. Since the shed was too small Henry went to a boarding school at Holy Cross College Ryde for a year in 1951. Daughter Magda went to a Convent School in Parramatta and took young Charlie with her only aged 4, the nuns making a special consideration to start him early. Once getting a foothold in Merrylands George and his family went ahead in leaps and bounds. George built a larger garage into which he moved his family, whilst he started on the family home, which he completed in 1954. By this time daughter Magda was going with a Hungarian man called Geza Hudy whom she married. George helped them build a similar house. Son Henry went to Marist Brothers High School in Parramatta and to the University of NSW to study Mechanical Engineering. Charlie, George\’s younger son also went to Marist and then joined Duntroon and the SAS. Unfortunately he met his early death in a parachute training accident in Swanbourne WA, whilst training for Vietnam in 1969. George and wife Magda did visit Hungary in 1974. George also went back to his trade as a toolmaker. He loved his workshop and everything he built was pretty precise. Sickness caught up with George and he died in 1990. His son Henry married a Bankstown girl Elaine Stone. They moved to Tasmania, had a few years in Canada and had four children, Stephen, David, Charlene and Catherine and eventually 13 grandchildren.

George\’s daughter Magda and husband Geza had three children, Debbie, Diane and Charles and eight grandchildren.

George\’s wife Magda retired to the Hungarian St. Elisabeth Home near Blacktown, where she died in 2004.

So goes the story of Migration of George Eiler and his family from Hungary to Australia. No doubt the story will be told and cherished by his many Australian decendents for generations to come.

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