Otto Oerdoegh (…rdög)

Story

Town/City: Kangaroo Valley, NSW

First Name: Otto

Surname : Abbott- Oerdoegh (…rdög)

Country of Origin: Hungary

Date of Birth : 1920

Year of Arrival in Australia: 1957

Story : Veterinarian, beef and dairy cattle diseases specialist and pioneer in his field by introducing in the Nowra-Shoalhaven district of NSW, the first veterinary surgery in the area, specializing also in radiology and orthopaedics on smaller size animals, household pets.

Otto Abbott-Oerdoegh (Ottó …rdög) was born in 1920 and after completion of military college continued his studies at the Hungarian Ludovika Military Academy in Budapest. Soon after graduating as Second- Lieutenant in 1942, he was sent to the Soviet-Russian front for active service that lasted 18 months under atrocious conditions. He survived to return home when most of his brothers-in-arms, officers and privates, perished. Upon discharge Otto immediately started to pursue a career in veterinary science in order to become a veterinarian. He married Magadaléna in 1945 with whom they were to have the happiest of marriages that lasted for 50 years. Before graduating, the lackey of the Soviets communist Hungarian authorities arrested him, put him on a show trial and sentenced him to death that was later revised to sentence to life. He was freed during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 by the revolutionaries, and, with Magdaléna they fled Hungary and became a refugee under UN auspices. They arrived in Australia in 1957 and settled in Terara, a township near Nowra. At age 37 he started to learn English and pursue once more a veterinary career that was left off in Budapest. He graduated from the University of Sydney and, as a qualified veterinarian, was employed at Nowra Dairy Corporation. At University, Otto picked up the name Abbott to add it on formally to his Oerdoegh surname (…rdög) so that he could be also known simply as Dr. Otto Abbott. Otto was contented with his work but his ambition was to establish his own veterinary clinic-surgery, the very first in the district. His aim was accomplished with his wife’s help who acted as veterinary nurse, helper in the office and custodial carer of sick small animals and pets. Otto was a specialist in his field, specializing in livestock and bovine diseases, ailments and troubles. His surgery-clinic was sold upon his retirement at age 70 in 1990, when they moved to Vincentia. In retirement Otto was an active hobbyist engaged in looking after his Charolais breed cattle in his farm property at Kangaroo Valley, NSW. Dr. Otto Abbott-Oerdoegh passed away on 23 March 1998.

Research by Attila Ürményházi

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