Rudolf Bozoky

Story

Rudolf (Rezső) Bozoky was born in Siófok, an idyllic vacation town on the shores of the vast Lake Balaton, surrounded by beautiful rural countryside. His father was a marine mechanical engineer serving in large River Danube ships plying between Vienna, Budapest and the Black Sea, a life with long absences from home.

Rudy’s homemaker mother taught him and his three siblings how to cook, how to be self reliant in life when raising them. His grandfather taught him so many of his life’s skills, especially carpentry and building.

In 1939 World War 2 started and first the Nazis, then the Soviets occupied and ravaged Hungary. As a kid, Rudy in short pants became caught up in the ensuing terrible times with his family. Yet he already had the talent for wheeling and dealing and the survival instinct by bartering goods and chattels in the post war years. Those experiences left a lifelong imprint in his mind.

He turned out to be scholastic achiever and attended Budapest Technical University’s faculty of architecture. The explosion of world shaking Hungarian Revolution of 1956 prevented him and his class from sitting for graduation final examinations, yet he considered himself fortunate to be able to flee Hungary soon after the Revolution failed and ruthless communism was re-established under Soviet occupation. He crossed in the dead of night the barbed wire, electrified and well guarded border to become a refugee in Austria under UN protection and soon opted for migration to Australia.

Rudolf quickly found his way in the building industry, working his first years as a fit-out carpenter foreman with Hungarian cottage builders in the Western suburbs of Sydney whilst tackling with English. His career path climbed from foremanship to contract builder-partner to large scale home unit builder in the industry. By 1967 he was a well known large-scale developer/builder specializing in Newtown, Leichhardt, Annandale, Rose Bay – inner suburbs with at least 4 large ongoing projects at any given time. He drew all his own architectural plans at home only to have them routinely but necessarily checked by Australia recognized fully qualified architects. He supervised the work of all of his contractors including that of structural engineers with strict daily visits to construction sites. The outcome of his endeavours met the demand of countless thousands of working couples with a near city, modern, compact, affordable apartments.

A downfall hit Rudolf Bozoky and his sole trading company when by mid 1976 his investments crashed due to unexpected mammoth escalation of interest rates on his interconnected and mortgaged borrowings on speculative land with potential to large-scale future development. Following bankruptcy he moved on to New Zealand to continue on life and once more afresh in his profession. Rudolf involved himself in building projects with developers who provided the same modern apartment type, compact and quality unit accommodation for thousands in Wellington, the capital.

However, life would see him and his family moving back across the Tasman Sea to Perth, as he saw far better and new opportunities in Western Australia. He first worked there as consulting engineer in pipe laying & earthworks projects with North West Shelf Gas Company. He then came back to rejoin his family in Perth to start afresh on his own in building projects, albeit in a much diminutive scale as a semi-retired person.

Three times married Rudolf, the affable man with a keen sense of humour and zest for life, passed away in August 2007.

Submitted by Attila Ürményházi

Hobart, 28 November 2010.

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