The Hungarian Club of SA Celebrates its 60th Birthday
15 AUGUST 2026
On Saturday 15 August, the Hungarian Club of South Australia filled its new hall for a birthday sixty years in the making.
It was a night of speeches, dinner and folk dancing, and above all a night of people: founding members, families who have been coming to the Club since the 1960s, and a good many new faces.
Club President Katalin Tóth addressed guests.
Welcome and speeches
On arrival and during entrée guests were entertained by special guest classical guitarist András Tüske.
The evening was hosted by Club Manager Katrina Márton, who kept the program moving between courses.
Club President Katalin Tóth addressed guests and introduced the guest speakers. Her speech can be found here.
“Sixty years is a long time” — the Consul’s address
The keynote came from Dr Endre Domaniczky, Head of the Consular Office of Hungary in Melbourne.
Dr Endre Domaniczky, Head of the Consular Office of Hungary in Melbourne.
“The fact that the Hungarian Club is able to celebrate its 60th anniversary is, in itself, a great achievement. Throughout history, some nations or states have not been granted 60 years of continuous existence, yet here, successive generations of the community have successfully passed the torch to one another.”
He traced the Hungarian presence in Adelaide back to the 1850s, when veterans of the 1848–49 War of Independence, scattered across Europe after the revolution failed, heard of the Victorian gold rush.
The community as we know it took shape after the Second World War, when around 1,500 Hungarians settled in and around Adelaide among the post-war displaced persons, followed by roughly a thousand more after the 1956 Revolution — whose 70th anniversary also falls this year. Neither wave was large enough to go it alone, so they joined forces. The clubhouse, decided upon ten years after the fall of the freedom fight and sited in Norwood in 1968 because that was where the people were, stands as a memorial to that cooperation. Today some 6,000 to 7,000 people of Hungarian descent live in Adelaide.
“We have not been — and are not — among the largest migrant groups, but we have always played a part in shaping Australian history, culture, and economy.”
Dr Domaniczky’s address is worth reading in full — you can find it here.
The Hon. Joe Szakacs MP
The Consul’s point about Hungarian ancestry in South Australian public life was proved almost immediately. Next to speak was the Hon. Joe Szakacs MP, State Member for Cheltenham — himself a South Australian of Hungarian descent.
The Hon. Joe Szakacs MP speaks to a full house at the 60th birthday dinner.
The Hon. Joe Szakacs MP with a copy of Dr Domaniczky’s book, Australia through Hungarian Eyes, alongside the Consul and President Katalin Tóth.
Dinner, and then the dancing
Then came the part the Club has always done best. Dinner, wine, pickles and Erős Pista on every table. Later the Kaláris Hungarian Dance Group performed in full costume, bringing in a delicious dobos torte for all to share.
Traditional Hungarian folk dance, performed by the Kaláris Hungarian Dance Group.
Ákos Nagy, President of the Hungarian Caritas and his table of guest.
Köszönjük szépen — thank you to everyone who came, and to everyone who has kept the doors open for sixty years.
The Hungarian Club of SA Inc. is at 82 Osmond Terrace, Norwood. Members and visitors are always welcome — see hungarianclub.com.au for upcoming events.