A MOTORCADE past the Big Merino tomorrow will pay tribute to the man who helped build Goulburn’s most famous icon.
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The late Attila Mokany will be honoured at a funeral service at the Baptist Church just before.
Mr Mokany died on Monday evening, November 17 in Buderim, Queensland, aged 68.
Beside his brother, Louis, he built the Big Merino and highlighted the city’s wool industry to the world.
His son, also Attila, remembered the day his father announced the idea to the family.
“You’re going to build what?” he asked.
Over the next little while he watched wide eyed as a vision became reality. The brothers won the Wienerworld Restaurant (soon renamed Viennaworld) franchise for Goulburn and pulled in hundreds of tourist coaches, many headed to the snow.
“As a kid I remember him saying that Goulburn was known for its wool industry and he wanted to do something that put Goulburn on the map,” Mr Mokany said.
“…Later on I got involved in the business and I used to park the VIP coaches. At one point we squeezed 36 into the back car park.”
The brothers prided themselves on serving time-pressed travellers in three minutes with food from bain maries. Such was their success they expanded with construction of the Billabong Restaurant and Tavern, complementing the Agrodome, showcasing the city’s wool history.
Such enterprise was not so surprising to his son.
“He was always creative,” he said.
“He was always talking about something to create, even to the last.”
He believes Attila snr inherited the quality from his own father who had a business brain and could craft anything from metal.
Attila snr was born in Hungary.
His family moved to Australia in the 1950s seeking a better life.
Attila joined them following service in the Hungarian Army.
The brothers’ business acumen soon blossomed; Louis had a service station at Jugiong before the family bought the Golden Fleece service station and restaurant at Collector. Attila started Katilla’s Restaurant at Campbelltown with his first wife, Kate. Louis also later built the Lilac City Motor Inn in Lagoon St and its popular restaurant, Sarah’s Bistro.
When the Big Merino concept was born, the brothers combined resources.
They would go on to build the Big Prawn at Ballina and the Big Oyster at Taree.
“I thought they were the most amazing things I’d ever seen,” Attila jnr said of the three ‘Big Things.’ They even contemplated a Big Murray Grey for their second Viennaworld franchise at Albury but the idea never gained traction in the town.
The brothers were widely respected for their positive approach and business success.
“Dad was very charismatic,” Mr Mokany said.
“He knew the right words to say to people at the right time. He was very good with people and a lot of people liked him.”
He also loved Goulburn.
Former mayor Tony Lamarra recalled early conversations he had with Attila snr.
The latter had wanted to promote local tourism and the then mayor suggested the wool industry.
The seed was planted.
“Being immigrants they wanted to do something unique for Goulburn,” Mr Lamarra said.
“Whatever they (the brothers) did, they did properly. They cared a lot about Goulburn.
“To me, he was a great friend and they were a great family. He was very popular and will be missed.
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Architect Garry Dutaillis worked on the three ‘big things’ for the company, then known as LA Developments.
“They were very exacting and knew what they wanted,” he said.
“…I found them very easy to get along with. As long as you carried out their vision, they were happy.”
When the Mokanys first approached him to build the icon, they showed him a photo of the ‘Big Ram’ in Waggin, WA, which stood seven metres high.
“They said we want ours to be 14 metres high,” Mr Dutaillis said.
“I think the town planning department had a strange reaction but it went up very quickly. It actually broke down into a very simple building and that’s what facilitated its move (further south on Hume St) in 2007.
“Louis and Attila were there sometimes 18 hours a day. They hardly left the site but that’s the way they ran their restaurants too.”
Mr Dutaillis was also struck by the family’s closeness and the boys’ special relationship with their mother.
Despite financial setbacks and high interest rates, they always bounced back.
“They were two of the more positive people to have come to Goulburn,” he said.
“They had their goals and worked to achieve them. They were two amazing guys to work with.”
Attila snr harnessed all his positivity earlier this year when he fell and sustained serious spinal injury. He spent six months in a Brisbane Hospital undergoing rehabilitation and was confined to a wheelchair.
Attila jnr said he fought back to the point of standing and taking a few steps. Since his release in early October, his partner and former Goulburn lady, Grace Friend had cared for him with the help of physiotherapists.
On the evening he died, Attila jnr had gone to his home to celebrate his father’s birthday. Instead he found him deceased.
“It just looked like he had fallen asleep peacefully. It was amazing how he looked,” he said.
“He was certainly loved.”
Mr Mokany is also survived by his other sons Stephen and Tom and brothers Louis and Tibor.
His funeral service will be held at the Baptist Church in bourke St, at 1.30pm tomorrow.