Susan Varga is an Australian writer and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

who was born in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in 1943.

Biography

Susan Varga is one of the "most accomplished of Australia's second-generation,

post-Holocaust The Holocaust had a deep effect on society both in Europe and the rest of the world, and today its consequences are still being felt, both by children and adults whose ancestors were victims of this genocide. Evidence in Germany German socie ...

autobiographers". Susan Varga is a Holocaust survivor who came to Australia at the age of five with her mother, stepfather and sister in 1948. Her biological father died in a Nazi Labour camp during the German occupation of Hungary in

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war her mother married a survivor who had lost his wife and two sons at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. The family emigrated to Australia in 1949. Varga's stepfather was a successful businessman who started in the clothing business in Sydney. Married and divorced, Varga lived with her partner and writer Anne Coombs in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Anne Coombs died 23 December 2021

Varga has written fiction, non-fiction and articles for newspapers and magazines.

Education

Varga obtained a MA from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

and later a law degree from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

Philanthropy

After World War II Varga's parents built a new life in their adopted country. They started a clothing business out of a factory which they named Becher. When their daughter chose to invest her inheritance in a foundation to help those who, like her own family, have been forced into asylum, she and her partner Anne Coombs named it Becher. Together with Anne Coombs and Helen McCue, Varga founded Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) in 2001. In 2020 there are branches across Australia supporting and advocating for refugees and people seeking asylum.

Activism

In 1974 Varga was one of a group of volunteers including Kay Ferrington, Joan Killorn, Betty Pybus and Edith Warburton who set up the Bonnie Women's Refuge at 260 Burns Road,

Bonnyrigg Bonnyrigg ( sco, Bonnyrigg) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, eight miles (13 kilometres) southeast of Edinburgh city centre. The town had a population of 14,663 in the 2001 census which rose to 15,677 in the 2011 census, both figures based ...

in Sydney's South West. Nola Cooper, Christine Sykes and Diane Powell also played a crucial role. It was called Bonny's in line with the practice of naming women's refuges after women. The first women's refuge in New South Wales was called

Elsie Refuge The Elsie Refuge for women and children was a women's refuge set up in Glebe, Sydney in 1974. The project was the beginning of the NSW Women's Refuge Movement that responded to the needs of women and children escaping domestic violence by providin ...

. Bonnie Support Services was launched in 2014 on the 40th anniversary of the setting up of the Bonnie Women's Refuge. Varga wrote a poem, "Refuge", for the occasion. It concludes with the words, "By Women, For Women".

Works

Books

* ''Heddy and Me,'' biography,

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, 1994 * ''Happy Families'', fiction, Hodder Headline, 1999 * ''Broometime,'' non-fiction'','' by Susan Varga and Anne Coombs,

Hodder Headline Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acqui ...

, 2001 *''Headlong'', fiction
University of Western Australia Publishing
2009 *''Rupture,'' poetry
University of Western Australia Publishing
2016 * ''Hard Joy'', Upswell Publishing, 2022

Journal articles and reviews

* Varga Susan. ''Twice the man'',

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

9 August 2003 * Susan Varga. ''Fiction or Non Fiction? The Writer's Response to History;'' Address to the

Sydney Institute The Sydney Institute is a privately funded Australian policy forum founded in 1989. The institute took over the resources of the Sydney Institute of Public Affairs which ceased activity in the late 1980s. The institute was opened on 23 August 19 ...

, 1995 * Susan Varga, ''Opting Out'',

Griffith Review ''Griffith Review'' is a quarterly publication featuring essays, reportage, memoir, fiction, poetry and artwork from established and emerging writers and artists. Each edition focuses on a contemporary theme, enabling pertinent issues to be aired ...

, 2007 * Susan Varga, ''Silence:'' ''Australian Jews and Israel'',

, 2011 * Susan Varga, ''From Three Women'', article, Southerly, 1998 * Susan Varga, ''The Gift of Tongues'',

, (date to be supplied) * Susan Varga, ''Broome's other pearls,'' article, Eureka Street, 2001 * Susan Varga, ''Summers' Time,'' The Bulletin with

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

, review, 1999 * Susan Varga, ''Masterly Tales. The Fig Tree'', by

Arnold Zable Arnold Zable (born 1947) is an Australian writer, novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate. His books include the memoir ''Jewels and Ashes'', three novels: ''Café Scheherazade'', ''Scraps of Heaven'', and ''Sea of Many Returns'', two co ...

, review, 2002-2008 * Susan Varga, ''Dark Times,''

, article 2009 * Susan Varga, ''Culture by Custom'',

, 2014 * Susan Varga, Ann Coombs, ''Broome -'' ''Remote Frontier Town or the Future Shape of Australia?''

The Sydney Papers The Sydney Institute is a privately funded Australian policy forum founded in 1989. The institute took over the resources of the Sydney Institute of Public Affairs which ceased activity in the late 1980s. The institute was opened on 23 August 19 ...

, article, 2001 * Susan Varga, ''Happy'' ''Families, Fact or Fiction,''

, 1981-1999 * Susan Varga'','' ''George Molnar; Politics and Passions of a Sydney Philosopher'', Varga wrote one of a collection of memoirs, edited by Carlotta McIntosh
Beaujon Press
2019 * Susan Varga, ''When I think of Budapest,'' Live Encounters, Free On Line Magazine from Village Earth

Awards

''Heddy and Me'' won the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Christina Stead Award for biography in 1994 and was shortlisted for the 1995 Nita B Kibble Literary Award. It has been translated into German and Hungarian. ''Headlong'' was shortlisted for the 2010

Barbara Jefferis Award The Barbara Jefferis Award is an Australian literary award prize. The award was created in 2007 after being endowed by John Hinde upon his death to commemorate his late wife, author Barbara Jefferis. It is funded by his $1 million bequest. Origin ...

.Austlit – "Barbara Jefferis Award"
/ref> ''Rupture,'' poetry, was commended in the 2016

Anne Elder Award The Anne Elder Trust Fund Award for poetry was administered by the Victorian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers from its establishment in 1976 until 2017. From 2018 the award has been administered by Australian Poetry. It is awarded ann ...

References

External links

Official website

A cup of tea… a life story
including Varga's poem, "Refuge" {{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Susan 1943 births Living people 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian writers 21st-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian writers Australian philanthropists Hungarian expatriates in Australia Australian women's rights activists