Tania Verstak (born 20 November 1940) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

model and beauty queen who won

Miss International 1962 Miss International 1962, the 3rd Miss International pageant, was held on August 18, 1962 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States. 50 contestants competed for the pageant. Finally, Tania Verstak from Aust ...

Early life

Verstak was born in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

, China, to Russian couple Vladimir and Valentina Verstak. They emigrated to Australia when she was 10 years old and settled in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the local government area of ...

. In 1961, she became the first migrant to win the

Miss Australia Miss Australia was the title for the winner of the Miss Australia Quest or the Miss Australia Awards, which ran from 1954 until 2000, when the last Miss Australia was named. From 2002, the Miss World Australia contest has been held, and the Miss ...

title.

Pageants

Even before going on to compete in Miss International, Verstak's victory in the national pageant was already seen as a small but significant shift in the traditional articulation of the Australian feminine ideal, attributed to the infusion of European values to the Anglo-Australian fabric, at a time when

beauty pageants A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

were the craze in Australia. Verstak went on to win the Miss International title in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Thus, the victory further endeared her to the Australian public, demonstrating their pride and approval of Tania Verstak as the embodiment of perfect Australian womanhood and as the image of Australia as a modern nation, even though in the terminology of the time for immigrants, she was a "new Australian". Verstak's first relationship was with former Channel 7 rugby league commentator, 'sideline eye' Barry Ross. After an acrimonious split, Verstak later married a Perth businessman, Peter Young. Their daughter is the actress Nina Young.

References

External links

ABC: George Negus interview with Tania Verstak, 14 April 2003

Collection of Tania Verstak's trophies, photographs and dresses, National Museum of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verstak, Tania Miss International winners Living people 1940 births Chinese emigrants to Australia Models from Sydney Australian beauty pageant winners Australian people of Russian descent Miss International 1962 delegates