Susan Varga is an Australian writer and

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

who was born in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

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 soci ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, 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 consisted of Auschw ...

. 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) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

and later a law degree from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

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 Bonnie Women's Refuge (originally Bonny Women's Refuge) is a women's refuge located in south-west Sydney, established in 1974. It was the second refuge to open in Australia, following Elsie Refuge, and formed part of the original NSW Women's Refuge ...

at 260 Burns Road,

Bonnyrigg Bonnyrigg is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, which is southeast of Edinburgh city centre, between the Rivers North and South Esk. The town had a population of 14,663 in the 2001 census which rose to 15,677 in the 2011 census, both figures b ...

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 prov ...

. 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 are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

, 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 Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hac ...

, 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 tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

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 on the 23 of August, 1989. The institute took over the resources of the New South Wales division of the Institute of Public Affairs. Columnist and writer Gerard Henderso ...

, 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. The publication was founded in 2003 by Griffith University in Australia, and was ...

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

, 2011 * Susan Varga, ''From Three Women'', article,

Southerly Southerly may refer to: * Southerly (band), American rock group of the 2000s * Southerly (journal), Australian literary magazine * Southerly, Devon, a location in England * Southerly buster A southerly buster is the colloquial name of an abr ...

, 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 news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

, 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 ...

, 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, article, 2001 * Susan Varga, ''Happy'' ''Families, Fact or Fiction,'' The Sydney Papers, 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. Origi ...

.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 an ...

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