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 Aus ...

model and beauty queen who won Miss International 1962.

Early life

Verstak was born in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, 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 in Australia ...

. In 1961, she became the first migrant to win the Miss Australia 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 in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

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

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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 People from Manly, New South Wales Australian beauty pageant winners Australian people of Russian descent Miss International 1962 delegates