Two achievers up for Australian of the Year

A HOLOCAUST survivor and a young Sydneysider who rescues orphans are among nominees for the 2011 Australian of the Year awards.

Melbourne-based businessman Les Erdi has been nominated as Victoria’s Senior Australian of the Year for his generosity as a philanthropist, while Tara Winkler is in the running for NSW Young Australian of the Year.

Erdi, 88, was born in Hungry, and survived the Holocaust before moving to Australia, where he started out running a boarding hostel. He then moved into fashion, and while running one of Australia’s most sought-after manufacturers and retailers, built his first hotel in 1967. More than 40 years on, he owns nine hotels around the country.

Erdi was nominated for the award after creating a $1 million centre where young people can work with professional artists to develop their careers.

“The arts centre teaches young people to not drink and not get involved with drugs,” he said.

Reflecting on the nomination, he added, “I’m very excited because Australia is my country and I love my country.”

Erdi, who has also made big contributions to the Diabetic Institute, Leukaemia Foundation, and the Jewish National Fund, has his eyes set on the environment now. “I want to plant 1.4 billion trees in Australia and that would take away 76 per cent of the carbon dioxide that we create.”

Winkler, 24,  had a budding film career in Sydney before taking a holiday to Cambodia.

During her visit, she was deeply moved by the suffering of children she encountered at a run-down orphanage. So she established the Cambodian Children’s Trust and her own orphanage in just two weeks in Battambang, Cambodia.

She now has 27 orphans and employs a nurse, local director, social worker and cook. She plans to spend five years in Cambodia transforming the orphanage into a sustainable eco-village by buying a 40-hectare plot to establish a fruit and vegetable garden, medical facility and school.

The state-based Australian of the Year awards will be announced throughout November. The national awards will be announced on Australia Day next year.

JOSHUA LEVI