In Memoriam
9th August 2003
Anna Bauze (Ona Baužiene) BEM 1904.01.26 - 2003.06.17
A Pioneer of Lithuanian Community
Ona Vyšniauskaitė, Vilkaviškis 1926
The Lithuanian community in Sydney and in all Australia was saddened by the recent death of Anna Bauze (Ona Baužienė, née Vyšniauskaitė), aged 99 years. She was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in 1983 for services to the Lithuanian Community and was one of the very few persons to have been honoured by Australian Lithuanian Community as an Honorary Member (Garbės Narė).
Anna Bauze, born to Lithuanian parents, spent her youth in Scotland. On returning to Lithuanian she met and married Antanas Bauze in 1927 and in 1930 they migrated to Australia, settling in Sydney.
Anna Bauze, together with her late husband Antanas Bauze, were pioneers of the Lithuanian community in Australia. Having settled in Sydney before the World War 2, they lobbied Australian government to facilitate the post war migration of Lithuanian displaced persons to Australia, helped the newly arrived migrants and became leaders of the fledgling Australian Lithuanian community of Sydney and beyond.
The Lithuanian weekly newspaper, "Mūsų Pastogė", was founded by Antanas and Anna Bauze on Januray 26, 1949, interestingly on Anna's birthday, which also coincides with Australia Day. In the 1960's and 70's Anna was instrumental in founding the Lithuanian Retirement Village in Engadine, which has become an integral and very important part of the Lithuanian community in Sydney.
She is survived by daughters Irene Sticka, Antoinette Teris and son Prof. Robert Bauze and their families. She is sadly missed by all.