About Judit Korner
Judit Korner is one of the pioneers behind the Madame Korner brand. She has been acknowledged as one of Australia's premiere business women. Her Madame Korner Salons and Colleges are bywords in beauty treatment and training. One of her greatest achievements has been in her efforts in drawing attention to the life-threatening effects of the sun's rays on the skin.
As refugees Judit and her mother were held in a camp in Europe until it was their turn to board an old troop carrier loaned to the United Nations to transport refugees to new lands and new hopes.
They chose Australia because it was so far from upheavals in Eastern Europe. The voyage was full of foreboding for the young Judit who recalls: "My mother was sick in the ship's hospital. I was a little girl, on my own, trying to learn English for a new country."
"I became an Australian a long time ago, Every year, Australia Day means so much more to me..."
Her first impressions of Australia were a far cry from expectations. The reality of the Australian land in the 1950s was stark, traumatic and very, very lonely.Today, Judit is one of a generation of immigrants who now enjoy success in Australia on their own terms while openly celebrating their cultural identities.
She is one of fifty Australians whose inspirational lives are chronicled in the book 'A Fair Go: Portraits of the Australian Dream' (Focus Publishing) by well-known author, academic and businesswoman Wendy McCarthy.
"I was stateless, I was a refugee. It was not a question of 'shall I give up my citizenship?
I became an Australian wholeheartedly."
Judit considers her greatest professional achievement is to have increased awareness of the damage to the skin by the unforgiving sun. "I have made people aware of how important skin care is, it's not something frivolous, but something important, which has been now been proved beyond a doubt. The statistics show that the number of melanomas detected in Australia far outweigh those in other countries."
She is proud that the Madame Korner training college has graduated hundreds of successful students who are considered the elite in the beauty therapy industry and the workforce.