Lech Kula

Biography

Lech Andrzej Edward Kula was born on 12 July 1924 in Sosnowiec, Poland.

His life in Poland would certainly have been horrific. He was 18-years-old when Operation Barbarossa* began. He would have seen first-hand the worst that human beings are capable of inflicting upon each other.

Kula eventually migrated to Melbourne, arriving in 1951 at the age of 27. His registration form states that he was 5 feet 6 inches tall, was of medium build, had dark blonde hair, and was single. It also listed his occupation as ‘Building-Technician’.

He eventually moved to Tasmania, where he completed an Architectural Diploma course at the Hobart Technical College.

He registered as an architect in 1960.

The Kula Bequest Fund

Kula came to develop a passion for literature. When he passed away on 13 December 2007, he gave a sum of money to Libraries Tasmania to allow them to purchase English translations of fiction that were originally published in non-English languages.

This bequest is called the Kula Bequest Fund.

In recognition of Kula’s generosity, all titles purchased through the trust have been book-plated as ‘Kula’ to acknowledge his contribution.

A per Kula’s instructions, the Fund continues to support Libraries Tasmania’s collection needs more broadly. Libraries Tasmania also uses its own annual budget to purchase English translations of books with literary merit. Fiction books translated as part of the bequest include authors such as Paulo Coelho, Andrea Camilleri, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Herman Koch, Elif Shafak, Patrick Modiano, Isabel Allende, Arturo Perez-Reverte, John Ajvide Lindqvist, and Haruki Murakami.

Kula’s name is also given to a scholarship that provides support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the University of Tasmania. The scholarship is valued at $4,000 per year for up to 4 years.

Kula’s yacht

There is an interesting fact that sheds some light on Kula’s passion for literature, as well as his life in Tasmania. His yacht, the Balia, was described in an 1977 article in the sailing magazine Offshore. The author notes:

“The after cabin is lighted by a porthole taken from the ruins of the Otago. It is a small porthole about 4 inches across, from the stern of the ship and still has the original glass. Joseph Conrad himself must have looked through it often.”

This excerpt is very poetic, because Conrad was a fellow Polish man who had travelled the world, lived under three empires, and mastered several languages – and was linked to Tasmania through the wreck of the Otago!

* Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during WWII. It was launched on 22 June 1941.