Steve (Stjepan) Horvat was born in 1937 in Croatia in the tiny village of Vucak, near the town of Donja Stubica, in Zagorje. He was the second of three children. His family went through some tough times, mainly living off a land that never gave enough, and it was always a struggle to make ends meet. This sort of life began to bother him even as a young boy. Somehow, though, despite their hard life, and the Second World War followed by the repression of communism, his mother and father manage to help him achieve the education he so much desired. When he was nineteen, after finishing his formal education, Steve escaped from communist Yugoslavia to Austria. He then migrated to Australia where he worked, played soccer, met Trauda, found happiness and became a successful businessman. His childhood dreams were fulfilled. Horvat, Steve. | Croats -- Australia -- Biography. | Businessmen -- Australia -- Biography. | Immigrant's writings. | Australian