• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE2162

Gruszka, Meitka

(1938 – 2022)
  • Born 1938, Poland
  • Died 2022, Perth Western Australia Australia
  • Occupation Migrant community advocate, Teacher

Summary

Meitka Gruszka was a member of the Polish community in Western Australia who took an active role in multicultural issues. As well as being a leader in the Polish community and having served as President of the Polish Association of Western Australia, she was involved in a number of multicultural organisations. At various times throughout the 1980s and 90s she was a member of the Ethnic Communities Council of Western Australia, the Catholic Migrant Centre and the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council.

Details

Meitka Gruszka was born in Poland just before the outbreak of World War 2. As a baby, she was transported with her mother to the USSR where her mother worked in a Siberian forced labour camp. After the war, she and her mother travelled as refugees to Iran and then East Africa. They arrived in Western Australia in 1950.

She completed her education here and became a primary school teacher, working for fifteen years in both the state and Catholic school systems. She furthered her education by completing a Bachelor of Education, specialising in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). In 1979 she was employed by the Catholic Education Office in the area of ESL and Multicultural Education.

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Archival resources

  • State Library of Western Australia
    • Gruszka Mietka papers

Published resources

Related entries


  • Related Concepts
    • Poland Born Community of Australia
  • Featured in
    • Being Seen And Heard: Migrant Women Organising In Australia, A Documentary History (2006 - )