Gruszka, Meitka (c. 1938 - )

Meitka Gruszka is a member of the Polish community in Western Australia who has taken an active role in multicultural issues. As well as being a leader in the Polish community, 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 80s 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.

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 was, 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.

Featured in

• Being Seen And Heard: Migrant Women Organising In Australia, A Documentary History (2006 - )

Of Polish Heritage

• Poland Born Community of Australia