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VISITING SPEAKER: Friends of the UWA Library Speaker

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Today's date is Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Friends of the UWA Library Speaker : Summiting Everest Other events...
About the Speaker

Margaret Watroba was born in Poland, the youngest of identical twins by 10 mins. As a 12 year old who loved geography and wished to explore other countries and cultures, Margaret discovered she could not realise her dreams in a communist country. It was then that she decided that she would one day live in a free country where the government could never deny her the freedom to travel.

Margaret studied electrical engineering at Poland's prestigious university, AGH in Krakow. She graduated with a Masters degree in Science Electrical Engineering. In 1980 Margaret and her husband fled from communist Poland with their two young daughters. They arrived in Australia in July 1980, with no English, no money and no friends or family. However, with the relief and excitement of having made it to a free country, their positive attitude and hard work saw them both achieve success.

Margaret succeeded in the male dominated engineering profession and is now a principal electrical engineer at Australia's biggest resources company BHP Billiton (Nickel West division). Her passion for sport and travel and her drive and determination to achieve the goals she sets for herself are stronger than ever. She cycles at least 40km every day (and three times that on weekends), runs, swims, participates in fun runs, marathons, cycling time trials and raises money for various charities in the process. She began her mountain climbing adventures a few years ago and has since conquered several mountain peaks of 6000m or more. These include, the Americas' highest peak Aconcagua in the Andes (6962m), she is the first successful female in Australia to summit Manaslu in the Himalayas, the world's eighth highest mountain at 8163m, and technically a more difficult climb than Mt Everest.

In 2011, Margaret conquered her "unfinished business" on Mt Everest. After a gruelling climb in 2010 Margaret missed reaching the summit of Mt Everest by an agonising 50m, due to bad weather forecasts. She returned to Mt Everest in April 2011, and on 12 May she finally made it to the summit despite once again the weather deteriorating and forcing the other members of her team to turn back. In -50 degrees and gale force winds, Margaret stood at the summit of Mt Everest, on top of the world - an achievement which is testament not only to that gruelling climb, but of Margaret's character and personal life journey to date. She is no doubt destined for more adventures, redefining what a person is capable of achieving, no matter what barriers lie ahead.

Through ability and determination Margaret scaled the male dominated engineering profession and the highest mountain on earth. Margaret describes herself as ‘determined, goal oriented and dedicated’ and always states: ‘I/we came to Australia with nothing but I always knew and believed that I can succeed if I put my mind into it‘
Speaker(s) Margaret Watroba
Location Reid Library, Ground Floor Meeting Room, UWA. Members: Free, Non Members: $5 donation. (There will be a short AGM at 7:15pm immediately followed by the speaker)
Contact Susan O'Connor <[email protected]> : 6488 2354
Start Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:00
End Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:00
Submitted by Susan O'Connor <[email protected]>
Last Updated Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:14
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