Our latest edition of the Celebrate Living History newsletter aims to bring a smile to your face! We feature world class swimmer Meagan Nay and life lessons learnt from two distinct generations. Pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy! Cheers!

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Howdy folks! Wow time has sure flown, its hard to believe
its past the mid year point!
So much has happened over the past semester! Travelling
to the United States had inspired me to change the look of
the Celebrate Living History website which has not
changed since going live in 2012. I wanted to better
showcase the stories on the website and have room to
share more stories from different generations. I truly
believe every generation has an important story to share
and its great to have the website open to more of a diverse
audience.
It was so much fun organizing a small launch with some
of my first participants, volunteers and interns in
Melbourne. I met Griffith University intern Margie for
the first time in person. It really is amazing that I get to
work with students from around the world. That is one of
the best things about Celebrate Living History is I’m
5Follow our mascot Ava Dognar to Page
For every generation
Stories to make you
smile.
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The launch of the Celebrate Living History
website with Jeana, Frida, Bev and Margie
Semester 1: 2018
Words from Bev
Wilkinson
Words from Bev the founder
of Celebrate Living History
Meagan Nay
Life Lessons with
Richard
Vox Pop with
Muheeb
Sponsors
Contact details
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Bruce, Bev and Gail

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For someone who reached the summit of
domestic and international competitive
swimming, broke world records, competed at
two Olympics and won Commonwealth
Games Gold all before her 25th
birthday, Meagen Nay is incredibly modest.
Despite how easy Meagen made it look, her
achievements have been hard-fought. With
swimming in her DNA, she was destined to
make a name for herself in a swimming pool
and with the support of friends, family and an
internationally acclaimed coach, she has
done just that.
Long, arduous hours of preparation, focus
and determination resulted in Meagen
winning countless events, but she also
learned there are some challenges for which
one cannot prepare. After discussing the
evolution of her swimming career, her ability
to overcome adversity and her post-
swimming life, I came to the conclusion that
Meagen Nay is a true Australian success
story; an opinion with which I am sure you
will agree.
Turning tragedy to Commonwealth Gold
By Jason Nykiel
Meagen was destined to be a world class
swimmer. Her father Robbie was part of the
Australian swim team at the 1972 Olympics,
the 1974 Commonwealth Games and
competed in the infamous Iron-Man lifesaving
series. Meagen’s gene pool was further
deepened by her mother Karin, a successful
businesswoman and swimming coach who
owned and operated swim schools.
I asked Meagen about her early introduction to
swimming and her response wasn’t a surprise,
“I started swimming quite early as Mum owned
two swim schools,” she said.
I asked her what age she was when she first
considered herself a good swimmer and if she
had any early dreams of representing
Australia. “I knew from a young age I was ok
at swimming, but it was more the fun of
swimming when I was young and I didn’t start
training until the age of 12,” she said. It wasn’t
long before dreams of gold began bobbing
around in Meagen’s head. “At around 14 I
thought about taking it more serious and
dreaming of swimming at the Olympics,”
Meagen recalls.

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Meagen commenced her swim training at the Southport Pool in
her hometown, Queensland’s Gold Coast. Her competitive
nature and dedication saw her constantly improve and it was
about this time she decided her future was in professional
swimming. To achieve this goal, a leap of faith was required;
she must leave her friends and family and relocate to Brisbane
to train amongst the best. In 2006, she took the plunge and
commenced her training with a legend of the swimming world,
coach Michael Bohle who had built a reputation for training
medal winners; a reputation Meagen would demand he live up
to.
When asked if there were any defining moments of her early
career Meagen feels lead to her success, she recalls the move
from Gold Coast to Brisbane as giving her swimming career a
chance to take off. “It was a moment I’ll remember and be
thankful that I had the courage to do. I had made a few junior
teams but making my first senior team for the 2008 Olympics
was a huge step and that lead to five years on the national
team,” she says. Meagen was just 18-years-old when she
made the move and her courage paid dividends.
The year 2008 could be considered the time that launched
Meagen on a trajectory to become one of the greats of
Australian swimming. She competed at the Beijing Olympics,
finishing seventh in a world class field, breaking Nicole
Stevenson’s Commonwealth record for the 200m Backstroke,
set 16 years prior.
However, in 2009 Meagen was presented a challenge which
far outweighed anything she had experienced in the swimming
world. While competing at the World Championships in Italy,
Meagen’s brother Amos was killed in a car accident.
Unfortunately, this was not an unfamiliar experience for
Meagen’s family as her father Robert had been killed in 1995
under the same circumstances. Meagen was faced with a
torturous decision; stay and compete or make the lonely trip
home to be with family. She decided to stay, but after
competing in a single heat of a relay event she made the
decision to withdraw and flew home. With the help of family,
friends and her coach, Meagen overcame her grief and by
using the memories of her father and brother as motivation for
strength and focus, just a year after what could have been a
career ending event, Meagen qualified for the 2010
Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Meagen made a huge splash onto the Commonwealth Games
swimming scene, winning two Gold medals in her maiden
appearance. Her first was for her part in the 200 metre
freestyle relay and her individual Gold was for the 200 metre
backstroke event in which she set a Games record. Her record
To have a happy culture
in my family and
business. Optimism,
helping others, being
cautious in terms of
finances- working on a
shoestring. Stability is
important- not too much
change. I don’t seek
adventure from
unhealthy practices; I
find it with my family,
friends and travel. A
sense of humor is
paramount, I have
learnt not to give away
too much- to better
select whom I share my
emotions with.
Lessons learnt from
Life with Richard
Kuipers from Two
Men and a Truck

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(2m 07.56s) was broken by the narrowest of
margins (.32s) by Australian swimmer, Belinda
Hocking at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and
I asked Meagen how she felt about it, “I was a
little sad, but not surprised, records are made to
be broken so it was nice to see the times keep
improving in that event,” she told me with
predictable grace.
Despite her incredible performance, when we
spoke about her memories of the 2010 Games
Nay made no mention of gold medals, broken
records or cheering crowds, “I loved that I got to
experience New Delhi with amazing family and
friends … the culture, the food and the Taj
Mahal was amazing.” While there were no
negative experiences, as such, Meagen says,
“The smell … I won’t really forget that.”
When I asked Meagen if the Games experience
was worth all the years of labour which goes into
it, I immediately realised it was a stupid
question. “My typical training week consisted of
nine swim sessions, three gym sessions, two
core workouts, physiotherapy and massage,”
she told me.
“To represent Australia at the Games was a
privilege and an honour. All the long early
mornings sessions, up and down that black line
make it worth it when you get to experience a
Games like Delhi … I loved it.” Meagen’s
achievements are both admirable and
inspirational, and from all accounts, Meagen
plans on living her post-swimming life by the
same philosophy.
Meagen’s life without competitive swimming
started in September of 2015 when she
announced her retirement due to an ongoing
shoulder injury. She now focuses on repaying a
sport she feels has given her so much. “I’ve just
been trying to give back to younger swimmers in
any way I can,” she says.
Meagen travels the country speaking to
budding swimming champions, school swim
teams or simply people interested in her
Olympic and Commonwealth games stories –
like the one she told Chronicle reporter Anton
Rose about her watching Olympic speed
machine Usain Bolt eating the unlikely meal of
chicken nuggets. The backstroke specialist also
offers advice on technical skills to young
swimmers,
“I’ve run a few swim clinics and mentoring
programs for younger girls in the sport of
swimming right across Australia,” she said.
Meagen is also an ambassador for the
Australian Swimmers Association, Swimming
Australia and is heavily involved in the
promotion of healthier lifestyles for Australian
children.
I asked Meagen what advice she would give to
young athletes with aspirations of reaching the
top of their sport.
“I would just say enjoy the ride … train hard,
your only young once so take the sport as far
as you can,” she said.
If you are a young swimmer dreaming of
success and Meagen Nay offers advice, given
her history, I respectfully request you accept it.
As a Commonwealth and Olympic level athlete,
Meagen reached dizzying heights in the world
of elite athleticism despite facing challenges
which would have stopped most in their tracks.
All she has achieved is a testament to the
determination of the human spirit and an
example of how drawing positive shards from
the wreckage of negativity can transform dark
into day and honour ourselves and those we
love by doing so. I am confident this is a claim
with which Meagen’s brother and father would
wholeheartedly concur.

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Continued from page 1
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constantly exposed to all age groups. One day I could be
chatting with a 23-year-old the next I’ll be hanging with
an 80-year-old. It does not matter in the end; we are
human just with different life experience to share.
I’ve been curious for a long time about what makes fellow
entrepreneurs tick and thrive in the industry they care
about. So over the past few months I’ve been interviewing
entrepreneurs from two vast generations, the under 30s
and the over 60’s.
It has been quite interesting some of the answers to my
questions such as what advice would you tell your younger
self? Or what advice would you give to the younger
generation?
They are not your ordinary questions, these questions are
designed to make you think and reflect back on what you
have achieved or what you will make happen.
I like to pull down the walls and discover the person
underneath flaws and all. I believe we are all born equals
it is just what you do with your life that makes you
different and in a good way! So I hope these interviews
inspire you to try something new and if it does not work.
That’s cool at least you have tried. Life is a playground;
you fall down scrape your knee and get up again!
I’m a girl with many hats, as you all know! In one of my
many roles I am a domestic assistant to the elderly. One of
my clients just loves to have a good chat. She gets lonely at
times; she has a daughter that visits but she misses
quality conversation. Often I stay back just to have a chat
with her. She makes me laugh and I love looking at old
photos with her. I dare you to say hello to someone, you
have never said hello to. Maybe it’s your neighbor or that
guy you see every day at the bus stop. Sometimes a simple
gesture can mean the world to someone. Step away from
social media and texting to look around. Maybe you can
create a whole new world, one smile at a time.
Till Next Time! Bev
Muheeb Hoque founder of
the Pluralist a social
enterprise dedicated to
promoting diversity of
language and culture
through watches.
Who is an older person
that you admire and
why?
I am a big admirer of the
Bangladeshi social
entrepreneur, banker and
economist Muhammad
Yunus. He founded the
Grameen Bank and
pioneered the concepts of
microcredit and micro
finance for which he won
the noble peace prize.
These micro loans has
allowed a very large
number of people from the
developing world to lift
themselves out of poverty.
Today Muhammad Yunus
is a great advocate of
social business and I am a
big believer in his mission
that businesses can be for
profit and still thrive to
make a positive difference.

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