When Springwood resident and scientist Dr Katrina Wruck visits schools across Australia, she often shares a message she wishes she had heard growing up, that setbacks do not define a person’s potential.
“When I speak with school students across Australia, I share my failures and how I worked through them,” Dr Wruck said.
“I want young people to understand that failure is part of the path to success and that they too can achieve great things.”
Those experiences have shaped the work and advocacy of the 31-year-old, who was named the 2025 Young Australian of the Year and is one of the first local legends being showcased as part of a Logan City Council campaign to position the city as a multicultural community full of innovation and opportunity.
Dr Wruck, a proud Panay Mabuygilayg woman with ancestral roots in the saltwater people of Mabuyag Island in Zenadth Kes – also known as the Torres Strait Islands – is the first Torres Strait Islander person to receive a national Australian of the Year award in any category.
“My auntie told me I was the first Torres Strait Islander person to win an Australia Day award since they began in 1960,” Dr Wruck said.
“That means our community, a minority of a minority, is being seen.”
Her award recognises both her scientific work and community advocacy.
Dr Wruck founded Nuki Kula Green Labs, a start-up developed from her PhD research at Queensland University of Technology.
The company focuses on creating sustainable laundry solutions for remote Indigenous communities, where the high cost or limited access to detergent can contribute to preventable health issues.
“I discovered a way to turn rocks into the main ingredient in laundry detergent,” Dr Wruck said.
“But more than that, I wanted to create a reusable system that could help prevent diseases that are entirely preventable.”
Dr Wruck said the project was motivated by health inequity in remote communities.
“Rheumatic heart disease is a disease of poverty and 94 per cent of those affected are Indigenous,” she said.
Beyond her research, she continues to speak with students in regional and remote schools about science and opportunity.
“At one school, two boys came up to me after my talk and said, ‘You’re the first scientist I’ve ever met. I didn’t know we could be scientists,” Dr Wruck said.
“That moment will stay with me forever, because that’s the power of visibility.”
To nominate a Logan Legend, visit the website loganlegends.au and complete a short form.
