Roze's journey from refugee to star

BORN in a foreign land as her parents fled the fall of communism, Magdalena Roze is a shining example of the Australian refugee dream come true.

BORN in a foreign land as her parents fled the fall of communism, then raised for the first 10 months of her life in what is now Villawood Detention Centre, Magdalena Roze is a shining example of the Australian refugee dream come true.

The Channel 10 weather presenter was just a bump in her mother's belly when the Polish communist regime imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity union. Her family fled their farm.

"They were driven, well-educated people living under oppression and they had dreams for their children," Roze said.

"They took a massive risk, but had to do it separately. Dad made his own way and mum bribed and wheeled-and-dealed to get to Austria on the pretext my sister needed medical treatment."

Roze was born in Austria a few months later and the family accepted as refugees by Australia in 1982.

Roze could not speak a word of English when she started at St Felix Primary in Bankstown but grew up to win a university scholarship to study atmospheric science at Sydney University.