When Petra Ohrt was 12 years old, her father taught her how to change the oil in the family car – and she never dreamed that learning this basic task would lead her to teach the same skill to women decades later.
Petra, a senior digital product method and process engineer for Ford of Australia, grew up in a small village in Germany. She learned the ins-and-outs of vehicle mechanics from her father, who was a master mechanic for farming equipment.
Her desire to learn about mechanics began in secondary school, where she had to ride a bike 14km to and from school every day.
“I was keen to get a small motorbike as soon as I could. My dad was supportive of the idea but told me I would have to fix the motorbike myself, with his help and supervision of course,” Petra said.
“It’s one of the best things I have done, in my opinion.” Petra says. “Learning to work ‘hands-on’ has been a very rewarding part of my life and career.”
Petra began her career with Ford as an engineer in Cologne in 2000. After six years, she was offered a job for Ford Australia and made the decision to pack her bags and move down under.
Once in Australia, Petra quickly discovered that Germany and Australia had one big thing in common - that women didn't have much experience working on cars or other mechanical tasks.
“The basics of mechanics simply is not a topic that is taught to many women around the world. I experienced the same to be true in Germany and Australia. It’s just not a field that is commonly encouraged or promoted to women,” Petra said.
About five years ago, Petra saw a Facebook post on a local Good Karma network, asking whether women would be interested in attending a car workshop – learning the ins and outs of vehicle maintenance and mechanics. Petra immediately volunteered to teach the course. From there, the Melbourne Car Club quickly came to life.
Since then, Petra has been teaching courses to women and members of the community who have little to no knowledge of car maintenance.
“Our goal is to teach more than the basics.” Petra says. “We teach women the fundamentals, but we also teach beyond that - we want them to leave our class feeling like they know just about everything regarding cars and engines.”
When she is not at work or teaching her students, Petra finds other ways to fill her time. She still enjoys working on motorbikes, fixing up bicycles and has expanded her love for fixing things past objects with engines, as she also picked up a love for home repair (bricklaying, window fitting, etc.).
Petra also finds joy giving back to her community. She loves to spend time outdoors volunteering with the Tree Project – a group that aims to grow and replant indigenous trees back in Australia.
“I volunteer as a grower,” Petra said. “In 2023 alone the Tree Project had 365 growers, me being just one of them, and we grew and planted around 140,000 native plants back into the soil in Victoria alone.”
“I love to use my passion to empower and encourage people, and I love giving back to my community,” Petra says.
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