Fraser Coast Open Day attracts big crowd

Barry and Barbara Campey calculated their ecological footprint with the help of USQ academic Dr Andy Le Brocque

Hundreds of people checked out the University of Southern Queensland’s Fraser Coast campus during its annual open day in early August.

Visitors were able to calculate their ecological footprint and learn about the super-foods that can negate the effects of an unhealthy diet.

Professor Lindsay Brown, from the Faculty of Sciences in Toowoomba, spent the day talking to people about food as medicine, highlighting the benefits found from eating chai seeds, purple carrots, green tea and onions.

There were samples of purple carrot juice and chia seeds to taste.

USQ ecologist Dr Le Brocque helped visitors calculate their ecological footprints and explore ways in which they may be able to live more sustainably.

He said Australians had an ecological footprint of 6.8 global hectares (gha) per person, which was the eighth highest in the world in terms of cost on the environment. An individual ecological footprint determines the amount of the environment necessary to produce goods and dispose of waste for one person.

There was a lot of interest in education and nursing programs on offer at USQ Fraser Coast.

Also, many high school students enquired about the USQ Head Start program which enables them to do a university course while in Year 11 or 12.

Others got information about TAFE to university pathways and the USQ Tertiary Preparation Program for people who haven’t studied for years or never finished high school.

Children were kept entertained with the giant games of chess and connect-4 which were provided by the USQ Alumni.

Contact Details:

Katrina Corcoran, USQ Media, +61 7 4194 3167
25/08/2011