UniSQ Springfield: From cow paddocks to creative hub

When Dr Daryl Sparkes first arrived at the UniSQ Springfield campus in 2006, the buildings were still covered in plastic, tradespeople were finishing construction work, and cow tracks were still visible across the site.

Twenty years on, the senior lecturer in Film and Screen Production has watched the campus grow from a single building surrounded by bushland into an education and creative hub at the heart of one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions.

“It was kind of crazy because I believe this used to be cow paddocks originally,” Daryl said.

“There were still tracks around the campus that were obviously old cow tracks at some stage.”

Dr Sparkes, now the longest-serving staff member at UniSQ Springfield, originally joined the University in Toowoomba in 2001 before being approached to help establish a new film degree at Springfield.

“At first, I was scratching my head thinking, ‘Why are we putting a university right out in the middle of nowhere?’” he said.

“Then I saw the town plan and the idea of what Springfield was going to become, and within 20 years, it has.”

In 2006, the campus consisted of a single building and an auditorium, accessed by a rough road before Sinnathamby Boulevard existed.

“It felt a little bit isolated because there was forest all around here,” Daryl said.

That surrounding bushland quickly became an unexpected asset for film students.

“For quite a few years after we started, students used to go into the forest to shoot their films,” he said.

As Springfield expanded around the campus, Daryl said UniSQ became one of the foundations of the growing community.

“Watching the campus become the epicentre of the growth of Springfield has been really incredible because there wasn’t anything else here,” he said.

“We were the one seed that was planted here before Orion, before the towers.

“We grew from that into the whole community that we have now.”

Daryl said the response from schools and prospective students in the early years showed just how much demand existed for local higher education opportunities in the region.

“People became really excited by the idea that they were going to have a university right in the middle of this growth corridor,” he said.

“Even from the first year, we had a huge response in the number of students we had, especially in the film program.”

Over the past two decades, UniSQ Springfield has built strong connections with schools and the wider community through open days, workshops, and engagement activities.

“We were always told that the main thing was to connect with the community and create strong relationships,” Daryl said.

“Students get to come onto campus and see what life is like in a tertiary environment.

Today, Springfield has also become a major hub for creative industries and film production, with the campus well-positioned between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

“Springfield became a central hub for film production in Queensland because it’s happening all around us now,” Daryl said.

“Now we get phone calls from production companies asking for interns, and 86 per cent of our students get a job within 12 months of graduating.”

As UniSQ Springfield marks its 20th anniversary, Daryl said the success of the campus reflected both its location and its deep connection to the surrounding community.

Learn more about the UniSQ Springfield 20th anniversary.