USQ Graduation

Meal out at Weis Restaurant. We had a celebration meal on the Saturday evening - Cathy & Steve, Avinash & family (his Mum, sister and sister's 4 month old baby Talin), Peter & Sandra Evans, Kaye Cleary, Birgit Loch, Gus and me. The seafood smorgasbord was wonderful, we kept going back for more! The baby was alert and happy all evening and we got lots of cuddles.

It has been a wonderful day so far. We had to assemble at the Town Hall between 7.45 and 8.15 to collect our robes. The last few days here have been cold and rainy but today the sun came out and the sky was bright blue with a few fluffy clouds. At 9.30 the Town Crier rang his bell and announced the academic parade to celebrate USQ's 40th anniversary and the procession set off through the streets of Toowoomba, led by the town crier, the USQ Big Band, the Faculty (staff) and finally the graduands. The traffic was stopped for us as we made the 600m walk to the Palace Theatre.

On arrival we took our allocated seats with our guests seated behind and the dignitaries on the platform. There were several speeches and the presentation of an honorary doctorate to Mary Wagner (www.wagner.com.au/), a musical interlude then the presentation of awards. I was the only person being awarded a Masters in Flexible Learning - Cathy Grahame (from Melbourne) took Masters of Education and Avinash (from Mauritius) Masters of Educational Techonology.

After the ceremony there were tea and cakes in the church hall, then we queued for the graduation photos.