Love forms in the Birdcage
For CQUniversity alumna Davina Taylor, the recently reopened Birdcage Bar isn’t just a campus hangout - it’s the place where her love story began.
Back in the late 1990s, the Birdcage was a regular meeting spot for Davina and her friends while she was studying a Bachelor of Arts at CQU’s Rockhampton campus.
Like many students, she spent countless hours there working through group assessments, listening to live bands and unwinding after classes.
But among the music, study sessions and laughter with friends, something else was quietly unfolding.
It was at the Birdcage that Davina met a fellow student Gavin Pointing, who would eventually become her husband. Exactly how they first met, however, is still up for debate.
“Gavin is convinced we met at a toga party,” Davina said.
“But I’m fairly certain it was at a Battle of the Bands.
“What started as a university friendship grew into something much more lasting,” Davina said.
“We both graduated from CQU and went on to build our lives together,” she said.
Gavin studied a Bachelor of Engineering and said he’d originally planned to stay in Rockhampton for a few years and then return home to Innisfail.
“I never imagined that decades later I would still be here, with a family and a lifetime of memories that all started at CQU.”
Today, Davina has come full circle and now works at CQUniversity’s Rockhampton campus, supporting the next generation of students.
This year Gavin and Davina will celebrate their 20-year wedding anniversary.
The Birdcage was forced to close during the pandemic and recently re-opened its doors to a new generation of students.
Davina said she hoped that others would create the same kinds of memories at the venue that she did.
“Our kids are now starting to think about their own university journeys, and CQUniversity is definitely on their radar,” she said.
“Whether that’s tackling assignments with friends, discovering a new band, or maybe even meeting the person they’ll spend the rest of their life with – I encourage all Rockhampton-based CQU students to visit the Birdcage now that it has re-opened,” she said.
“After all, sometimes the most important lessons at university aren’t just learned in the classroom.”
