Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter will welcome Dr Nelson to the University to officially open CSU’s new $2.5 million commercial winery and attend a Koori Specific Health Careers Residential Workshop for Indigenous high school students.

Charles Sturt University’s education programs in wine science and viticulture have come from small beginnings in 1976 and today provide world-leading education for 1 000 students studying on-campus and by distance education. 

Head of the School of Wine & Food Sciences, Professor Geoff Scollary, said the development of a new winery at CSU continues its commitment to branding the University as a unique institution with successful commercial enterprises and creating a learning environment in which commercial wine production, education and research are interlinked. 

After the winery opening, Dr Nelson will receive a welcome to Wiradjuri country, on which each of CSU’s four campuses are located, at a dinner being held at CSU as part of the Koori Health Careers Residential Workshop.

The workshop, being held from Monday 8 to Thursday 11 April, is designed to motivate and challenge Indigenous students to learn about the importance of their own health and the health professions in a supportive and culturally sensitive environment.

Director of CSU’s Aboriginal Education Unit, John Williams-Mozley, said the students will be encouraged to explore a range of careers in the health care sector.

“They will engage with Indigenous health professionals practising in diverse areas and learn how they can play a vital role in improving the health of their families and communities by becoming health professionals themselves,” Mr Williams-Mozley said.

Charles Sturt University’s Indigenous Education Unit is known as Maldahan Gilanna, which is Wiradjuri for “to work together”.