University of Wollongong students Kira Copley and Ellie Wiltshire. Picture: ROBERT PEET'
IT was a case of goodwill hunting at the University of Wollongong yesterday.
Hundreds of students lined up for the annual event to hunt around among thousands of household items donated thanks to the goodwill of the UOW community.
From pots and pans, coffee makers and crockery, to linen and lounge suites, students were free to grab as much as they could carry to help them set up house.
Organiser Kay Kent said it was the third year that the university had kicked off the start of autumn session with the charitable event.
"It was set up by former Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton's wife Sylvia and Lynn Iverson, wife of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health) Professor Don Iverson, to help students set up house at the start of semester," she said.
"It can be costly enough for students to relocate with rental bonds and so on, plus the price of buying textbooks and other materials to start their courses.
"So this is one way for the UOW community - which includes current and former staff - to help them out at this time."
After the success of previous years, UOW security was brought in to help manage the event to ensure everyone got a piece of the action.
Bags and cardboard boxes were piled up at the doors of the UniHall and groups of students were allowed in for 10 minutes at a time to pack these with as many items as they could.
Friends Ellie Wiltshire and Kira Copley are both in their second year of study and have this year chosen to move into a unit together, so this was a great opportunity to stock up.
"We mainly just grabbed some towels and some glasses," Ms Wiltshire, 19, said.
"We've both just moved out of home and this will really help us - it's a great initiative by the university."
Swedish exchange students Hannah Backman and Limus Zimmerman are only in Wollongong for one semester, so they plan to donate the items back once they've finished with them.
"We came from Sweden with a bag of clothes each so this is perfect," Mr Zimmerman said.
"We've been able to pick up the basics like blankets, wine glasses and towels and some kitchenware."
Indian students Shijo Joy and Aparna Krishnan also took advantage of the opportunity.
"Winter's coming on so we picked up some blankets - we also got a dinner set and a sandwich maker," Mr Joy said.