GROWING up in Longreach, Harry Marshall has no doubt he's a country boy.

A childhood spent visiting farms with his stock inspector dad left him with the strong desire to head bush once his boarding school and university days were done. The exercise physiologist has been on the Southern Downs just over a year, after scoring a job here fresh from his studies.

"I wasn't too happy about having to go to boarding school in Brisbane,” he said.

"It wasn't the greatest first day for me either, which probably didn't help a great deal.”

Firstly, he was late for his first class.

"And the teacher was a psycho,” he said.

"Then at morning tea, I broke the zipper on my pants and with bright red underpants beneath, there was no hiding the fact.

"Thankfully, I was able to find my older brother who'd been there a few years and he very kindly swapped pants with me, so he would cop the flak instead of me.

"I was given three assignments that day as well, so here I was, homesick and lost and thinking, 'what is this place?'”

Today, Mr Marshall's days are spent at WIRAC helping people with chronic pain.

"I really enjoy the community engagement aspect of my work,” he said.

"Helping people improve their quality of life through exercise and changing lifestyle habits.

"I work with a lot of veterans, which is great fun and rewarding when we see improvements to their well-being.”

MrMarshall lives in Allora with his aunt and cousin Luke and spends his weekends tackling bigger blokes than him for the Warwick Water Rats rugby union club.

"Best thing I did was join that club, made some great mates, but we'd always love to see new players come along.”