Controlling parents - is this valid or am I immature? What should I do?

I’m in high school and I know I want to go to university but I live in a small regional city and the uni my parents want me to go to doesn’t offer enough for me. I think I want to go to UQ but I haven’t told them because my dad is so set on me staying here and doing Civil Engineering and he’s such an angry person that I’m sure if I mention it he will explode. He loves to talk at me for ages while I just listen, because if I’m not saying what he wants to hear he just thinks I’m stupid. If he knew I wanted to do exactly what he told me not to he would surely pop a blood vessel.

My three older siblings all got their Bachelor of Engineering degree and went into Civil Engineering and have stable lives; it’s versatile and they can get a job anywhere. However I’m not interested in engineering in the slightest and I’ve stated this several times but my parents won’t listen. Whereas doing a Bachelor of Science and Zoology as a major at UQ sounds perfect for me and is suited to my interests - I’m passionate about the environment and value the ability to make a difference. I know it would be really hard with money and stress, but I’m motivated. A couple very sweet teachers have told me that I would succeed in anything I tried. It made me sad to think about because I just wished my family would believe in me that way. I’d love to experience city life while I’m young, meet different people, study something I care about with hands-on experiences and develop my not-so-great social skills. I do have a friend that is going to UQ so I wouldn’t be totally lonely. I’d be more lonely staying here.

If I followed my siblings I wouldn’t have to stress over money, I would live in the granny flat of my parents’ house while I do my degree and eat my mum’s cooking most nights. It sounds great in theory, but in reality I know I would be very bored and unhappy. I’d be lonely as my friends are moving away after school and my siblings will have their own families. The courses I would be doing are mostly online and no one really talks to each other on campus according to my siblings. There’s no social events or clubs or sport. So I’d be pretty isolated and I don’t think that’d be good for me as I’m already anxious and bad at socialising. At this point in my life I really want to be putting myself out there more and learning things by experience. I want to improve myself and build confidence but the opportunities here are pretty abysmal.

My dad just won’t listen to me or take in what I’m saying at all, he thinks he’s always right and that if I don’t agree with him it just means I need to grow up and mature and I’ll realise he was right eventually. I understand this logic sometimes but it can’t be applied to everything. I don’t believe any amount of experience can make you capable of telling someone what they want to do and making that decision for them. He is very controlling and even still tries to control my siblings’ lives as adults. He often tells me he wants me to take this opportunity because he didn’t have it, which just proves that he regrets his choices and now wants to live my life through me. I know all this but I still struggle, because I’m scared. When my brother wanted to try a different career, my dad blew up and tried to convince him he was mentally ill. I don’t even know what he’d do if I decided to do something else without his permission.

I’m already giving up on art, which is constantly in the back of my mind, because I can understand that a career in art is not guaranteed what with AI replacing jobs and stuff, but is Zoology (or something similar) not also a well paid and versatile path like Civil Engineering? I’m not sure, this is a genuine question.

If you read all this is I’m so thankful, I’m just so lost on what to do. I’m scared of my parents blowing up at me and leaving me without support. They are very loving in all other aspects of parenting but this. It feels like I’ve always had the illusion of choice when it comes to my future, like they always entertained the idea of me doing something else but now that the time is approaching closer it’s more obvious they want to decide for me. I feel it’s possible to do what I want on my own but it’d be much harder than just listening to my parents. I keep asking myself, do I value stability and money more than personal growth and fulfilment? I guess I’m just asking if anyone had a similar experience, what did you do? Did you ever regret what you did? Am I being immature and rebellious? Is moving to Brisbane for uni really such a bad idea?