An oil rig from the 1960s at the Big Rig museum in Roma.
Roma. Home of the Big Rig.
This growing town with 7,000 people has long been the regional capital for Western QLD. It was named after the wife of the first Governor of QLD Sir George Bowen, Governor from 1859-1868. Explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell described the flat pasture plains along Bungil creek on his explorations in 1846. Pastoralists could not resist this fine country and in 1847 Allan Macpherson established Mount Abundance station which was the name given to the local hill by Mitchell. But the local Aboriginal people resisted and Macpherson soon gave up the run. In was 1857 before a second attempt at white settlement was made and that was by Stephen Spencer. He had a fine homestead built by 1860. A man called Thomas Reid then established a shanty bush pub on Bungil Creek in anticipation of a town being surveyed there. In 1862 a town to be called Roma was surveyed near Reid’s shanty. A Court House and Post Office were established there in 1864 to bring law and order and communications to the emerging town. The telegraph to Brisbane reached the town in 1866. A local council was formed in 1867 and a school opened in 1870 followed by Anglican and Catholic churches in the early 1870s. The town grew rapidly in the 1870s as small selector farms were established around the town with the large sheep pastoral properties further out. Access to the Great Artesian Basin was a bonus for settlers in this region. Cobb and Co began a thrice weekly coach service from Roma to Charleville in 1875. The journey took three days! As a sign of town growth five hotels opened in Roma by the mid 1870s. By 1890 Roma had 14 hotels.
Apart from vines the early settlers experimented with wheat and this became a staple crop of the district. By 1881 the town had around 1,600 residents with many more in the closely settled surrounding districts. A flour mill opened here in the 1890s as some 6,000 acres was planted in wheat. Many of the early settlers were of German background which perhaps explains why so many tried growing grapes as well as wheat. It was during the 1890s that Mount Abundance station and others were resumed for closer settlement. The arrival of the railway in 1880 had boosted the demand for land in the region significantly and the government resumed a strip of land 50 miles wide each side of the railway line from the large pastoral estates to sell to selector farmers. This was how the QLD government financed some of its railways. It created political conflict between pastoralists and farmers but the area prospered. Apart from wheat, oats and barley were grown as well as potatoes and by the early 1900s dairying had become popular with the development of the market for Australian refrigerated butter in England. A butter factory opened in Roma in 1909. This was not the typical semi arid country of Western QLD. By 1920 Roma had over 3,000 inhabitants.
Then a new industry emerged in Roma in 1900 when drilling for water some drillers found gas instead of water. From 1906 the town was lit by gas for short periods until explosions ended it. Further exploration continued and oil fever gripped the district in 1927. Then after some false starts commercial gas exploration began in earnest in the 1960s, the first region to do that in Australia. Interest in oil production continued and in the 1960s some 900 small oil wells were in operation. Roma got a major gas pipeline to Brisbane in 1969 and in 1975 the town got a small oil refinery for local oil production. Gas and oil are still produced from oil fields to the south of Roma at Moonie etc but Roma these days concentrates on agriculture, cattle and cattle saleyards, tourism, government services, and the new industry of coal seam gas development. Santos is working here on the controversial coal seam gas developments. The Roma shire council is working on a new 350 house suburban development and a major upgrade of Roma airport is planned. The Maranoa region around Roma has over 40% of QLD’s coal seam gas deposits. We can learn a little about this at the Big Rig Oil and Gas Museum and tourist information centre in Roma. Roma has a number of historic buildings but the town’s most unusual heritage feature is the Bottle Tree Memorial Avenue with one tree originally planted for every local soldier killed in World War One. Most of the trees have been left to die but the local council is now replacing and replanting them.
Romavilla Winery at Roma.
Surprisingly for a western QLD area like Roma this district boasts the oldest winery in QLD. Romavilla Winery which still exists and operates began back in 1866 but on a small non-commercial scale at that time. Samuel Bassett from Cornwall started out his colonial life in the Hunter Valley and moved to Roma onto freehold land in 1866. (Although Romavilla website says it began operations in 1863 before Bassett had any land in the Roma district!) Using cuttings from Toowoomba Bassett started planting vines straight away just north of Roma on the banks of Bungil Creek. He soon had 60 acres under vines. Bassett ran a general store in Roma and has pastoral interests in several sheep stations too. The present winery buildings were erected in 1878 and by 1889 Romavilla was the largest of seven wineries in the Roma district. In 1884 a cellar and wine making plant were added to the other winery buildings. Irrigation was started in 1900 and by 1902 Romavilla winery was winning national prizes, mainly for their fortified wines. One of Samuel’s sons William took over the winery in 1912 when Samuel died. William Bassett had been trained by Leo Buring in SA. He actively ran the winery until just before his death in 1973. The winery has since passed outside of the family and the current managers are David and Joy Wall. The other early wineries of the Roma district have disappeared over the years as times got tough for wineries.
An oil rig from the 1960s at the Big Rig museum in Roma.
Roma. Home of the Big Rig.
This growing town with 7,000 people has long been the regional capital for Western QLD. It was named after the wife of the first Governor of QLD Sir George Bowen, Governor from 1859-1868. Explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell described the flat pasture plains along Bungil creek on his explorations in 1846. Pastoralists could not resist this fine country and in 1847 Allan Macpherson established Mount Abundance station which was the name given to the local hill by Mitchell. But the local Aboriginal people resisted and Macpherson soon gave up the run. In was 1857 before a second attempt at white settlement was made and that was by Stephen Spencer. He had a fine homestead built by 1860. A man called Thomas Reid then established a shanty bush pub on Bungil Creek in anticipation of a town being surveyed there. In 1862 a town to be called Roma was surveyed near Reid’s shanty. A Court House and Post Office were established there in 1864 to bring law and order and communications to the emerging town. The telegraph to Brisbane reached the town in 1866. A local council was formed in 1867 and a school opened in 1870 followed by Anglican and Catholic churches in the early 1870s. The town grew rapidly in the 1870s as small selector farms were established around the town with the large sheep pastoral properties further out. Access to the Great Artesian Basin was a bonus for settlers in this region. Cobb and Co began a thrice weekly coach service from Roma to Charleville in 1875. The journey took three days! As a sign of town growth five hotels opened in Roma by the mid 1870s. By 1890 Roma had 14 hotels.
Apart from vines the early settlers experimented with wheat and this became a staple crop of the district. By 1881 the town had around 1,600 residents with many more in the closely settled surrounding districts. A flour mill opened here in the 1890s as some 6,000 acres was planted in wheat. Many of the early settlers were of German background which perhaps explains why so many tried growing grapes as well as wheat. It was during the 1890s that Mount Abundance station and others were resumed for closer settlement. The arrival of the railway in 1880 had boosted the demand for land in the region significantly and the government resumed a strip of land 50 miles wide each side of the railway line from the large pastoral estates to sell to selector farmers. This was how the QLD government financed some of its railways. It created political conflict between pastoralists and farmers but the area prospered. Apart from wheat, oats and barley were grown as well as potatoes and by the early 1900s dairying had become popular with the development of the market for Australian refrigerated butter in England. A butter factory opened in Roma in 1909. This was not the typical semi arid country of Western QLD. By 1920 Roma had over 3,000 inhabitants.
Then a new industry emerged in Roma in 1900 when drilling for water some drillers found gas instead of water. From 1906 the town was lit by gas for short periods until explosions ended it. Further exploration continued and oil fever gripped the district in 1927. Then after some false starts commercial gas exploration began in earnest in the 1960s, the first region to do that in Australia. Interest in oil production continued and in the 1960s some 900 small oil wells were in operation. Roma got a major gas pipeline to Brisbane in 1969 and in 1975 the town got a small oil refinery for local oil production. Gas and oil are still produced from oil fields to the south of Roma at Moonie etc but Roma these days concentrates on agriculture, cattle and cattle saleyards, tourism, government services, and the new industry of coal seam gas development. Santos is working here on the controversial coal seam gas developments. The Roma shire council is working on a new 350 house suburban development and a major upgrade of Roma airport is planned. The Maranoa region around Roma has over 40% of QLD’s coal seam gas deposits. We can learn a little about this at the Big Rig Oil and Gas Museum and tourist information centre in Roma. Roma has a number of historic buildings but the town’s most unusual heritage feature is the Bottle Tree Memorial Avenue with one tree originally planted for every local soldier killed in World War One. Most of the trees have been left to die but the local council is now replacing and replanting them.
Romavilla Winery at Roma.
Surprisingly for a western QLD area like Roma this district boasts the oldest winery in QLD. Romavilla Winery which still exists and operates began back in 1866 but on a small non-commercial scale at that time. Samuel Bassett from Cornwall started out his colonial life in the Hunter Valley and moved to Roma onto freehold land in 1866. (Although Romavilla website says it began operations in 1863 before Bassett had any land in the Roma district!) Using cuttings from Toowoomba Bassett started planting vines straight away just north of Roma on the banks of Bungil Creek. He soon had 60 acres under vines. Bassett ran a general store in Roma and has pastoral interests in several sheep stations too. The present winery buildings were erected in 1878 and by 1889 Romavilla was the largest of seven wineries in the Roma district. In 1884 a cellar and wine making plant were added to the other winery buildings. Irrigation was started in 1900 and by 1902 Romavilla winery was winning national prizes, mainly for their fortified wines. One of Samuel’s sons William took over the winery in 1912 when Samuel died. William Bassett had been trained by Leo Buring in SA. He actively ran the winery until just before his death in 1973. The winery has since passed outside of the family and the current managers are David and Joy Wall. The other early wineries of the Roma district have disappeared over the years as times got tough for wineries.