Roma, Queensland
Roma is a rural town and locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Maranoa Region. The town was incorporated in 1867 and is named after Lady Diamantina Bowen, the wife of Sir George Bowen, the Governor of Queensland at the time. In the, the locality of Roma had a population of 6,838 people.
Geography
Roma is in the Maranoa district of South West Queensland. It is situated at the junction of the Warrego and Carnarvon highways. It is also a major town on the Western Railway Line from Toowoomba and Brisbane.It is the centre of a rich pastoral and wheat-growing district.
History
Mandandanji
Prior to British colonisation, the Aboriginal peoples of the Mandandanji Nation occupied this region. Mandandanji is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Mandandanji people. The Mandandanji language region is within the local government boundaries of the Maranoa Region, particularly Roma, Yuleba and Surat, then east towards Chinchilla and south-west towards Mitchell and St George.British exploration
The first documented British explorers to enter the region were Sir Thomas Mitchell and Edmund Kennedy on their 1846 expedition. Mitchell named a nearby hill Mount Abundance due to the rich plains he encountered around what is now Roma. He called these plains the Fitzroy Downs in honour of the newly appointed Governor of New South Wales, Charles Augustus FitzRoy.Mitchell and Kennedy encountered a community of around 200 Aboriginal people in this vicinity. After initial friendly communication, hostilities arose with Kennedy's men dispersing a group of Mandandanji after they tried to burn down the explorer's encampment.
Arrival of British pastoralists and frontier conflict
When Mitchell returned to Sydney from his expedition, he encouraged his friend and head colonial government bureaucrat, William Macpherson, to take up land on the Fitzroy Downs. Macpherson's son, Allan Macpherson, subsequently took 20 men and around 10,000 head of sheep and cattle from his property at Keera on the Gwydir River and headed for the Fitzroy Downs. In October 1847, he established the Mount Abundance pastoral station, which covered 400,000 acres from Muckadilla Creek on the west to Bungil Creek on the east. The township of Roma now stands on the part of the station where Macpherson decided to graze his cattle.In August 1848, James Blyth attempted to establish a sheep station on Bungil Creek but the resident Mandandanji drove him off, spearing Blyth in the leg, killing his stockman and taking 3,000 of his sheep. This incident was the start of a lengthy war between the Aboriginal people of the area and the colonists. In late 1848, Macpherson had several skirmishes with Aboriginal people around Bungil Creek, killing an indeterminate number. By April 1849 the Mandandanji had killed seven of Macpherson's stockmen, and the local Crown Lands Commissioner, John Durbin, with his contingent of mounted Border Police troopers was called in to give armed assistance. Despite this, Macpherson was defeated and forced to abandon his Mount Abundance station in May 1849.
Upon their exit, Macpherson and Durbin requested the government to mobilise the newly formed Native Police force to eliminate Aboriginal resistance in the region. Subsequently, in July 1849, Frederick Walker led his Native Police troopers against the "Fitzroy Downs blacks", shooting many
during a large skirmish. In late 1850, the Mandandanji regrouped to attack Paddy McEnroe who had attempted to re-establish the Mount Abundance pastoral station. They killed one of his shepherds, burnt down a hut and took 400 cattle. Roderick Mitchell, the local Crown Lands Commissioner who had replaced Durbin, led a reprisal raid consisting of his police troopers and nearby squatter colonists, which recovered the cattle and killed 13 Aborigines.
In 1851, a large Native Police barracks was established at nearby Wondai Gumbal which housed up to 35 troopers. These troopers under officers George Fulford, James Skelton and Richard Dempster, conducted several patrols of the Mount Abundance area, shooting Aborigines when hostile contact was encountered. In November 1852, Mandandanji resistance on the Fitzroy Downs was finally crushed when Skelton dispersed with "severe means" a large group of Aborigines, killing at least six including Mandandanji leader Possum Murray.
In 1858, the Mount Abundance pastoral station was sold to Stephen Spencer who was able to peacefully re-occupy the property with his family, 13 stockmen and 1,000 head of cattle. A new Native Police barracks was formed in 1859 on Bungil Creek under Sub-Lieutenant William Morehead which ensured British control of the region.
Township of Roma
In 1862, the Government of Queensland issued instructions for a town to be created in the Maranoa Region. Surveyors Robert Austin and A.C. Gregory chose a site adjacent to Bungil Creek on Stephen Spencer's Mount Abundance pastoral station. This site became the township of Roma. Initially consisting of nothing more than three public houses, Roma was named after Lady Diamantina Bowen, wife of the first Governor of Queensland, George Bowen.File:Romavilla Winery, circa 1910.jpg|thumb|left|Romavilla Winery founded in 1866 by Samuel Symons Bassett
File:Romavilla Winery, circa 1910.jpg|thumb|left|Romavilla Winery founded in 1866 by Samuel Symons Bassett
In 1863 Samuel Symons Bassett brought Queensland's vine cuttings to Roma and established the Romavilla Winery in 1866 on Bungil Creek north of Roma.
In 1864, Reverend Adam McIntyre of the Free Church of Scotland commenced services at pastoral stations in the Maranoa district with the intention that he would be established as a permanent minister in Roma. However, on 22 May 1866 he died at Brucedale pastoral station on Bungil Creek south-east of Roma, now in Tingun.
Captain Starlight, a cattle rustler, was tried and acquitted in the Roma Courthouse in February 1873.
Roma State School, the first school in Roma, opened on 21 March 1870 and closed on 31 December 1986.
St John's School was established by the Sisters of Mercy in 1881.
Roma was the site of Australia's first oil and gas discoveries.
During World War II, Roma was the location of RAAF No.22 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot, completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000.
Roma Special School opened on 25 January 1982 and closed on 31 December 1995.
In 2004, Roma had a low unemployment rate of 2.9%, which is among the lowest unemployment rates in Australia. 68.5% of the people in the labour force living in Roma were employed full-time, with 21.9% working on a part-time basis.
The Roma State College opened on 1 January 2006 as an amalgamation of Roma Junior School and Roma Middle School, and the addition of a new senior component.
In 2010, a Santos project study investigated the possibility of introducing treated CSG produce water into Roma's existing underground aquifer which supplies the town's water needs, including drinking water The Roma Managed Aquifer Recharge Study is the first of its kind in Australia. It is also considered experimental in nature as the risks are largely unknown. The Roma CSG Field pilot trial Stage 4 is in operation and Roma CSG Field Stage 4 operation is due to commence Q3/Q4 2014. The project will allow for the injection of up to 24 ML/d of treated coal seam gas water into the Gubberamunda Sandstone aquifer for up to 20 years. Water bores have been shut down and hence been restarted at nearby Wallumbilla due to methane being detected in the Gubberamunda Sandstone aquifer.
Demographics
In the, the locality of Roma had a population of 6,848 people. 78.2% of the people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were the Philippines 2.4%, New Zealand 1.6%, England 1.1%, India 1.1% and South Africa 0.5%. 83.1% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Tagalog 1.4%, Filipino 0.7%, Punjabi 0.7%, Mandarin 0.4% and Afrikaans 0.2%. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 27.2%, Anglican 21.8%, No Religion 18.4% and Uniting Church 5.3%. The median age stood at 33, below the national average of 38.In the, the locality of Roma had a population of 6,838 people.
Heritage listings
Roma has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:- State Butchers Shop, 75 Arthur Street
- Roma Government Complex, 42 Bungil Street
- Hibernian Hall, 38–44 Hawthorne Street
- Roma Court House and Police Buildings, McDowall Street
- Hunter's Emporium, 86 McDowell Street
- Romavilla Winery, 77 Northern Road
- Mount Abundance Homestead, Warrego Highway, Bungeworgorai
- War Memorial and Heroes Avenue, Wyndham Street
Climate
Snow in Roma is extremely rare, with the last known snowfall being at around 5pm on the 13th of July 1960.
Flooding
The town is situated on Bungil Creek, a tributary of the Condamine River. In March 2010, Roma experienced its worst floods in over 100 years. Flooding also occurred in April 2011, a year of record rainfall in Roma. In early February 2012, Roma was devastated by its worst floods in history, eclipsing the level reached in 2010; 444 homes were inundated, twice as many that were flooded in the two previous years.Having experienced three successive years of flooding, in May 2012, one insurer, Suncorp, announced it would not issue new policies to Roma residents, unless action was taken to mitigate the flood risk in Roma.