Roma Historic Walk « all Walks
Walk commences at: Starting location Length: 2 Km Map Src: roma_historic_walk_map.jpg
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Wander back through time along Roma's Historical Walk to the beginnings of this important Western Downs town in the 1860s. Roma's landmarks chronicle the economic and social development of the district and its reaction to major events like cattle duffing and the arrival of rail in the 19th century, the growth of agriculture and commerce and the town's contributions to two world wars.
See where Roma locals gathered to shop, conduct business, worship and catch up on the news of the day for almost 150 years.
Allow an hour or two for your walk if time is short, consider covering sites 1-19 on one walk, and sites 20-25 on another. This brochure provides a map and an overview of the walk, and plaques at each landmark provide more information about the site's contribution to Roma's exciting and diverse history.
Plaques are located across the street from the site to provide a perspective of the sites' geographical and historical context.
Colourful Beginnings Originally home to the Mandandanji Aboriginal people and visited twice by explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, Roma was settled after Sir Thomas Mitchell reported glowingly on the country in 1846.
Looking down from nearby Mount Abundance, Mitchell wrote, “I… beheld the finest country I had ever seen in a primeval state - a champaign region, spotted with wood, stretching as far as human vision or even the telescope would reach.” Allan McPherson established Mount Abundance Station the following year.
The Queensland Government established Roma as an administrative centre for the growing district in 1862.
The town took its name from the wife of Queensland's first Governor, the Countess Diamantina Roma, and was the first gazetted settlement following Queensland's separation from New South Wales in 1859. Steeped in colourful history since its inception, Roma gave Queensland its first wine in 1863 and, in 1900, the town was the site of Australia's first natural gas strike which sparked a short-lived oil 'boom' during the Depression years. Notorious bushranger Harry Redford (the legendary Captain Starlight) was cleared of cattle rustling in his controversial trial in Roma in 1873, having stolen 1,000 cattle, which were driven to South Australia, a feat immortalised in the novel Robbery Under Arms.
Roma grew quickly, especially after the arrival of rail in 1880, and became a bustling centre for trade and commerce. The community contributed magnificently to the 20th century's wars and the district's World War I fallen are commemorated in Roma's Heroes' Avenue of bottle trees, an evergreen memorial in a town that values its past.
The landmarks along this walk represent the ups and downs of life in and around Roma over two centuries. Discover their stories.