File:Hospital, Roma, 1952.jpg

English: Roma, a rural town in the Maranoa, is 420 km west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway.

Prior the European settlement the Aboriginal peoples of the Mandandanji Nation occupied this region. Mandandanji (also known as Mandandanyi, Mandandanjdji, Kogai) 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.

Roma was named after Lady Diamantina Bowen (Contessa Diamantina di Roma), wife of the first Governor of Queensland, George Bowen.

The district was explored by the New South Wales Surveyor-General, Sir Thomas Mitchell, on his fourth expedition in 1846-47. Travelling from the south he established a depot on the Balonne River at St George. Pushing northwards, he came to a ridge from which he observed a 'double topped hill ... in the centre of this fine open country, and from the abundance of good pasturage ... named it Mount Abundance'. The next day, Mitchell ascended a north-eastern extremity of Mount Abundance and from it 'beheld the finest country ... A champaign region, spotted with wood, stretching as far as human vision ... could reach'. Mitchell was eager to inflate the importance of his discoveries. Later writers helped his exaggeration by rendering his 'champaign region', meaning level, open country, as 'champagne region'.

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.

In 1890 the Maranoa Graziers Association had been formed, separate from the United Pastoralists Association, but having the common precept of resistance to pastoral workers' unionism. In the 1930s the Maranoa body proposed the opening of an abattoir in Roma, and in 1957 succeeded in starting a cooperative venture. A further rural service industry was started in 1969, the Roma Town and Bungil Shire sale yard, ultimately becoming a large store cattle selling centre. In 1961 the town council commissioned a gas-fired electricity-generation plant, supplied from the Hospital Hill bore, and a later oil discovery led to Maranoa oil refinery (1975). Roma and Moonie, although providing a tiny proportion of Australia's petro-gas output, share the honour of pioneering the local industry. Roma has capitalised on the tourist potential with its Big Rig theme park and visitor centre. The court house and police complex (1901 and 1919) in McDowall Street is listed on the Queensland heritage register, together with the Mediterranean-style former State high school (1937) in Bungil Street. Roma's wide streets are notable for their bottle trees.

The Royal Hotel in Roma has enjoyed a chequered history, with several lives loss through fire and misadventure. In 1870 fire threatened Cook's Royal Hotel, and only a year later despite extra precautions extinguishing candles, the pine building was destroyed by fire. By 1903 the Australian handbook noted the town had twelve hotels including the Royal. The hotel was rebuilt by 1910 as a two-storey building described by the press as 'one of the most ornamental and comfortable wooden buildings in Queensland', but it again burnt to the ground in 1915. In 1916 the wooden building was replaced by a 'modern' two-storey brick structure which opened in December 1916. In December 1917, however, the 'new' Royal Hotel was destroyed by fire. In November 2014, the restored Royal Hotel, again a wooden two-storey building (MacDowall Street) was destroyed by fire.

Roma characterises itself as the capital of the Western Downs, with ten motels and a full range of medical services, sporting clubs and civic facilities. There are ten churches, years 1-3 and 10-12 state school campuses, Catholic P-12 school (1942), and a TAFE. Bassett's heritage-listed Romavilla winery is a tourist attraction, and the name is remembered with the Bassett Park showground and racecourse, which holds monthly race meetings.

Source: queenslandplaces.com.au/roma and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma,_Queensland

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