Roma is a town, locality and the administrative centre in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia.
Roma is a town, locality and the administrative centre in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. The town was incorporated in 1867 and is named after Lady Diamantina Bowen (née di Roma), the wife of Sir George Bowen, the Governor of Queensland at the time. At the 2016 census, Roma had a population of 6,848.
History
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.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 (26.8892°S 148.9312°E? / -26.8892; 148.9312? (Brucedale pastoral station)), now in Tingun .Captain Starlight, a cattle rustler, was tried and acquitted in the Roma Courthouse in February 1873. No successful conviction for cattle rustling has been made in Roma.
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.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.
Weather
Roma has a humid subtropical climate, which gets enough precipitation to avoid the semi-arid climate. Its location on the far south of the Carnarvon Range at an elevation of 299 metres above sea level means that it is cooler and wetter than the plains to the south and west, while being warmer and drier than areas to the north and east.
Temperatures in Roma range from 34 °C in summer to 20 °C in winter and winter minimums can drop below freezing; however, it seldom gets colder than -3 °C. Rainfall is mild and distributed fairly evenly throughout the year, with an annual average of 587.9 mm (23.15 in), however it peaks in summer due to frequent showers and thunderstorms. Roma is usually too far inland to experience the influence of tropical cyclones and monsoonal rain depressions, however there are exceptions, and these systems have caused significant flooding in the town.
Extremes have ranged from 45.8 °C (115.2 °F) to -5.8 °C (23.4 °F).
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.
Things to do
