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Roma. Major service centre for the western region of the Darling Downs

Roma. Major service centre for the western region of the Darling Downs.
Roma is an attractive centre located 479 km west of Brisbane and 300 m above sea level. This thriving community of nearly 7 000 people lies at the heart of a rich sheep and cattle grazing area and boasts the largest store cattle market in Australia.

Lying to the west of the Darling Downs the Roma district was first explored by Europeans when, in 1846, Sir Thomas Mitchell, the New South Wales Surveyor–General, passed through the area looking for a route from Sydney to the north coast of the continent.

On 7 May 1846 Mitchell reached Mount Abundance (he named it because he was impressed by the richness of the region). In his book Tropical Australia (1848) he recalled his first impression of the area.

'I ascended an elevated north-eastern extremity of Mount Abundance, and from it 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 could reach.'

With such a rosy picture presented to them it was not surprising that in the next few years squatters began to move into the area.

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