ROMA

town, south central Queensland, Australia, principal settlement of the Maronoa district, an agricultural and pastoral area, on Bungil Creek. The town, surveyed in 1862 and declared a municipality in 1867, was named after Diamantina Roma Bowen, wife of the state's first governor. Linked to Brisbane (about 315 mi east-southeast) by rail, air, and the Carnarvon and Warrego highways, it serves a district of sheep, cattle, wheat, fruit, grape, and dairy farming. The town has slaughterhouses, flour mills and sawmills, butter factories, a winery, and a livestock market. A large deposit of natural gas, discovered in the 1960s, is used for local power generation and is also piped to Brisbane. Productive oil wells have been sunk in the vicinity. Pop. (1981) 5,706.