Roma - Day 1 - The Big Rig

In our general wandering around on our recent trip, Roma was one place we definitely wanted to visit, and to make sure we were there on a Tuesday.  We arrived on a Sunday, so all went to plan.

Roma was declared the tourism town of Queensland in 2024 and we can see why.  For a town with a population of just over 7,000 it punches well above its weight.  We last visited here in 2003 and didn’t spend a lot of time on that occasion.

We started our first day by going for a walk.  Here, we started to see Queenslander style homes.  We always love to see the high set weatherboard houses.  Concave verandahs, like on the cream walled house, are something that you don’t seem to see anywhere else.

Our first destination was the Information Centre located at The Big Rig. The Big Rig is an outdoor museum featuring the natural gas industry in the area.  We opted to buy the daytime ticket as well as the evening ticket.  Both very enjoyable.

Before we went in we had a little look at a historic slab cottage that is in the same area.  

The history of this building is interesting.  Just imagine a family of eleven living in this tiny space.  Mind you, as the weather is much warmer in Roma than we are used to, I’m sure the boys would have all slept outside on the verandah, as was often the norm in those days.

It was a nice little showcase into a simpler time.

Now, for a bit of Roma’s history since European settlement……

The Roma area was initially settled by pastoralists in the late 1840s, with the township of Roma being established in 1862.  In the 1880s the railway came to Roma.  There wasn’t a wonderful water supply, as the town is not located by a river, so they started to drill for water bores in the early 1900s.  To their annoyance, when drilling they struck gas, not water.  This happened at a couple of locations.  They did reach water eventually.  After five years of the gas going unchecked, some bright spark decided that they could harness the gas.  A holding tank was built and gas street lighting installed.  It was a wonderful sight…..until the gas petered out after only 10 days. It must have been very disappointing.

However, there continued to be interest in drilling for gas and there was quite a boom from the 1920s.  Then there was the inevitable bust in the 1930s.

Alongside agriculture, there is still a significant natural gas industry based around Roma to this day, with much being exported.  I’m pretty sure that the natural gas that we have here in Bathurst is piped from Roma.  There is quite a bit of controversy about the natural gas industry at present, but that is a story we won’t go into here.

Back to The Big Rig.

The main feature of The Big Rig is, funnily enough, a big drilling rig.  This rig, the EMSCO Rig, was imported from America along with some experts to oversee it.  It arrived in 1928 and was used at four different sites, being finally decommissioned in 1941.  It was steam driven.  After it was decommissioned, some parts were scavanged, but the main part was left abandoned out in the scrub.  It was eventually decided to dismantle it and bring it into town and the museum be created around it.

There are also several other machines and vehicles from the gas industry.  Rather odd looking and don’t mean a lot to me.

One thing that wasn’t there when we visited in 2003 is the Big Rig Tower.  This is so very impressive.  

It stands the same height as the drilling rig and you can go up by the stairs or a lift.  We were lazy and went up the lift and we were so pleased we did.  

You walk in and the walls are all like TV screens.  It’s like you have entered the lift with some workers.  As you go up it is like you are going up the inside of the rig and you are seeing the landscape from the height you are at.  At various spots you see workers climbing the ladder on the outside of the rig, and when you reach the top there is a fellow sitting on top of the rig.  So very clever.

Once you step out onto the viewing platform you get the best bird’s eye view of Roma and the surrounding countryside.  You also look straight across to the top of the rig.

Mick, being reluctantly compliant for the touristy photo.

We the took the option of descending the tower by the stairs.

Another new feature was a treetop walk beside the creek, in among the birds.  Rather pleasant.

Once we had seen all we wanted to see, it was time to do some more exploring during the day.  I’ll get back to that later.

Late in the afternoon, it was time to return to The Big Rig as we wanted to go up the tower again to see the sunset.  As you can see, there wasn’t a sunset, as it was cloudy, but we did get to see a hawk sitting at the top of the rig.  A perfect vantage point.

The evening event was also good.  Firstly we went to the base of the rig where we learnt some more information about it and the history.

Don’t the two towers look wonderful in the evening light.

Then there is a light and sound and display telling interesting stories.  The highlight is the big flames as they tell of how one of the gas wells caught fire and burnt for ages.  It was a big tourism drawcard, with people travelling from Brisbane to see it and there were postcards printed.  The fire was finally extinguished when a clever fellow worked out a way to move a big dome across to the well by cables and then drop it down to snuff out the flames.

It is a very touristy attraction, but well done and we learned lots about a major part of the town’s history and current industry. Definitely worth the visit.