Roma - The Rest of Day 1

As I said in my last post, there is a lot to see at the regional town of Roma.

After we left The Big Rig we had a look at the sculpture park that runs beside the main road into town.

There is a sculpture competion and exhibition that runs from June to September each year, so we were just a bit early to see the new entries.  However, there were some beauties on display from previous years.  Here are just  few that caught our eye.

Notice the top knot pigeon sitting in the top of the bottle tree.

Aren't there some clever people.  Mick reckons there must be no scrap metal laying around these days.

Having heard about the "Largest Bottle Tree in Roma" we had to find it.  Fortunately, it was well signposted.

This gives you an idea of its size.

The Queensland Bottle Tree is a native of Queensland and no relative to the Boab Trees that grow in Western Australia or elsewhere in the world.  It is related to the kurrajong tree and they both have similar seed pods and are extremely drought tolerant. Bottle Trees in the wild are now protected.  We always enjoy spotting them in paddocks on our travels.

Speaking of Bottle Trees, we've never seen so many as in Roma.  They even have a living war memorial "The Hero's Avenue" made up of 93 Bottle Trees. 

Each one has a brass plaque commerating a local serviceman from WWI.  The avenue was planted between 1918 and 1920.

Of course, we had to have a wander up and down the street to check out the old buildings.  There are some fine examples.  This splendid old pub, which no longer trades as a pub, is gorgeous.  During WWII a look out was stationed in the tower to keep an eye out for Japanese war planes.

The court house's clain to fame is having been the site of the trial of the bushranger Captain Starlight.  It's interesting how he was captured ...... all due to a light coloured bull.

This building was quite a landmark, especially with its shamrock features.  There is a brochure talking about the historic buildings in the town.  However, it seems to talk about locations and what used to be there, rather than what is there now.  Consequently, this one did not even rate a mention.

Mr Google came to the rescue.  It is the "Hibernian Hall".  It was established by the Hiberian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society (H.A.C.B.A.).  There were a large number of Irish in Queensland, encouraged to emigrate by the Catholic Church.  Often branches of this society were set up to support people within that community.  The Roma branch built a hall in the early 1900s, which seated 750 people, but it burnt down in the 1920s.  The current building was constructed in 1932 and used as both a hall and cinema.  It was purchased by the Roma Council in 1976 and is still used today.  The library is in an adjoining building.

Golders is an institution in these south west Queensland towns, being a supplier of all sorts of country clothing, footwear, hats and toys, of all things.

I did like the mural on the side of the building.

And, of course, no visit to Roma is complete without a visit to Ace Drapery, especially if you are a crafter.  As soon as you say you are going to, or have been to Roma, you are asked if you went to "that shop"?  Well, yes, we did.  There is also other craft items, haberdashery and household items, but we didn't venture too far in.  All rather overwhelming.  Apparently, the owner can locate whatever it is you are after, but where do you start? 

And that about sums up the rest of our first day in Roma.  Told you there was lots to see. 

More soon.