27-05-2025
Grey nomads help drive Roma's outback tourism boom
Grey nomads Shaun Elwood and Janet Tearle thought it would be a quick stopover when they pulled up at Roma in Queensland's Maranoa region.
But three days later, the Gold Coast couple was still ticking off tourist attractions in a town many motorists drove straight through.
According to Ms Tearle, there was just too much to do.
"I didn't realise this place was so big," she said.
"We went and saw the sculptures … the biggest bottle tree … the saleyards this morning … [and] a shooting exhibition on our first night here at the caravan park."
They have not been the only ones to enjoy the town of about 7,000 people.
The amount of money generated by tourism in the region has grown by 59 per cent over the past six years, according to Maranoa Regional Council.
Roma was awarded the Top Tourism Town by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council in 2024 and was one of four shortlisted as finalists this year.
As the centre of the Maranoa region, the town has historically been a hub for agriculture, mining and forestry.
But councillor Jane Vicent said there had been a concerted community effort to grow tourism over the past 10 years.
"There was a real drive [to make] Roma as a destination on its own," she said.
"We've always been seen as the gateway to the outback, but we're really trying to let people know Roma is a destination."
Will Fellowes first visited Roma as a tourist six years ago before moving there from Sydney after seeing what the town had to offer.
He and his partner Michael McLaughlin bought a 22-hectare block outside town and opened a gin distillery.
"This is your last Woolies before Mount Isa, your last chance for cheap fuel and still being attached to the country," Mr Fellowes said.
"But what we're seeing is people stopping here, spending days in the region, immersing themselves in what we've got before they head further west."
Mr Fellowes said their business was recently listed on a European GetYourGuide website which had generated international referrals.
They have been among a wave of new tourism businesses launched in the town since 2020.
"There are more than eight or nine new tourism products that have opened in Roma in the last five years alone," Mr Fellowes said.
The town broke records this year for one of the most popular events in its tourism calendar — Easter in the Country.
More than 15,000 people visited across the five-day festival, up by 1,500 since the previous record in 2019.
"It's always busy, but it was new record this year, which is great," Mr Fellowes said.
One of Roma's biggest year-round drawcards has been Australia's largest cattle saleyards, which has attracted an increasing number of curious visitors.
Former grazier Lloyd Harth, who volunteers as a tour guide, said he had noticed an influx of city visitors keen to learn about the bush.
"For a lot of city people, they've got no idea," Mr Harth said.
"They think their meat comes off the shelf and have no idea where it originally came from or how it got there."
The Roma Saleyard offers guided tours on sale days.
"When I started here, our biggest turnout would've been 70 or 80 people on a Tuesday morning," Mr Harth said.
"Our biggest last year was 235, and we had almost 200 people here yesterday."
He said tourists often travelled to the town specifically to see the saleyard and enjoyed reconnecting with the land.
"That's the reason we do it — and we do it for nothing — to try and educate people," he said.
"We've got a big divide between city and country, and it's getting wider and wider."
Mr Elwood and Ms Tearle said they had ticked off their list of tourist attractions, packed their caravan, and were ready to move on from their first major stop on their trip around Australia.
They were confident their spot at the caravan park would be snapped up before they were barely on the highway.
"It's a massive turnover — every day, people in and out," Mr Elwood said.
"You'd be surprised how many people have come and gone since we've been here."
