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| The Big Rig at Information Centre, Roma |
Roma
is a place I really wanted to visit as I had recently come across several
interesting stories about it during my research on the Great Artesian Basin.
Roma is where the first natural gas was found in Australia.
The
town has an average annual rainfall of 600mm. During a drought in 1900 it was short
of water as the creek and a reservoir were inadequate. A bore was drilled to
1350 feet and water and gas gushed out but it took several years to know how to
separate them. The problem was solved by sinking another bore inside the
existing bore and driving it down to the gaseous strata. A gas plant was
completed in 1906 and when shops and hotels were first connected and lit up,
they became a public attraction. ‘It gives a perfectly white light, and most
brilliant as displayed by the block burners and mantles.’
Ten
days after connecting the first premises, the gas flow stopped. It was not
known if it had run out, an obstruction blocked it or if the casing had leaked
and the gas had found another way of escape. Experts were called in but the
bore was not restored.
