Taroom

Greyhound Australia provides long-distance coach services throughout inland Queensland, including a Toowoomba-Rockhampton service that Taroom residents are able to utilise. The Rockhampton-bound service stops in Taroom on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays[32] while the return Toowoomba-bound service stops in the town on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.[33]

The Taroom Airport is located 20 kilometres south-east of the town and is used by private aircraft, emergency services and the resource industry to fly workers in and out of the region. In 2015, it was announced that Banana Shire Council was awarded over $124,000 in funding to upgrade the animal-proof fence at the airstrip. At the time then-Banana Shire mayor Ron Carige said the council was negotiating with QGC hoping the company would increase their usage of the airport. He also said an upgrade of the airport was in progress as it had become an integral part of the shire's infrastructure.[34]

Truck drivers frequently pass through Taroom either utilising the Leichhardt Highway, the Roma-Taroom Road which connects with the Carnarvon Highway north of Roma or the Taroom-Bauhinia Road which connects with the Dawson Highway between Bauhinia Downs and Moura. Trucks are frequently seen parked near the northern entrance of the town as drivers use Taroom as a convenient place to take their designated breaks, check their loads and eat meals during their long journeys between the southern and central regions of Queensland.

In the 1972 Taroom explosion, three men were killed when a stationary truck carrying ammonium nitrate which had caught fire exploded on the Taroom-Bauhinia Road, north-west of Taroom. The three men included the driver and two brothers from a nearby property who had ridden up to the burning truck on motorbikes to assist with the initial fire, which was believed to have been caused by a fault with the truck's electrical system.[35]

As the three men were standing near the truck, a significant explosion occurred which burnt out more than 2,000 acres of surrounding bushland, uprooted trees and left a deep crater in the ground where the burning truck had been parked. It was reported that the explosion was so loud that it was heard in Moura and Theodore with debris from the destroyed truck scattered up to two kilometres away. A memorial to the three men was unveiled in Taroom, which led to another one being erected at the accident site in 2013.[36][37]

Unlike many towns in the district including Theodore to its north and Wandoan to its south, Taroom never managed to achieve a rail link to the town. This was despite a long hard-fought campaign from members of the Taroom community who constantly lobbied the state government throughout the early 20th century in a bid to convince them to extend the Wandoan railway line to the town. During the town's campaign for the railway extension, a local lobby group called the Taroom Railway League was formed.

Delegates from Taroom met with government representatives on numerous occasions[38][39][40][41] to discuss the issue but the proposal was consistently rebuffed by the government who reasoned that they'd find it difficult to finance despite it providing Taroom with a convenient link to Toowoomba during a time when not many people own motor vehicles and those who did found long-distance travel slow and difficult due to inferior dirt tracks over challenging terrain.

The lack of government interest combined with the war and the infestation of invasive Prickly Pears the region endured constantly stonewalled the project.[42][43]

Another proposal surfaced in 1939 for a railway over the Carnarvon Range to link Springsure with Wandoan via Rolleston and Taroom.[44][45]

Discussion of the railway link between Wandoan and Taroom continued into the 1940s[46] but improved conditions of the roads, faster vehicles and the demise of many railway branch lines, the enthusiasm for the rail link to Taroom dissipated in the latter half of the 20th century.

There is a current proposal to construct a Surat Basin railway line to connect the Western railway line system at Wandoan with the Moura railway line for the transportation of coal to the Port of Gladstone. According to maps of the proposed line, it is expected to bypass Taroom in favour of a faster and shorter link between Wandoan to Banana via Cracow.[47]

Taroom's biggest flood occurred in 1890 with floodwaters reaching 8.74 metres above ground level. The height of this flood is marked on the bottom of the Leichhardt Tree in Yaldwyn Street as a reminder of the enormity of the 1890 flood.

The town's second biggest flood was recorded in December 2010 during the statewide 2010-2011 Queensland floods disaster when the floodwaters of the Dawson peaked on 29 December 2010 at 4.39 metres above ground level, isolating Taroom for several weeks. The flood severely damaged the local service station[48] and a couple living on a remote cattle property near Taroom were stranded on their roof for eight hours before being rescued by helicopter.[49]

After the floodwaters had receded, a charity event was held at the Leichhardt Hotel in Taroom to raise money for flood victims. The event was attended by rugby league player Jason Hetherington and rugby league commentator Jason Costigan. A total of $24,000 was raised which was donated to the Taroom District Cancer and Palliative Care Group who then distributed it amongst local flood victims.[50]

A Taroom resident collated photographs of the flood and included them in a book entitled Taroom 2010-2011: Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come Again Another Day with money raised from the sale of the book being donated to local flood victims.[51]

Smaller floods preceded and succeeded this major flood event when the Dawson River flooded in March 2010[52][53] and April 2011.[54][55]

The 2010 flood also illustrated how valuable the river height recorded at Taroom is to people that live near the Dawson River further downstream, such as those living in or near towns like Theodore, Moura, Baralaba and Duaringa.[56] As such, the river heights at Taroom also served as a good indication on how much floodwater was ultimately going to flow through Rockhampton as the floodwaters in the Dawson River met the already swollen Mackenzie River and entered the Fitzroy River.

When the Dawson River at Taroom began reaching such great heights, eventually peaking at 10.43 metres (4.39 metres above ground level), it signalled to the authorities that a mass evacuation of Theodore was needed to be organised as the river was likely to inundate the entire town when the floodwaters from Taroom arrived.[57][58]

The third biggest flood in Taroom was recorded in 1956 when the river peaked at 3.23 metres above ground level on 11 February 1956. This flooding, combined with serious flooding of the Nogoa River caused high flood levels to be recorded in Rockhampton on 23 February 1956.[59]

Taroom's fourth largest flood occurred in 1983 when the waters in the Dawson River rose to peak at 1.42 metres above ground level.[60]

All four major floods are marked on a colour-coded flood marker pole located at the northern entrance to the town near the Steel Wing's windmill. The colour of the individual markers correspond with the colour of the text on the information board which surrounds the pole. The flood marker was installed after the 2010 event with funding provided as part of a Community Development and Recovery Package, which was a joint initiative between the Australian Government and the Queensland Government.

Providing an adequate river crossing enabling travellers on the Leichhardt Highway to cross the river at Taroom has proved challenging due to the flooding the Dawson River experiences. In total, four bridges have been constructed across the Dawson River. The first bridge was built in 1863. The second bridge was opened in 1863 and the headstock and some of the original piles are still visible today. A third bridge was constructed across the Dawson River in 1956 and still exists today. Although it is now closed to vehicular traffic, it remains open for pedestrians and cyclists. This bridge is also a popular spot for local fisherman to sit and cast a line into the river.

Taroom's fourth bridge is the William Harold Copeland bridge which was opened in 1990 and named after the mayor of the Taroom Shire. Although constructed above what is classed as normal flood level, it is still closed when major flooding occurs.

Taroom itself does not have a local newspaper but Biloela's weekly newspaper Central Telegraph frequently carries news relevant to the Taroom area, and also published a weekly column written by a local Taroom correspondent which primarily details the social events held in Taroom.

Other regional newspapers from the Darling Downs and Maranoa regions are available at the local Newsagency including Roma's Western Star, the Chinchilla News and Toowoomba's The Chronicle.

Although Taroom does not have a local radio station, there are several FM repeaters located in the town to ensure clear reception of various radio stations that broadcast from elsewhere, including ABC Southern Queensland, ABC Radio National, The Breeze, Rebel FM and Vision Radio.

Although Taroom is generally considered to be part of Central Queensland, as the town is located within the Banana Shire, and within the electorates of Callide and Flynn, it's actually located outside both the Rockhampton and Toowoomba television licence areas, falling within the Remote Central and Eastern Australia licence area.[66]

Therefore, instead of receiving Rockhampton television stations which transmit to Gladstone, Biloela and as far south as Theodore, or the Toowoomba stations which transmit as far west as Miles, Taroom receives Imparja Television, Southern Cross Television and Ten Central from Central Australia via the Viewer Access Satellite Television service.[67]

The local Central Queensland and Darling Downs editions of WIN News and Seven News can still be accessed along with other regional news services on the 401-420 channel range on the VAST service.[68]