Taroom
Postcode: 4420
Taroom is a town on the Dawson River in Queensland. Australia in the Taroom Shire. The town is located on the Leichhardt Highway, 485 kilometres north west of the state capital, Brisbane, 302 kilometres from Rockhampton and 341 kilometres from Toowoomba.
The name Taroom is said to be an aboriginal word for native fruit trees in the area.
Taroom is a major centre for the Queensland beef industry. Other industry includes prime hard wheat and forestry.
Taroom has a rare windmill of unusual design located on the banks of the Dawson River. The windmill was produced by the Steel Wings Company, in North Sydney between 1907 and 1911, one of only six models ever erected. The windmills comprise a steel frame and fan which turns to the wind between a bearing at the bottom and a swivel at the top, all supported by guy-wires. Along with a windmill in Jerilderie in the Riverina, the fully restored windmills are the only two known working examples in the world designed so their fan is contained and spins within the fully pivoting frame.
Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt passed through the Taroom district in 1844, carving his initials on a tree that now stands in the centre of town. Sadly, Leichhardt’s carving is no longer visible.