Roma To Adopt the late Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy Program

Maranoa Regional Council (MRC) has resolved to adopt the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) initiative.

Maranoa Regional Council (MRC) has resolved to adopt the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) initiative, nominating the Queensland Bottle trees that line Hero’s Avenue in Roma to be included in the late Queen Elizabeth II’s program. The QCC aims to create a global network of conservation programs in all 54 Commonwealth countries.

At the meeting on 8 March, Council resolved to support in principle the development of Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project incorporating the Roma Bottle Trees of Hero’s Avenue to commemorate the late Queen Elizabeth II and said the idea had many layers. “This initiative has the support of the RSL and would further honour our soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice as well as the late Monarch’s environmental legacy and our First Nations heritage.”

The QCC is the first environmental initiative that the late Queen gave her name to. It was launched in 2015 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Malta. Since that time, there have been 54 Commonwealth countries who have collectively dedicated more than 115 sites and projects to the QCC with the aim of conserving the value of indigenous forests and leaving a legacy of the Queens leadership of the Commonwealth. This would be the first Green Canopy project in this part of Queensland.

MRC Mayor, Tyson Golder and the CEO, Edwina Marks, met with Hon. Bruce Scott AM, who came up with the idea and suggested Government House could assist facilitating an invitation to His Majesty King Charles III to visit Roma should he tour Australia after his coronation in May.

Mayor Golder said the town would be delighted to host any member of the Royal family should they chose to visit Queensland, adding that the royalty has visited the outback town before, when the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, travelled alone to Roma to open the tourist attraction, The Big Rig. “We’d be honoured if were on the King’s itinerary should he come to Queensland. We’d be sure to show him some country hospitality.” 

The Maranoa region is known to be home to more than 1000 Queensland Bottle trees, with a significant number [94] lining Hero’s Avenue in Roma. The Queensland Bottle tree, an Australian native species (Brachychiton rupestris), grows from Northern NSW to Townsville and was traditionally used by First Nations people as a food source and for making rope and twin.