1840 Squatters from NSW begin driving stock north from Hunter River Valley and New England Tableland.

1849 David Perrier leases 24,000ha Wyaga run, NE of Goondiwindi, one of oldest cattle runs in district.

1850 Surveyor James Burrows names Surat after his Indian home.

1851 Worst inland flood in Qld drowns 89 at Gundagai.

1857 Moreton Bay Courier, right, estimates 450 men in Qld colony dominate land holdings larger than Victoria.

1859 Qld proclaimed separate colony from NSW after bitter debate between north and south; economy dependent on pastoral activity.

Goondiwindi builds customs house, left, on banks of Macintyre River to service new interstate border.

1860 Qld leading cattle-producing colony as government incentives encourage agricultural development; pastoralists move into Leichhardt, Mitchell, Burke and Kennedy districts, west to borders of South Australia and present-day Northern Territory.

1862 Severe drought undermines Qld economy.

Town of Roma proclaimed; first in Queensland after separation; named after governor's wife Lady Diamantina Georgina Roma Bowen.

1863 First grape vines in Qld planted at Romavilla, left.

1864 Rabbits introduced by Qld Acclimatisation Society; by 1880 keeping or breeding rabbits for pets or commercial purposes prohibited; by 1890 spread throughout Qld.