Maize Crop, Rome's Dairy, Claremont

John Rome, born in eastern Australia, had been sandalwood cutting and droving before establishing a dairy in Coolgardie. He moved to Claremont and started a dairy on the west side of Elliott Road in 1898, where in 1904-5 he lived in a brick and stone house originally occupied by EH Moore. In 1905 he moved to the west side of Davies Road and set up Rome's Model Dairy (sometimes referred to as Claremont Dairy or Rome's Dairy ) which he operated until 1916. He believed in providing good conditions and wages for workers to maintain standards and employed more staff than competitors. He married a Miss Perry, whose family had land in the area now known as Perry Lakes, and built a large stone home on the opposite side of Davies Road. A dairy remained on the site, operated by a series of proprietors (William Brunt, BJ Condren, JF Pankhurst, and Frank Wise) until the mid 1940s.