In 1856 MacPherson briefly visited Australia at which time he disposed of his pastoral interests, including the sale of Mount Abundance to Stephen Spencer.

Rough huts provided temporary quarters until Spencer built a new homestead, and Mount Abundance station is described as the focal point for the district during this period.

Augustus Charles Gregory arrived at Mount Abundance in 1862, and selected a locality for the township which become known as Roma, proclaimed in September that year.

[1] The Spencers are recorded as being interested in agriculture and horticulture, growing the first wheat in the district, and experimenting with grape vines, fig, peach and apricot trees.

[1] By late 1868, Spencer was heavily in debt and in 1869 the Government auctioned the freehold of 175 acres (71 ha) of land on which the Homestead and other associated buildings of Mount Abundance Station were erected.

The Company had been founded in Scotland, encouraged by reports from Scottish settlers in Australia, and was established with two main purposes: acquisition of land largely for grazing and agricultural pursuits; and granting loans or advances on property mortgages.

During the early 1860s through the persistence of Robert Morehead as its Australian manager, the Company entered into pastoral activity and acquired property in Central/Western Queensland (Bowen Downs) and in the Gulf Country.

[1] An article in 1875 recounted that when the Company took possession of Mount Abundance, the "improvements" consisted of only a wretched homestead, and suggested that Spencer was contented to live in his bark-covered buildings till they were old, and dilapidated.

[1] By the mid 1870s, Mount Abundance station was described as one of the largest establishments in the Maranoa and considered to be one of the best grazing properties in Western Queensland.

Stock returns for 1875 indicate that Mount Abundance was run in conjunction with Nive Downs, a property north of Charleville which had also been acquired by the Company.

[1] Mount Abundance station was resumed by the Queensland Government in 1923, being regarded as offering the best prospect for successful closer settlement.

The main purpose of the resumption was the subdivision of land for the combined raising of wheat and sheep, and to extend agricultural settlement into the western districts.

[1] The resumption of Mount Abundance during the 1920s, and the subsequent division into smaller farming properties and re-settlement during the 1930s, is important in demonstrating the pattern of land use and occupancy in rural Queensland during the early 20th century.

The place has the potential to provide archaeological evidence of building construction techniques from the mid-19th century and of the formerly extensive pastoral station complex, of which only the homestead and attached quarters are known to be extant.