[6] Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt passed through the district in 1844, carving his initials and date on a coolibah tree that now stands in the centre of town.

Reporting the rich soils in the area, settlers began taking up land in 1845 and by 1850 a town had been established at a popular camping spot near the Dawson River.

[11] In 1883, Taroom police officer William O'Dwyer was killed after being struck in the head with a tomahawk by a man he was attempting to arrest near Wandoan.

It was intended to serve as a civic and recreational centre for the town and has a main auditorium that seats 300 people as well as a commercial kitchen and bar.

[17] Taroom made national news headlines in December 2014 when a man and two children were found near the town after being missing for eleven days.

[18] The trio, consisting of Steve Van Lonkhuyzen and his two young sons, had departed the Brisbane suburb of Lota on 11 December 2014 for a road journey to Cairns when they became stranded in Expedition National Park north-west of Taroom, after their four-wheel-drive vehicle became bogged.

The Queensland Police Service appealed to the public to help locate the father and his two sons after they were reported missing when they failed to reach Cairns as scheduled on 15 December 2014.

In 2011, he said the town would have been much better off had it been incorporated into the Western Downs Regional Council area, which concurred with previous statements by State Member for Callide Jeff Seeney who had described the decision to make Taroom a part of Banana Shire as "outrageous".

However, the Catholic Education office in Toowoomba announced in April 2015 that it would be closing St Mary's School in Taroom on 26 June 2015.

The principal of St Mary's said he was not allowed to publicly comment about the matter but the executive director of Catholic Education in Toowoomba said in a statement the decision to close the school was made with "careful consideration".

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.

[33] In 2013, a proposal was put forward to renovate and convert the former Taroom Shire Council Chambers into a tourist attraction that would detail the life and achievements of Ludwig Leichhardt.

[34] Sue Boyce, Ken O'Dowd and Banana Shire Council mayor Ron Carige all publicly supported the proposal.

[37] The Taroom Airport is located 20 kilometres south-east of the town and is used by private aircraft, emergency services and the resource industry to fly workers in and out of the region.

At the time then-Banana Shire mayor Ron Carige said the council was negotiating with QGC hoping the company would increase their usage of the airport.

Trucks are frequently seen parked near the northern entrance of the town as drivers use Taroom as a convenient place to take their designated breaks, check their loads and eat meals during their long journeys between the southern and central regions of Queensland.

This was despite a long hard-fought campaign from members of the Taroom community who constantly lobbied the state government throughout the early 20th century in a bid to convince them to extend the Wandoan railway line to the town.

[citation needed] Delegates from Taroom met with government representatives on numerous occasions[42][43][44][45] to discuss the issue but the proposal was consistently rebuffed by the government who reasoned that they'd find it difficult to finance despite it providing Taroom with a convenient link to Toowoomba during a time when not many people own motor vehicles and those who did found long-distance travel slow and difficult due to inferior dirt tracks over challenging terrain.

[citation needed] The lack of government interest combined with the war and the infestation of invasive Prickly Pears the region endured constantly stonewalled the project.

According to maps of the proposed line, it is expected to bypass Taroom in favour of a faster and shorter link between Wandoan to Banana via Cracow.

The flood severely damaged the local service station[52] and a couple living on a remote cattle property near Taroom were stranded on their roof for eight hours before being rescued by helicopter.

[53] After the floodwaters had receded, a charity event was held at the Leichhardt Hotel in Taroom to raise money for flood victims.

A total of $24,000 was raised which was donated to the Taroom District Cancer and Palliative Care Group who then distributed it amongst local flood victims.

[citation needed] When the Dawson River at Taroom began reaching such great heights, eventually peaking at 10.43 metres (4.39 metres above ground level), it signalled to the authorities that a mass evacuation of Theodore was needed to be organised as the river was likely to inundate the entire town when the floodwaters from Taroom arrived.

[63] Taroom's fourth largest flood occurred in 1983 when the waters in the Dawson River rose to peak at 1.42 metres above ground level.

Although Taroom is generally considered to be part of Central Queensland, as the town is located within the Banana Shire, and within the electorates of Callide and Flynn, it's actually located outside both the Rockhampton and Toowoomba television licence areas, falling within the Remote Central and Eastern Australia licence area.