Rocky Gully

Postcode: 6397

Rocky Gully is a tiny township of 193 (2006 Census) located on the Muirs Highway, approximately 8km from the Kent River. It is 362km from Perth and 115km from Albany. The Noongar name for the area was Chullurup, meaning “the place of white ant nests”. Elders held it in high esteem, considering it a place of such spiritual power that it was perilous to live there.

In 1907, the Plantagenet Roads Board proposed “320 acres of land be reserved for travelling stock on the Mt Barker-Blackwood Road, about six miles east of the Frankland River at a place known as Rocky Gully”. Land was subdivided in the 1930s and a site was selected for the townsite, however, it was unpopulated until a ‘tent town’ was established as part of the War Service Land Settlement Scheme after WWII. By May 1951 there were 220 people living in the area and later that year lots were surveyed and the town of Rocky Gully gazetted.

Rocky Gully is the northern entry point to the Walpole Wilderness Area, an international biodiversity hotspot formed from a world-class network of reserves and national parks totalling almost 363,333ha. Services in Rocky Gully include a hotel, service station, general store, post office, public conveniences and barbecue/picnic area.

For further information, contact the Shire of Plantagenet on (08) 9892 1111 or go to www.plantagenet.wa.gov.au.