Rocky Gully reboot: Rocky Gully Progress Association outlines ambitious goals for local tourism industry

The Rocky Gully reboot is gathering speed, with the community keen to take control of the town’s unused oval with a long-term vision of setting it up as a stop-off point for caravans and campers.

Almost a year on from the establishment of the Rocky Gully Progress Association, members remain determined to change the town’s reputation and position it as a somewhat unlikely tourism destination.

RGPA chair Rod Hovell made a presentation to the council at the Shire of Plantagenet’s August meeting where he asked for the town to be given full access to the oval for events.

“What we’re suggesting now is that we set the oval up for events, more than one a year, just to keep things rocking along,” he said.

“That will be a fair bit of work for us to do to get it to that stage, but there are a lot of people behind it and finally now we’re getting townsfolk to put their hand up to get involved in what we’re doing.

“It’s a great thing that’s happening and I feel pretty proud about the whole business, really.”

Ms Hovell also suggested the oval’s concrete water tank could be converted into showers and toilets and asked for the Shire to investigate the installation of traffic speed feedback signs.

He said, from his perspective, developing a tourism industry was the only way forward for the town.

“Our long-term goal is caravan and camping on the oval as well — that’s where everything is with tourism these days,” he said.

“It’s a major thing and if we can benefit from that, then so be it.”

The questions were taken on notice, but Shire chief executive Cameron Woods said further investigations would need to take place before any decisions were made.

“Development services officers are working through the planning and land management requirements of the request prior to a decision being made,” he said.

“The structural integrity of the tank will require an independent structural assessment by a qualified engineer as part of the due diligence process prior to any decision being made.”

Our long-term goal is caravan and camping on the oval as well — that’s where everything is with tourism these days.

Mr Woods also confirmed the Shire had been given permission to install speed data collectors to see whether a request for the installation of flashing speed limit signs was warranted.

Mr Hovell moved to Rocky Gully 3 1/2 years ago when he bought the town’s old school and said he had spent most of his life “going from place to place” in mostly remote places.

He said he had previously lived by the motto “leave me alone and everything will be OK” but he had grown tired of people causing disturbances in town.

“I come from a past where I’ve farmed, worked hard and I’ve never been involved in a community in my life — never,” he said.

“Now I’m doing this and I’m doing presentations to council. I’m not really that sort of person and I’m well out of my comfort zone.”

He said a lot had changed in Rocky Gully over the past year including the attitudes of residents who doubted whether things could really be turned around.

“We had a town meeting in September last year where a couple of councillors turned up and we might have had 20 people there all up, quite a number of those were from farms outside of the town,” he said.

“We struggled to get five board members at that stage but now we’re up to six and we’ve had to limit it to that.”

“The last streets in Rocky Gully are being bitumised, it’s in the Shire’s budget for this year, and there are a couple more getting resheeted and every now and then we see a crew out doing work around town.

“People see that, and suddenly they see that if you do things the right way, things will happen, but only if there are numbers to back it up.”

Alongside the work being done by the RGPA the town’s store was reopened last month after a significant revamp and renovations are continuing on the town’s hotel.

The RGPA’s six committee members all have unique strengths and talents, according to Mr Hovell, while a further 26 sub-members — recruited through a door-to-door campaign — add manpower.

“We went around town and I offered everyone a card to become a member on the proviso they gave us their phone number or an email,” Mr Hovell said.

“The deal was that if we have a busy bee or we need help you will get an email or a text but there’s no obligation that you need to do something as it’s all still personal choice.”

Shire president Chris Pavlovich said the council recognised and appreciated the RGPA’s proactive approach to driving their vision for the town.

Mr Hovell also praised the level of support given by the Shire and council in the past year.

“Everything is great and we’ve just got to be patient, because when you’re dealing with a shire things take time — it’s due process,” he said.

“We’ve got to prove ourselves as we go and I think we are already doing that.”