Redeveloped Rocky Gully Store set to reopen as signs of town’s revival grow

Rocky Gully is the tiny town that refuses to quit. Established in the 1950s as part of the War Service Land Settlement Scheme, the once-thriving Great Southern agricultural community is a shadow of its former self. But the Rocky Gully revival is well under way. As you drive from Mt Barker to Manjimup along the Muir Highway, you pass through a small town just before the midway point. The pub is closed, the primary school is vacant, there is no town hall, and the general store only functions as the local post office — but that will be changing shortly. Early last year, Frank Cristinelli took the plunge and bought the bare-bones store. He made the decision while working in the blue gums near town. “I had Armanti Tiles and Bathware in Manjimup for 13 years, then when I sold that I came to work on the blue gums out this way,” he said. “I’ve also got family in Albany so I would always be doing this road (Muir Highway). “I used to drive through here thinking someone should just fix that joint up, because there is a fair bit of traffic that comes through here.” He took on the venture looking for a new challenge — and that is exactly what he got. His first jobs were to fix the living quarters upstairs and clean up the mess. There were dead rats in walls, dead flies stuck together decorating windowsills, and a toilet which was full to the brim. “Pictures don’t do it justice,” Mr Cristinelli said. “You can’t imagine the smell that hit me when I walked in.” The first three months were spent driving to and from Manjimup daily as he made the place liveable. Even after he moved in to the living quarters above the store, he faced an uphill battle. On winter nights Mr Cristinelli would go to bed wearing a hoodie and using two doonas, but each morning he would get up determined to continue the makeover. “I certainly had my moments, but I’m pretty persistent and I just plodded along,” he said. “I’d get up every morning and think what I had to finish that day, and I focused on finishing that.” Rocky Gully was established in the 1950s as part of the War Service Land Settlement Scheme and developed into a burgeoning agricultural town. Hard times in the 1980s led to much of the land in the area being sold off and converted into blue gum plantations. Mr Cristinelli grew up on a farm near Tambellup and said it had been sad to see the once-thriving community gutted. Once he bought the Rocky Gully Store, he started taking it personally. He is now financially and emotionally invested in the town’s revival. “Small towns are just being destroyed, mate,” he said. “This was a really good agriculture area until it was turned into blue gums. Big investors bought all the land when the farmers were down in the 80s, then they planted all those blue gums. “The town was promised the world but there was nothing, of course — that’s just the way it is, and I think that’s a shame.” As it stands, Rocky Gully’s roughly 90 residents have to travel to Frankland for basic supplies or set aside time for a 11/2-hour round trip to Mt Barker to stock up on groceries. When the Rocky Gully Store reopens, not only will they have their general store and fuel bowsers back, they will also have Mean Street Cafe — a place where people can come together. The interior of the renovated store and cafe is something you might expect to find on a trendy urban cafe strip. Samantha Burchett and Hamish Cameron of Smash Creation helped Mr Cristinelli with the design. Mr Cristinelli, a carpenter by trade, repurposed benches from the town’s former school for the cafe — he just had to boost them up a bit. Wood from a Manjimup mill deemed not suitable for floorboards adorns the interior walls. He said after about 15 months of work, he was a few weeks away from reopening, and residents were getting excited. “I’ve been saying six weeks for about six months, but it’s just all the little things that are left,” he said. “Over the next week we’re going to build up our stock and then it’s just about getting things operational.” A revitalised store is not the only thing happening in the town. If you drive another 350m down the highway, you come across the Rocky Gully pub and its 10 rooms. It has been closed since 2019, but it was bought in December by Frankland farmers Michael and Cherie Doyle. It does not look like much from the outside, but the Doyles have been renovating the pub for the past six months in the hopes of re-opening by the end of the year. “The people here are just good people. They call a spade a spade,” Mr Doyle said The recently formed Rocky Gully Progress Association is also working on plans in the background, with an overarching mission of reviving the town and honouring its roots. The association’s website outlines its mission is to “tell the story of Rocky Gully by creating a visual timeline through the main street of town.”