Monty Stubbings: Life in the Gully

Monty Stubbings recalls life in the Gully, “We in the Gully were regarded by the townsfolk like the moon. That’s how I think of it. You know how the moon is just there, you take it for granted? But you don’t really want to visit it as it’d involve a bit of fear. You like the moon don’t you? It’s just there and as long as long as there’s no trouble. It’s just there. We were separated but together. So far apart but so close. That’s how I see how the town regarded the Gully. They did their business with us and us with them but we were separate. “We didn’t roam about Katoomba like people here do now. We came to Katoomba for special needs, for food or to see somebody… And the older people went to a particular pub or the wine bar – and always we all took the same tracks in and out of the Gully… You went the same pathway through Katoomba. You didn’t roam about. Even though there were shops and things, you just kept to our tracks through Katoomba.” Johnson, p. 127.