The Gully, Katoomba: Series of 10 paintings

Part of The Painted River Project’s Blue Mountains Rare Upland Swamps series by Leo Robba, an artistic enquiry that systematically explores themes of memory, impermanence, and transformation through the motif of watersheds and water ecology.

These paintings are part of a series of ten works created en plein air at Garguree (The Gully) in the Blue Mountains. Known as a place of Sweet Water, Garguree is an ecologically and culturally significant site. It forms the headwaters of Katoomba Falls (Upper Kedumba) Creek and lies within the Warragamba Catchment, which supplies water to Sydney. This work aims to capture the tension between the resilience of ecological recovery and the lasting scars of past development. As context, in 1957 Traditional Owners were forcibly removed to make way for a racetrack, built by a group of 83 local businessmen. In May 2002, Garguree was returned and declared the largest Aboriginal Place in NSW. Since then, Gundungurra Traditional Custodians, led by Aunty Sharyn and David King, have collaborated with local volunteers to restore the rare upland swamp and share the deep history of this remarkable place.

Acrylic on timber board, 30cm x 22.5cm
• The Gully, Katoomba, Soft Blue with Gold Mingling
• Big Swamp, The Gully, Tree with Bushes Reaching In
• Orchard, The Gully, Receding Tones
• The Gully, Afternoon, Dead Tree with View
• The Gully, Green with Gold While Watching Greg
• The Gully, Small Spindly Trees Leaning
• The Gully, View Framed by Split Tree
• The Gully, View Through Trees
• The Gully, Three Sisters with Afternoon Shadows
• The Gully, View of thicket