Catalina Park (some more history!)

This is a section of the now abandoned Catalina Park car racing circuit in Katoomba.
It was constructed in 1957 and was used for various forms of racing up until about 2002 when it was declared an Aboriginal Place and officially renamed “The Gully”. Before European settlement and through to the early 1900s it was an aboriginal meeting place and settlement, particularly during the summer months.
I attended various car race meetings in the late 1950s and 1960s as my father was the official doctor for all car racing in NSW. It is also situated less than a kilometre from my veterinary clinic where I worked for 30 years.
I have had numerous vet clients over the years both aboriginal and non aboriginal who have lived in Katoomba for generations and know the history even better than I do and believe me, it’s more complicated than the sanitised text in the extra.
I have blipped Black Billy Head in Megalong many times. Well that’s King Billy Lynch in the extra. He lived here intermittently around the 1880s and 90s.