Surveyors Spotted at Audley Weir, Locals Daring to Dream: “Is This... a Bridge?”

Finn Seabrook | Local Correspondent | The Shire Gazette

13 June 2025

AUDLEY — Hope has flooded faster than the Hacking River this week after locals spotted surveyors with clipboards and high-vis vests poking around Audley Weir — the infamous Shire choke-point that closes annually with all the reliability of a tax return reminder.

The sightings have triggered a frenzy of speculation that a bridge — a real elevated, drive-over-it-even-when-it-rains bridge — could be on the horizon.

“I nearly drove into the creek watching them,” said one overexcited Loftus resident. “It was like spotting a unicorn in fluoro with a Leica total station.”

The Weir, known for its scenic charm and complete lack of utility between March and May, is typically closed 30-50 days per year due to flooding. Locals have long accepted this as a natural law, like gravity or shirtless joggers in Royal National Park. But now? Whispers of hope are rising faster than the river in light drizzle.

Royal National Park cyclists are reportedly “concerned,” with one Lycra-clad commuter admitting, “A bridge would be devastating. I’d lose a full hour of gloating time on Facebook every time it floods.”

Authorities have not confirmed any formal plans, stating only that “routine survey work is undertaken regularly,” which in bureaucrat-speak is roughly equivalent to saying, “We know it sucks, but good luck.”

Still, the community is clinging to optimism. Locals have begun leaving offerings of coffee cards and dashcam footage near the weir in what one ranger described as “a sort of infrastructure summoning ritual.”

No bridge has been announced. No plans released. But for the first time in a generation, the Shire dares to hope.

Even the ducks are bracing for change.