From Dignams Creek, May 2025

We are officially a divided community in Dignams Creek/Wullunthar.

Folks on the north of Dignams Creek are cut off from the highway and their neighbours. A ‘Road Closed’ sign on a fence stops anyone trying to cross the old wooden bridge that is half down, and a new concrete one is soon to go up.

As previously reported, the timeliness and accuracy of communications from both Councils has been just abysmal, albeit improving over time. Still, we have no answer or advice on emergency preparedness. We have no answer on a simple upgrading of fully public National Park roads. Before Council offered a solution on our mail, a neighbour had dragged an old kennel with our numbers painted on across the creek to collect it.

It’s a one-hour drive to Narooma on the back roads. It’s a lovely drive on well-maintained roads. But it feels like a long way in an emergency. And a hell of a long way to the Cobargo Coop, usually a thirteen-minute drive. There is a rather splendid pedestrian bridge, erected so quickly, and a car park provided for people to keep a second/spare car on the other side. Not everyone has a spare car, and not everyone has such great knees to get up those stairs but those that do can haul my shopping.  Thanks for that, pals.

The most definitely closed road

While they make a hell of a racket, sometimes for eleven hours a day, the workers are cheerful and helpful. In fact, one of them is a dear Diggies neighbour, Greg, whose truck delivered essential supplies. While I wish that our Councils didn’t outsource so much and that more essential local workers and equipment were retained in-house, the company that got the bridge job is Australian and worker-owned. No one here is grumpy with them, not at all, we just wish we’d had less reason to be disheartened and disappointed in both Councils when the requests were so obvious and required a simple willingness to communicate.

There is a lot to be grateful for. As I scroll back through our community chat messages, I see neighbours picking other neighbours up from hospital visits and getting them settled. A cheese-making kit is going to get a workout after sitting in Sally’s cupboard for too long. Good advice was shared about the right conditions for doing small pile burn offs and reminders of who to tell. Sally Anne’s weed of the month is bamboo that, of course, I have a lot of but, with neighbours like we have in Diggies, we will deal with it and stick together, despite all of the obstacles.

Dignams Creek bridge works, article and photos by Flick Ruby
Top photo: The splendid footbridge