Hepburn Shire Council has joined a coalition of western Victorian councils calling on the State Government to restore funding for regional roads and bridges, with Mayor Cr Tony Clark using the opportunity to highlight the fate of one of the district’s most cherished heritage structures.

Wheelers Bridge, a 125-year-old arch bridge and one of the first in Victoria built using the early Monier system of reinforced concrete, was closed in December 2025 after safety inspectors deemed it no longer safe for public use. The closure has left the community without a structure that many locals regard as not just a piece of infrastructure, but a piece of living history.

“Council is seeking funding to ensure the long-term preservation and use of the historic Wheelers Bridge,” Mayor Clark said. “It was one of the first in Victoria to be completed using the early Monier system of reinforced concrete and is a beloved community asset.”

The call comes as Hepburn Shire joined the Greater Ballarat Alliance of Councils (GBAC) in launching a state election advocacy platform urging the Victorian Government to reinstate a long-term Country Roads and Bridges Program. The program, which has lapsed, previously provided direct and untied funding to help local councils manage road and bridge networks that the State does not maintain but that communities depend on daily.

For Hepburn Shire, the challenge is particularly acute. Like many rural councils, it manages an extensive road and bridge network with limited rate revenue and little capacity to absorb the rising costs of infrastructure repair. Without state support, the restoration of a structure like Wheelers Bridge — requiring specialist heritage conservation alongside structural engineering — could remain out of reach for years.

The GBAC platform, launched at a deteriorating bridge in neighbouring Pyrenees Shire, underscores a pattern playing out across the region: ageing infrastructure, growing demand and funding that has not kept pace. For Daylesford and the surrounding communities of Hepburn Shire, the closure of Wheelers Bridge is a tangible symbol of that gap.

The Victorian State Election is scheduled for 28 November.