Furnissdale bush poet Craig Waterman performs a poem written in honour of Mandurah’s Old Traffic Bridge.
WATCH:
The Old Traffic Bridge
The crowd had all gone silent
As the time had almost come
~
The moon was right, the tide set to turn
So begins, the Mandurah prawn run
~
We had jostled for position
With some poor sportsmanship displayed
~
But we now wait that moment
Which has had us here all day
~
The old traffic bridge was loaded
Long handled nets and Tilley lamps
~
While the luckier among us
Launched their craft at our boat ramps
~
It all happens very quickly
Idle water starts to shift
~
The nearby boats take one direction
As they lose their sideways drift
~
A splash and then another
It quickly becomes a roaring din
~
There’s a swirling of the sand below
As the prawns begin to swim
~
The nets are flying left and right
Colourful language fills the air
~
There are prawns enough for everyone
Some want more than their fair share
~
Buckets are soon brimming
Filled with prawns, with crabs and fish
~
It has been the kind of Mandurah night
Where you’ve fulfilled a childhood wish
~
For this bridge has been an icon
And stories of these nights are regaled
~
We’ll tell the children of these nights down there
And recall them in detail
~
For soon it will be done no more
As its time has almost past
~
Sixty years of service to our people
You stood faithfully ‘til the last
~
You’ll be consigned unto our history books
But in our memories you will stay
~
Forever ‘The Old Traffic Bridge’
This City’s heart for all our days.