Lynette Hayhurst
This is a fascinating story about The Basin time capsule, the importance of preserving and celebrating the unique history of a people, their culture and connecting generations.
It all began in late 2021 during one of the lockdowns, I was reading the book Fire on the Hill Flowers in the Valley by Rick Coxhill and the author explained that a time capsule had been buried in The Basin in 1967, and was to be opened 50 years later in 2017.
After locating the site of the capsule and discovering that it had not yet been open I needed concrete evidence to prove the capsule was in the historic cairn. in January 2022 I headed to the State Library to the Heritage Collection and located an article, written in 1967 Free Press, confirming its authenticity, then I gained Knox City Council approval to do a preliminary investigation to enable easy access to the capsule for a later community event to unveil the contents.
It took many hours and two evenings to take away brick by brick from the cairn to reveal the capsule. An early Clean-Up Australia Day was organized on Sunday 6 February 2022 with the 30 volunteers unaware of the purpose of the clean-up of The Basin and the cairn site which was for the community picnic a few weeks later. Knox City Council completed the clean-up of the site by bringing in a mini dozer to reveal a more stunning view of the flats in The Basin.
Finally, on Sunday 27 February 2022 we held a local community picnic to bring together historic families: one of the first owners of land in The Basin the Dobsons, the Chandlers and current locals to celebrate together The Basin and the time capsule. The local Knox U3A Music Muster provided a delightful and wonderful performance for free on ukuleles including songs like Those Were the Days.
Speeches were given by Chandler Ward Councilor Jude Dwight, Yvere Dwight who read Beauty of The Basin by Edna Chandler, Graham Fry of The Basin Theatre Group and Allan Toole, who as a boy put the contents in the time capsule.
I spoke last summarizing all the amazing events that led up to the discovery of the time capsule. I quoted W.A. Borthwick, a member of the Victorian Assembly for 22 years in which he inspires us to “preserve and build wisely the history and heritage of our past.”
I encouraged those listening to “take up the gauntlet and study our own town’s unique history so we too can preserve and build wisely.”
It was a wonderful evening to see the excitement, joy and enthusiasm of those present old and young, from all walks of life, all connecting with one another as they shared this wonderful experience. They all couldn’t wait to finally see the contents of the capsule. Allan Toole was a 12-year-old boy who was helping his granddad to build the cairn and someone suggested on the spur of the moment to put in a time capsule. Allan ran inside and grabbed a milk bottle, he put inside it about 8 pages of the Basin Centenary handbook of 1967 and he believes he also wrote a letter about himself and a photo.
All perished except the pages of the handbook. When the capsule was opened at the site it showed a small wad of damp paper that was clumped together in the palm of Rick Coxhill’s hand. The capsule had cracked over time and the contents were damp. After weeks of drying it out Lyn Grant a retired archivist carefully peeled apart all the remnants of the pages and has displayed them with the original pages.
The time capsule and its contents are currently on display at Rainy Day Books in The Basin until 17 March 2022 and then will be at Millers Homestead in Boronia for around two weeks on public display.
This event also showed the generosity of individuals and local businesses who contributed their time and donations to make this event possible.
Barbara Stephens and Lyn Grant did wonderful displays about The Basin’s history and the time capsule.
Local businesses in The Basin including Ralf Fisch Fine Jewellery, Acorn Bar and Restaurant, Allure Hairdressing and The Basin Theatre Group all provided fundraising vouchers for the rebuilding of the cairn.
The Camera House in Croydon provided expert help with the photographic display and donated the use of a high quality video camera to record the evening and Living Church of God donated the use of their church sound system for the evening to record the speeches. Finally, thanks to our brilliant and entertaining M.C. extraordinaire Allan Small.
There are many lessons to learn from this time capsule. It showed the importance of preserving and sharing our history and the power of a “little thing” like a time capsule to bring together those in our local communities to treasure and celebrate our past.
Its success was in no small part due to the working together of so many threads of the tapestry of our community, historic families, local historians, community groups, local businesses, organizations, local council and leading locals.
Lastly but importantly especially at this time in our country’s history, it reminded us of the value and importance of connecting with one another through these opportunities which we need to grab with both hands to celebrate together all that is good and precious in our towns.
