by Gabriella Vukman
Snippets of the Hills have been stored away, lying in wait for daylight to grace their pages on the Basin’s 175th anniversary.
The new Basin Time Capsule, a composition of artworks, photographs and business cards has been months in the making.
Teacher and capsule organiser Lynette Hayhurst said, “This one is an eighteen year time capsule because it will be opened in 2042 which will be the 175th anniversary of the Basin.
“This amazing new time capsule came about at the request of and in honour of John Mortimar who is a long time member of The Basin Community, was nominated Knox local hero and was also a previous mayor of Knox.
“John asked me a couple of months ago if we could have a new time capsule so we set about making that happen for him and the community,” Ms Hayhurst said.
Many elements of the Basin community are inside the capsule.
Ms Hayhurst said, “I reached out to local teenagers who wrote about life in 2024 and what it will be like in the future. I reached out to organisations such as the cfa, the local scout group, The Basin Theatre… the mayor of Knox Jude Dwight has even put a special letter inside the capsule.”
“The Basin primary school children actually wrote messages that are in the capsule and “the December issue of Boronia Basin Community News is in there.”
“One of the locals took a panoramic photograph of that beautiful view in the Basin of the towers up on Mt Dandenong and put it on a canvas and it is wrapped around the whole inside of the capsule with everything else inside it,” Ms Hayhurst said.
The side of the new capsule is inscribed with ‘The basin time capsule 2018-2032,’ and will reside with the Basin cfa until its exposure date.
Ms Hayhurst said, “We’ve also had a community picnic last month where we put everything that is in the capsule on public display.”
“I think it is an accurate representation of the Basin today because it shows the local organisations, artists, schools and children.”
“I tried to encapsulate every different level of society and age group. We have grade three children up to people in their 70s or 80s,” Ms Hayhurst said.
The Basin’s recent uncovering of Burt Chandler’s 1967 time Capsule highlighted the need for more inclusivity and better preservation of future capsules.
Ms Hayhurst said, “The original time capsule was a spur-of-the-moment accidental thing but I say, if you’re going to have a time capsule, it is important to have a number of contributions that show the broader issues of the day.”
For Ms Hayhurst, the capsule was an opportunity to bring The Basin community together.
Ms Hayhurst said, “The reason why this capsule is a very good success is because so many threads of our local community came together to make a beautiful tapestry and it had community, historic families, local historians, community groups, local businesses and leading locals like the mayor so it was everybody working together that brought this to life.”
“These things bring people together and also reminds us of the value of connecting with one another in positive ways.”
“We just need to grab those opportunities where we can connect and show respect and honour for one another because our towns are so precious and I think we don’t appreciate them rough.”
