By Tyler Wright
The Basin now has more of its history preserved, with a newly created time capsule put away for 24 years.
Community members met on Sunday 21 January at The Basin Triangle Park to see organiser Lynette Hayhurst place historical items inside a PVC pipe to be put away for locals to find in 2042 on the 175th anniversary of the town.
“The Basin Primary School and St Bernadette’s Primary School, both have children who have briefly written about what’s life like in The Basin now and what it’s going to be in the future,” Ms Hayhurst said.
“A family member from the Dobsons has submitted the history of the Dobson family in The Basin and those who are currently living in The Basin on the same property that was originally bought by David Dobson; the Chandler family have also submitted some history about their family in The Basin.
“One of the local residents made a timeline of world events and Australian events from 2016 to 2024, The Basin Theatre Group has submitted some information about some of the history of their group and what they hope for the future with their future performances.”
A copy of Rick Coxhill’s Fire on the Hill, Flowers in the Valley : The Basin 1868 – 1992 was also placed in the capsule, which is under the protection of The Basin Fire Brigade, who will look after the capsule until a permanent place is found.
Ms Hayhurst said people of “all ages” attended the community picnic, which saw a performances from local band FEX.
“Everyone was looking at each other’s faces…some of the older generations would say ‘oh, not sure I’m going to be alive [when the time capsule is reopened],” she said.
“It’s a lost art… you don’t hear about [time capsules] much but I think they’re a lovely thing.
“The time capsule itself is not worth much, probably $20 if you added up all the costs, but its value to draw people together and get the best from the community into that little capsule; I have about 20 contributors to that and from every walk of life in the community from teenagers to artists to respected leaders in the community, so I think it’s a good thing. ”
Ms Hayhurst said the “sad and inspiring” idea for a new time capsule came from John Mortimore; the former Mayor of Knox.
“We put the old capsule in a cabinet at The Basin Community House…at that ceremony he looked at me and said, ‘I think we need a new capsule,’ so it was his request that I thought to honour him, this dear man, that’s all he wanted, he just would like another capsule.”
Ms Hayhurst herself discovered a time capsule buried in 1967 inside a cairn at The Basin Triangle.
It was to be opened in 2017, but was forgotten by the community.
“The previous capsule…was a milk bottle with alfoil on it…we decided with the advice of Richard the Renovator from 98 .1 FM; he’s got all those advice about building and he actually rebuilt the old monument that we took the original capsule out of and here’s the one he suggested ‘why don’t we get PVC pipe and use that to store it so it would never get wrecked like the last one,'” Ms Hayhurst said.
“We got a very large PVC pipe with caps on either end.
“Lois Dobson has now spent the past week or so in her own inimitable style…she’s also done all the artwork around it in its own style, quite stunning ; It’s got ferns and butterflies and on each cap she has put, the caps are gold and on each end of them she’s got Aboriginal symbols.”
Ms Hayhurst said the new time capsule has “hundreds” of years worth of history inside it, as well as current things that have happened which will become history.
“The people in the future will be able to look back and go ‘wow, things are similar in some ways, but wow, they’re really different,'” she said.
“I like to bring together, to connect, the best in the community.
“Bringing together the history of The Basin, the people who currently live here and the talented artists and the writers and everybody with all their strengths, it just shows that if we work together we can do some beautiful things.”
