Additional Information
Photo 2 courtesy of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (D.000016 enlargment in detail).
Time Travel Apr 29, 2009
A leap in time was made from 1879 to 2008 when contractors working on the new Supreme Court building site in Wellington dug up a time capsule in July.
The capsule was buried 129 years ago at a public ceremony before the Old High Court Building foundations were laid – an occasion that was described by The Evening Post at the time as “the most imposing public ceremony which has ever yet been witnessed in New Zealand”.
The Building Intelligence Group Senior Project Manager Bede Crestani managed the process in recovering and preserving the time capsule and coordinating the involvement of a significant number of interested parties, including the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, the project archaeologist, local iwi and media.
The capsule was later opened in a controlled environment at Te Papa, with a paper conservator present to ensure the best survival possible for the contents – four newspapers from December 1879 that were in a bad state and could not be read, and a parchment with the above statement from The Evening Post. All were contained within a French jam jar.
Meanwhile, the new building’s foundation stone was unveiled by Courts Minister Rick Barker on 11 August. The time capsule was on display, and will now stay in storage until the project is complete.
At the ceremony the Minister announced a new time capsule will be placed into the wall of the Supreme Court Building. Consideration is now to be given as to what will be included in this capsule for future generations to discover.
The new Supreme Court is due to be operational in early 2010.
The Building Intelligence Group is arranging a tour for Thursday 12 February to view the Supreme Court's base isolation featured in our last issue of THINK™. If interested, please register at www.thebuildingintelligencegroup.co.nz/tour_register.html by 17 December. Places are limited.