H for History

You believed me
And our love is in a time capsule
Let’s dig it up

Matthew Sweet, ‘Time Capsule’, 1993

There’s a future in my life I can’t foresee
One Direction, “Ready to Run”, 2014

___________________________

Is it possible that a boy band is linked to our college history? Or, perhaps more accurately, a possible future? Read on …

When archivist Katie Taylor suggested that creating time capsules should be in her job description, she could not have been more elated when the concept was approved. “I was asked by our last principal, Phillip Heath, to come up with ideas for celebrating our 30th anniversary,” she explains, “and the question came up as to whether we had a time capsule. When it turned out we didn’t, I was given the job of organising one.”

As items were being collected, with enthusiastic student participation, the size of the task became apparent. ‘It was a big job,” explains Katie, “not least because one capsule eventually became three, but it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the challenge.”

To ensure safe preservation, Katie was also charged with taking the capsules to the ANU and have them filled with argon gas. This proved to be a great decision, as the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution have apparently been saved from degradation through being preserved in argon-filled containers since 2002.

I asked Katie if she was permitted to reveal any of the contents to our readers and she replied in the affirmative. “Let’s face it. By the time it is opened, the people who have read your article will have moved on anyway.” (Details of some of the content are below.) Included in the capsule is a letter from then newly appointed Principal, Fiona Godfrey, which outlined her hopes and dreams for the school.

And as to the capsules’ whereabouts? “One of our very own architects came by the archives and took measurements,” reveals Katie, “and then designed a brick enclosure for the capsules, which was then built underneath the Senior School decking, where they currently lie.”

The unveiling of the plaque recording the event occurred on a blustery day on 26 September 2013, to coincide with the official opening of the Mackinnon Senior School. Said Katie, ‘It was extremely windy that day, and not a lot of people were outside at the time. I was incredibly touched that they put my name on the plaque – I really hope I’ll be there when the capsules are finally revealed!’

Ella Hemmings, now in Year 12, contributed a ‘letter to self’ when in Year 7 (in Mr Joel Copeland’s appropriately titled ‘Future Connections’ class), and the overall concept of the capsules meets with her approval six years on. ‘I was very interested in soccer back then, but not so much now,’ she recalls. Yet other memories are somewhat hazy. ‘It will be cool to see how much we’ve changed since Year 7 – and we’ll have changed even more by the time it comes out! It’ll be interesting to see what we were interested in back then.’ 

Fellow Year 12, Claudine Page-Allen concurs: ‘At the beginning, you don’t realise how much your ideas and opinions will change as you grow up, and I can’t wait to read and reminisce on such a key time in my life.’

I asked her if she would like to be in attendance when the capsule is eventually opened, but Ella indicated she was never told when the capsule would exactly be opened. ‘We actually don’t have a set date for that’, admits Katie. ‘Originally, I proposed the 50th anniversary, but the plaque does not state when it will be opened. Basically, the capsules will be opened when we have a principal who decides that it’s time, or when we’ve got another significant anniversary coming.’

I asked other senior students how they felt about the contents, particularly the One Directionposter, which was included for posterity. ‘I’m not disturbed by its inclusion,’ exclaims Claire Graham, ‘as it’s a symbol of pop culture at that time. Like having a movie poster or Beatles poster.’ (Debate about the merits of One Direction members’ solo careers ensued and the offer of including a chicken curry in future capsules.) Claire remembers a Year 7 peer’s response more clearly than her own: ‘She was very wise as a Year 7. Although some people put pressure on their future selves to marry a One Direction person, she just wanted her future self to be happy. She just wanted the best for life.’ That peer, Claudine Page-Allen, recalls ‘listening to everyone around me demanding that their future self had better have married one of the members of the band One Direction, and deciding quite self-righteously that I need only fall in love with a good man. Wherever I am when the time capsule is opened, I hope I get to read my contribution.’

Katie Taylor shared some archival photographs of some of the contents prior to their sealing and immurement (Editor’s note – for the pedants: technically, the capsules are ‘immured’; i.e. are shut up within walls, not ‘buried’). I teased her about the One Direction poster and she replied, ‘who knows what mutant horror will crawl out of there! I just wanted to represent what was popular at the time.’

I also noted one poignant photo revealing the top of a pile of ‘Letters to Self’ by a Year 7 class. And there was Ella’s contribution, with a timeless footnote in clear, confident and neat hand-written print at the bottom of the page.

It was a delightful, innocent and poignant reminder by her ‘mini-me’ to her future self. Yet perhaps also to all of our future selves. It simply read:

‘Don’t grow up too fast.’

Radford’s 30th anniversary time capsule contents include …

• a letter from Archivist Katie Taylor explaining how the time capsule came into being, as well as her novel The Shadowed Throne, published that year
• The Canberra Times newspaper from the day of the sealing, and an opinion piece about Julia Gillard’s appointment as Prime Minister
• a bottle of 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from long-time Deputy Principal John Leyshon’s winery, Mallaluka
• photographs from the original ELC time capsule (2006)
• a copy of the 2012 Radfordian, the 2013 Radford Report, 2013 Homework Diary and a video on a thumb drive of the 2013 Foundation Day
• program for the 2013 musical, Back to the 80s
• commemorative 2013 coins
• letters and short blurbs written by and about students and staff
• a jar of Cheesybite and Vegemite
• an empty Vanilla Coke and Zero Coke bottle
• a copy of the current canteen menu
• catalogues from EB Games, JB Hi Fi, Target and Good Guys
• lists of popular movies, children’s books, slang terms and hit songs of 2013
• a combination lock for a school locker
• subject choice lists for senior, junior and middle school students
• Phillip Heath’s staff badge (at this stage, he had already accepted a position as Headmaster of Barker College) and badges given to school and house captains, prefects etc.
• a copy of a letter announcing the appointment of the next Principal, Fiona Godfrey, as well as a letter written by her
• the school master key
• uniform samples and a blazer pocket with embroidered crest
• a computer mouse, a mobile phone and a remote control for a data projector
• A One Direction poster

For a comprehensive list, you may need to take a Mallaluka Cabernet Sauvignon from John Leyshon to the Archivist. In any case, a special greeting out to those reading this article 300 years in the future, who are possibly revisiting these words with slight bewilderment on the eve of the time capsule’s opening 300 years later in 2313. Let me try to explain that boy-band poster one more time …