QATB Time Capsule

When a building in Sturt Street was demolished in 1968, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered to inspect the contents of a time capsule, unearthed from within a cavity in the foundation stone of the building.

Inspecting the contents of a time capsule, uncovered during demolition of the QATB building in Sturt Street, Townsville, September 1968.
Photo:  Alex Trotter, held by CityLibraries Local History Collection.

The building was the Townsville Ambulance centre, on the corner of Sturt and Stanley Streets and the time capsule was really just a rusty old tin that had been sealed with solder and placed in the foundation stone of the building when it was built in 1904.

The tin contained copies of the Townsville Daily Bulletin and the Townsville Evening Star, both dated Saturday, September 25, 1904, and the first three annual reports of the Townsville Ambulance Centre, which had been established in 1900.

Looking over an edition of the Townsville Daily Bulletin from 1904.
Photo:  Alex Trotter, held by CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

Along with the newspapers and documents was a glazed, earthenware whisky jar, although it’s not clear from reports at the time whether this was empty or still filled with whisky when it was recovered.

At a special ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the ambulance building in 1904, Mr F. Johnson, a life member of the QATB, had the honour of tapping the stone into place.

According to the Townsville Daily Bulletin, as the foundation stone was lowered into position in the south-eastern corner of the building, Mr Johnson “tapped it in the orthodox fashion with a trowel”, before declaring it “well and truly laid”.

A plaque inscribed with the names of QATB office bearers, fashioned by monumental masons Melrose and Fenwick, was also attached to the foundation stone.  Unfortunately, when the building was being demolished in 1968, vandals smashed the plaque on the foundation stone and it had to be patched up.

Inspecting the contents of a time capsule, uncovered during demolition of the QATB building in Sturt Street, Townsville, September 1968.
Photo:  Alex Trotter, held by CityLibraries Local History Collection.

Despite being only a little over 60 years old, the building which had been designed by Townsville architects Messrs Eaton, Bates and Polin, was undergoing demolition because it had been sold to the MLC company, who intended to erect a modern, six-storey office block on the site.

Townsville Ambulance Station, corner Sturt and Stanley Streets, c. 1910.
Photo:  CityLibraries Townsville Local History Collection.

The Townsville branch of the QATB had moved to a new, purpose-built premises in Hugh Street, Currajong, in May 1967, after having outgrown its Sturt Street home.

Built at a cost of just over $100,000, the new headquarters in Hugh Street consisted of four buildings - an administration block, plant room, superintendent’s residence and a garage that could accommodate ten “modern, well-equipped” ambulance vehicles.  These vehicles were Holden station wagons.

The centre would now be centrally located in a position that could better service a rapidly growing city, with easy access to the main arterial roads.

But the cost of the new centre was a concern for the president of the QATB, Mr J. A. Turner, who believed that the burden of raising funds for the ambulance service rested too heavily on the ambulance personnel themselves.

“These men are forced to run raffles and other fund raising schemes to provide this service to the community,” Mr Turner said.

While the service did receive some government support, Mr Turner felt that if every wage earner in Queensland contributed ten cents per week, that would then be enough to guarantee a free ambulance service for the state.
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