Time Capsule
Capturing a moment in time
The crypt lid is put in place following the burial of Vision Australia's time capsule in November 2005. Pictured (from left): former RVIB school student Reuben Ryan; young Library user Jaryd Clifford; General Manager, Organisational Development Jennifer Gibbons; and former Chair of the Vision Australia Board Graeme Innes.
To mark our new name and brand, Vision Australia has prepared and buried a time capsule. This has been undertaken to celebrate our history and achievements, which have included pioneering the first schools, library, employment training and voting rights for Australians who are blind or vision impaired.
Our new capsule
Our new time capsule was buried on Friday, 25 November in the grounds of Vision Australia's Kooyong centre in Melbourne coinciding with the launch of Carols by Candlelight® for 2005 and a performance by Marina Prior. Assisting with the burial were Chief Executive Officer, Gerard Menses and representatives from each of the merged organisations now forming Vision Australia. These were Graeme Innes, former President of Royal Blind Society; Reuben Ryan, a student at our school in the 1940s; Jennifer Gibbons, current General Manager of Organisational Development who has been an employee for more than 20 years and Jaryd Clifford, a six-year-old client of the Library.
The capsule will not be opened until 2066. This date was chosen to signify 200 years of Vision Australia providing blindness and low vision services. It was on 21 August 1866 that our organisation (then called Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind) was formed at a public meeting.
The aim of the project was to provide a frozen glimpse into an exciting time of change for future staff, volunteers and clients. Included in the capsule were photos and archival documents along with people's visions for the future of Vision Australia and society in 2066, many of which have been recorded in our studios.
The contents were housed in a box first used in a time capsule project from 1868, creating a tangible and evocative link between a past filled with achievement and a future full of potential.
Our first time capsule from 1868
Originally buried in 1868 to mark the opening of the then new St Kilda Road, the first capsule was uncovered in 1991. It included coins, newspapers, an etching of how the St Kilda Rd building would look, a Parchment list of committee members and relevant people involved in the project and the first annual report. All contents were remarkably well preserved, marking it one of the most successful time capsule projects in early Melbourne.