Time Capsule Found in Katikati Wall — 62 Years Early

A time capsule sealed inside a wall at 36 Main Road, Katikati, has been uncovered decades before it was meant to be found. Builders AJ Colquhoun and Rajwinder Panesar were stripping cladding from the old library section of The Arts Junction on 24 June when a PVC pipe tumbled out. Marked '1987–2087', it had been placed there 62 years ahead of its intended opening date by a young apprentice builder named Dene Skelton, who was working under contractor Owen Tipping at the time the town's new library was being constructed.

Once Katch Katikati administration manager Kristin Crockett was notified, she sought permission from Skelton before calling in Western Bay of Plenty community heritage services co-ordinator Sandra Haigh to witness the opening. Inside the pipe — which had kept its contents dry and in excellent condition — were architectural plans for the 1987 library build, a Tauranga County Council directory listing members' party-line phone numbers, and a special-edition print of An Ulster Plantation produced for Katikati's 1975 centennial.

A full edition of the Katikati Advertiser dated 12 May 1987 was also inside, its front-page lead story describing how Mrs Edith Honeyfield had handed a $50,000 cheque to Tauranga County Council chair Harold Cameron for furnishings and fittings for the new library. Period advertisements gave a vivid snapshot of late-1980s life: chicken breasts for $5.70 per kilogram, a two-litre tub of Tip Top ice cream, and a Caltex service station proudly explaining how an Eftpos card worked.

Haigh said all the contents have been documented in the WBOP District Libraries' Community Archives, though public access will wait until copyright questions are resolved. She also slipped a new letter into the capsule before it was resealed, recording how the library had since shifted to a new facility at 21 Main Road and the old building had taken on a new life as The Arts Junction.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).