Carrathool turns back time
Mick Cattanach, Linda Wright and Angela Masters recreated the cake cutting from the 1983 Carrathool Centenary event. The trio stood in place for older relatives who cut the original cake. All images: The Riverine Grazier/Kimberly Grabham.
By Kimberly Grabham
To celebrate the centenary of Carrathool, 40-years-ago a time capsule was filled and sealed, to be opened on July 24, 2024.
Johlee Masters opened the time capsule, discovering a variety of items left for people to find four decades later.
Amongst the aged treasures were a can of coke, a tin of malt, a box of Billy tea, many editions of The Riverine Grazier, other newspapers, and many letters to people.
The community hall at Carrathool was packed with excited people, waiting to see the contents of a time capsule filled and sealed in 1983.
The time capsule was an exercise undertaken as part of Carrathool’s centenary celebrations, and was marked with a plaque, indicating it to be opened on July 24, 2024.
Most people who were there understandably could not remember what they had put in the time capsule 40 years ago, and were delighted to find out.
People came from far and wide; from Leeton, Melbourne and beyond.
Amongst the contents of the time capsule were a box of band aids, a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, a tin of strepsils, a can of coke, a bottle of iron tablets, a tube of toothpaste, a can of malt, a rat trap, a box of billy tea, a yellow pages, many letters, parcels, Riverine Grazier editions, and other newspapers.
Mick Armstrong displays the Carrathool Jockey Club poster from 1983 left in the capsule, along with some racing booklets printed by The Riverine Grazier.
The event was a success, with lively chatter and reminiscing about Carrathool way back when. The Carrathool Bridge turned 100 on the same day.
“I remember the little ‘tin hare,’ that used to run along the railway tracks,” recalled Mick Armstrong, who has been in the area for 48 years, and in Carrathool for 30. “Many students would catch the tin hare and get a ride to boarding schools.”
Rietta Johnston was born the month after they undertook creating the time capsule, and remembers her time in Carrathool fondly.
“We would climb the tower for fun, and I would push an old tyre along the railway,” she recalled. “We made our own fun, and it was fantastic. I loved to sit in the old coach and pretend I had horses.”
It was a day for reminiscing - John Matthews and former police officer Dennis Guerin brought back youth group in Carrathool, and would run it together. They would also organise trips away for the children. The only ones who would have to pay were any adults who wanted to come along.
“I was 41 when I left the area, now I’m 81,” Dennis remarked. “I remember Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, this hall would have tables of people all around it, all coming together.”
John and Dennis laughingly recalled how, on one trip to Melbourne a girl became lost.
“She was sat up in the police area in the mall eating all their chips and ice cream,” the pair laughed.
It was a well organised event and trip down memory lane.
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