Te Kūiti’s town clock turned heads when it was returned to the top of its tower on Wednesday. PHOTO BRIANNA STEWART
Te Kūiti’s well-travelled town clock was returned to its tower this week after being missing from its perch since March last year.
What was expected at the time to be an absence of three to six months dragged on for another year with delays ascribed to Covid and plan changes.
But it’s nothing new for a clock that was removed from the tower for repairs after its inability to tell the same time on any of its four faces was brought to the council’s attention – though one description stated it was able to tell the correct time just twice a day.
The bagged-up clock was returned to the tower on Wednesday, and it is expected to be unveiled in the next few days.
“It’s not quite ready yet as the electrical components still need to be connected,” Waitomo District Council engagement manager Jenelle Burnell said.
“From what I know, there is no set time yet for the unveiling.”
The clock was gifted to the town in 1958 by Don McLennan as a legacy on behalf of his father, Barney McLennan, who owned a pharmacy business on Rora Street in the 1920s.
Responsibility for maintaining the clock remained with WDC.
The town clock was the subject of community comment and query as far back as 2010, when a “Thumbs Down” in the then Waitomo News noted the four faces were showing different times and putting the onus on the council to address the problem.
In August 2020, WDC had an electrician looking at the clock’s components and was trying to make contact with its long-ago manufacturer, after unsuccessfully replacing its batteries – which didn’t work long-term.
A month later, the electrical component was sent away for repair. Six months later, parts had still not arrived from the UK.
Barney’s grandson, Steve McLennan, offered a further donation in 2020 for maintenance, but issues in repairing the clock continued.
With no watchmakers on staff, WDC found a watchmaker in Taupō and the clock was loaded onto a trailer for the drive. It was returned to Te Kūiti in December 2022.
When asked then when the clock was likely to be re-installed on the tower, Jenelle said the council didn’t know when the clock would be installed as the clock’s original donors, the McLennan family had organised further enhancements.
