The About Time rolling ball clock sculpture at the Town Basin has been formally handed over to Whangārei District Council, with Mayor Vince Cocurullo taking possession on Wednesday. Also there were members of the About Time Team and workers from Absolute Stainless who constructed the unique timepiece.
The About Time rolling ball clock sculpture at the Town Basin has been formally handed over to Whangārei District Council, with Mayor Vince Cocurullo taking possession on Wednesday. Also there were members of the About Time Team and workers from Absolute Stainless who constructed the unique timepiece.
It took the About Time Team 14 years to get Whangārei’s unique rolling ball clock sculpture to be unveiled to the public in all its working glory at the Town Basin.
That opening was in April and this week the structure - a working time piece, kinetic sculpture, science and education project - was formally handed over to Whangārei District Council which will take over the running and operation of the popular attraction.
Funding came from a Provincial Growth Fund grant of $750,000, plus $110,000 from district council community funding and the About Time committee’s own fundraising of $100,000. Donations, labour and gifted materials came to $75,000.
About Time Team leader Warren Thomas said the main emotion at the handing over ceremony from his team was relief and a sense of pride at what they had achieved.
‘’It’s been up and running since April, and since then we’ve had a couple of settling down issues and we’ve been in negotiations with the council since then. One of the problems though was the council didn’t have any staff who could do it (maintain and upkeep the structure) so we’ve trained up three contractors to do the work.
‘’The council will continue to run and maintain it and we (the team) will likely stay on as custodians, meeting every six months or so to help deal with any issues. For example, we still don’t know exactly how long the balls will last so there are still a few aspects we’re not sure on yet.’’
Thomas said when the project was first proposed it was intended to add some “razzle dazzle” to the nearby Claphams Clock Museum to attract more visitors.
It’s since taken on a life of its own, becoming a tourist attraction in its own right and fascinating most people who watched it.
‘’There are four main aspects to it that makes it so interesting. It’s a unique in the world time piece. It’s become a tourist attraction in its own right, just look at all the kids’ fingerprints and icecream stains on the glass from people watching it. At 1pm each day is when all the balls are moving at the same time and you can get crowds there at that time to watch.
Whangārei District Council has taken over the About Time rolling ball clock sculpture at the Town Basin after 14 years of work to get the unique time piece up and running
‘’It’s also a very interesting science project. It’s also a kinetic sculpture - people watching it can spend hours as they get sucked in to the machine. And it’s got a big cultural aspect. It also shows the time, the phases of the moon and the Milky Way and is aligned to Maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar. So we have that every strong cultural part to also educate people with.’’
Thomas said the sculpture was a great asset for the Town Basin, providing plenty of entertainment during its 8am to 8pm daily running time.
Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo, who accepted the sculpture on behalf of the council, said as somebody with an engineering background he just loved what the rolling ball clock represented.
He said it was a great addition to the Town Basin and the district as it provided hours of entertainment, as well as the educational and engineering aspects.
‘’It’s an engineering marvel, an educational marvel and an entertainment marvel and I just love the ball clock. It’s unique in New Zealand and it’s’s situated in our Town Basin.
‘’It’s in a beautiful area and I and many others just love watching it work. It’s just brilliant.’’
Cocurullo said he enjoyed seeing people getting enthralled by watching the time piece in action.
‘’The kids just love it, you can see them getting so engrossed in watching the balls going round and round and the pedal man cycling away. But then you see people in their 80s and 90s spending hours sat there watching it work - I suppose we’re all just kids at heart.’’
