In 1976, Whakatere Ashburton prepared to celebrate the county’s centenary and welcome back an old familiar sound – the chiming of its town clock. Manufactured in 1903 and commissioned in 1904, the clock was removed in 1946 and placed into storage, with no certainty as to its future. Thirty years later, a small team of Ashburton Lions’ Club members worked to restore the clock to working order.

The refurbished clock struck four on 26 November 1976, sounding the end of one century and the start of another. This exhibition celebrates the 50th birthday of our town clock tower, an icon of Ashburton through the decades. Learn about the clock’s former life inside the Ashburton Post Office building, its eventual restoration and the innovation behind its life inside today’s award-winning clock tower.