Narrabri’s iconic clock chimes again

The iconic chimes of Narrabri’s 90-year-old War Memorial Clock Tower are filling the air once again.

The mellow, yet resonant tone has been heard consistently, on the hour, for the past week and has given the residents of Narrabri the welcolme sound of this important and historic timepiece.

The town clock, which was erected as a memorial for the region’s fallen World War I soldiers, hasn’t been running properly for some time and has now been restored thanks to Narrabri Shire Council outdoor park manager Evan Harris.

Mr Harris has been engaged with the functioning of the town clock for five years and said it was great to see it working after all the hard work he has put into it over the summer.

“It’s just nice to get it up and running,” said Mr Harris.

“I’ve always enjoyed having it there and I probably look at it more than anyone else in town.

“It’s very historic to the town and I didn’t want to lose it.

“I could have sat there and waited to get someone out but that would have taken a fair bit more time.

“You have to go up and down there a million times and it’s quite warm up there.

“So you can only really work on it in the early morning because by mid to late afternoon it’s quite hot in there.”

Mr Harris said the problems are a result of the hot summer conditions.

“I know a lot of people were disappointed that it wasn’t going for some time but some things are just out of our control,” he said.

“It does tend to play up in summer and in the heat.

“There are five wheels at the top of the mechanism and the centre one wasn’t moving.

“We couldn’t work out why and then we figured out that there was a spring at the top missing.

“But then the bell strike cable snapped off, which has happened a couple of times over the years, so I had to go up and fix the cable,” said Mr Harris.

“Then we had some issues with the brushes in the motor.

“And then we had to fix the graphite heads.

“It was just one of those things where you get on top of one problem and another one came up.”

When the clock was designed it was a modern piece of technology but Mr Harris said it is completely different to a clock of today’s standards.

“These days if you put a new clock in you would still have the same frame but you’d have what they call GPS faces,” said Mr Harris.

“So each face is connected to a GPS unit which drives it round so that it is exactly on world clock time.

“Basically you’d lose all the mechanism that’s inside and then there’s an automatic chime that goes with it.

“The advantages of these systems that they have now are that you should never have to adjust it because it would be the same as your phone.

“It would automatically adjust to daylight saving time for example.

“And you can do some basic adjustments from your phone.

“It’s something that I think council could consider in the future.”

This was not the only time the clock tower had issues.

Infamously the clock wouldn’t stop ringing on one occasion in the 1930s (see story right).

The clock reportedly reached a total of 341 tolls before it finally seized.

This year will mark the 90th anniversary of the erection of the War Memorial Clock Tower at Narrabri’s Town Hall.

On September 13, 1930, the clock tower was officially opened by the Narrabri Municipal mayor Alderman Ernest Peter Hogan.

Plaques on the tower contained a roll of honour which displayed the names of 56 soldiers.

Originally the clock was erected as an addition to the Town Hall and it was taken down when the Town Hall was demolished.

In 1979 it was rebuilt in its current placement.

It was described by The Courier on Monday, September 15, 1930, as “a beautifully designed clock tower, so harmonising with the architectural details of the town hall that it might well have been part of the original design.”

The unveiling ceremony was attended by Alderman Hogan, Narrabri West Municipal mayor Alderman Manning, Member of the House of Representatives Mr L L Cunningham, Member of the Legislative Assembly Mr W J

Scully, a representative of the Namoi shire Mr T Waugh, the clock’s designer Mr McCourt and the Narrabri community.

The opening ceremony was threatened by ‘unsettling’ weather with plans made to conduct the ceremony inside.

At midday there was a break in the weather so the ceremony was once again moved outside however at 2.30pm, half-an-hour before the scheduled proceedings, a severe rainstorm hit Narrabri forcing the party to be moved back inside the town hall.

Interestingly Mayor Hogan apologised to the guests for the wet weather.

The clock tower, along with the town hall, was demolished in 1970, 40 years after its erection.

On May 7, 1980, the town clock was officially restored by the Narrabri Rotary Club.

The project cost approximately $12,000, which would be the equivalent of about $53,000 in today’s currency.

Countless hours from Rotary volunteers helped put the project together.

The re-opening ceremony began at 11.30am and was finalised by the first ‘official’ toll at midday.