Gisborne town clock. Information about the town clock
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The 1931 Napier earthquake caused structural damage to the Chief Post Office, which at the time was home to the town clock. That building was declared.
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Transcript
Slide 1
Slide 2
Slide 3
The 1931 Napier earthquake caused structural damage to the
Chief Post Office, which at the time was home to the town clock.
That building was declared unsafe and a demolition order issued.
The government decided to donate the turret clock and chimes from
the post office building to the council for a new clock tower. The
clock was constructed in 1934 at a cost of $897.00 and dedicated to
the late R D B Robinson. Mr Robinson died in 1933 after serving as
Town Clerk for 43 years. The Robinson Memorial Town Clock was
unveiled 20 December 1934.
Slide 4
A competition was run to come up with the design. It's thought
to have been 'reproduced' from a lighthouse advertisement The 17
metre (56 foot) tower is constructed of reinforced concrete with a
painted plaster finish. The structure is a 4 sided flute main shaft
with anachronistic paired stylised doric columns supporting the top
of the bell tower.
Slide 5
The clock components comprise of a one strike and 4 Westminster
chimes. The dial and hands are from the old Post Office building. A
new master-slave electric clock mechanism was installed at the time
of construction.
Slide 6
The original flood lighting was removed in 1954 and replaced
with neon lighting. In 2005 new lighting was put in at ground
level, it allows the clock tower to be flood lit in any colour. The
clock stopped at 8.47pm on 20 th December 2007 when an 6.8
earthquake rocked Gisborne district. Each October to acknowledge
breast cancer awareness the clock is lit up pink.