No one knows what’s going to show, when they finally open the Stuart Town time capsule.

Lying undisturbed under a slab of concrete for 50 years, the big breaking-of-the-seal celebration, is on Sunday, November 26, and everyone is invited to come along.

However, in a mysterious twist to proceedings, no details now exist to show what was actually sealed inside the vault way back in the early 1970s.

“The people who sealed it, who were here when it was buried, are all gone, so we’ve got no records to show what was put in the capsule in the first place,” Stuart Town Advancement Association President Marcus Hanney said.

“We’ve simply no idea, the only thing we have are the details on the plaque saying that it was sealed on November 26, 1973... it’s is going to be fascinating what is inside,” he added.

The time capsule was dedicated by then-NSW Premier Sir Robert Askin who had lived in the area as a child.

“He’s the one who actually sealed it, he was born near here and went to school in the town when he was young,” Mr Hanney said.

“We also know that he returned here to seal the time capsule back in 1973,” he said of the sometimes-controversial political figure, who dominated state politics from 1965 until his retirement in 1975.

The time capsule itself was recently removed from its five-decades-long tomb to examine its structural integrity before the big re-opening in the School of Arts Hall.

“We don’t want to have a situation, where we open it in front of the whole town and visitors, and see it’s only filled with 50 years of goo,” he added.

On that front, there was both good and bad news... 

Witnesses said that, while there was a substantial amount of water in the chamber holding the time capsule — comprising an old water-heater tank coated in fibre-glass — no water ran out of the cylinder upon its removal, and there was no swishing noise of liquid inside.

Mr Hanney said that descendants of local families who may have played a part in contributing to the yet-unknown contents of the time capsule, are particularly welcome to the big event.

“It’s been under a concrete slab behind the ANZAC Gates, so it’s been very prominent in our thoughts, it’s just that everyone who was involved, has now passed away.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from different families, whose relatives may have provided material for the capsule; if they want to claim items, we’re asking to bring ID with them,” Mr Hanney said.

The tight-knit go-getting little community, immortalised under its original name by the AB “Banjo” Paterson in his famous comic poem, The Man from Ironbark, are making a real celebration of the historic occasion.

“It’s gonna be in the morning (10.30am); and we’ve got plenty on, we’re having a sausage sizzle,  the Railway Hotel is opened up, the two churches, morning teas, Boehme’s Hall, a tour of the historic cemetery.

“We want to make a real occasion of the event, it’s going to be a great day, and the best thing is, we don’t actually know what we’ll find inside,” he concluded.

For more information, contact Mr Hanney on 0417 467 459.