Mooloolaba time capsule reveals life and hopes for the future
What hopes did the Sunshine Coast have for the future at the turn of the century? Time capsule reveals snapshot of life on New Year’s Eve 1999.
Sunshine Coast
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It was 25 years ago when a time capsule was buried in Mooloolaba with messages of hope for the future.
This week it was unearthed and items from the year 2000 showed a vibrant snapshot of Sunshine Coast life
Mayor Rosanna Natoli, Councillor Joe Natoli, former Mayor Don Culley, Mooloolaba Chamber of Commerce president Graeme Juniper and a crowd of locals attended the event.
The metal cylinder was buried out the front of the then new Landmark Resort on Mooloolaba Esplanade by former Maroochy Shire Mayor Don Culley and developer Graeme Juniper, with instructions to open it at the beginning of 2025.
Mr Culley and Mr Juniper lifted out the capsule to cheers from the gathered crowd.
They lifted the lid together to reveal newspaper clippings, historical photographs, tourism brochures, letters from Mr Culley and Mr Juniper, a Celebrate 2000 stamp collection, a 1999 commemorative coin set dedicated to the International Year of Older Persons and a bottle of Tyrell’s Toast to the Coast 2000 Fine Old Tawny Port.
Mrs Natoli read from the letters written by then Mayor Culley and Mr Juniper on the eve of the new millenium, right before they joined 100,000 Sunshine Coasters for a celebration.
First, Mr Culley hoped we “survived the Millennium Bug’’, the potential Y2K computer issue anticipated as the year ticked over from 1999 to 2000.
He wrote that the odds of him being present at the capsule opening were “fairly remote’’, but hoped he would be there.
This was impressively achieved, with the now 95-year-old Mr Culley, alongside Mr Juniper, aged 78, lifting the capsule from the ground.
Mr Culley wished above all that our “single greatest resource”, the environment, was preserved and he could see “everyone enjoying themselves in a very beautiful and special area known as the Sunshine Coast which we have tried to sensitively develop and protect”.
Mr Juniper’s letter contained his hopes that Mooloolaba would have “found its place as one of the premier tourist destinations north of Brisbane” and hoped to beat out Noosa, and that the history of the time period was preserved.
Mayor Natoli said this was a perfect opportunity to reflect on the past 25 years and to look at how much the region had flourished and evolved.
“Mr Juniper’s vision for Mooloolaba as a tourist haven definitely came true, and Mr Culley’s advice regarding preserving the environment – our number one resource - could not have been wiser”, she said.
“It is amazing to see what’s changed since 2000 and vital that we learn from the past 25 years as we shape the next 25.”
Among the capsule’s contents were two copies of the Sunshine Coast Daily from Friday, December 31, 1999, and Saturday, January 1, 2000 headlined “Party Time’’ and “Age of Imagination” that were preserved remarkably well.
The sheer variety of property bargains advertised, full page programs for Woodford Folk Festival and letters to the editor being recognised today by the people who wrote them showed a thriving town with hope for the future.
Property prices were wildly different as well.
A Brisbane investor bought five Mooloolaba penthouses for a total of $2.5 million, a four-bedroom beachfront home in Warana cost $219,000 and you could rent a two-bedroom unit at Alexandra Headland for $115 and land from $52,000 was available “beside a University’’ at Chancellor Park.
Other snapshots of turn of the century Sunshine Coast life revealed in the paper included:
A ‘mini-tornado’ tore off roofs and brought down 60 powerlines at Nambour, Palmwoods, Chevallum and Dulong.
Caloundra Bowls Club had a $3.95 T-Bone as its Bistro Daily Special, while Maroochy Surf Club had a $8.95 Monday Steak Night and Alfies at Caloundra offered a three-course menu for $25.
Mrs Natoli said she’d like to see another time capsule put in place to be opened in another 25 years in order to preserve this era’s culture in the same way.
It will be decided whether the artefacts from this capsule will be included in any new one or be preserved more carefully in the Sunshine Coast Council archives.
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