The Deniliquin Town Hall building had reached the final construction stage in 1876 and the openings for the four faced turret clock were in place, when the community noted that the clock openings could only be observed by those close to tower.
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It was then instructed that the clock tower was to be raised a further 10 feet.
Evidence inside the tower shows the lower openings had been bricked up.
For many years the Deniliquin Municipal Council sought funding for a clock, but the tower stood wanting for its main feature.
In 1904 Captain George Landale of the Kings Own Hussars, and son of a pioneering family, donated a clock to commemorate the reign of Queen Victoria.
Punctuality was the secret of success, and he hoped the clock would prove a secret to many and that success would follow them.
At the time of the Town Hall clock’s formal presentation, Captain George Landale had been called away to his regiment in India.
It was so arranged that his father Mr Alexander Landale would formally present the clock to the citizens of Deniliquin in August 1904.
The clock movement is marked F.Z. on the internal indicator dial - the initials for Fritz Ziegler, a Melbourne clockmaker famous for his Royal Arcade and Flinders Street Station clocks.
The clock was commissioned by T Gaunt & Co - another Melbourne clockmaker and was a weight driven pendulum regulated eight-day time and strike clock mechanism.
The bell was by Mears & Stainbank in Whitechapel London for T Gaunt & Co, weighing 275lbs (125kg), and was fitted to a heavy piece of gum quartering.
The London Whitechapel Bell Foundry, circa 1570, was also responsible for the Liberty Bell - an iconic symbol of American independence, and London’s Big Ben whose chimes are famous around the world.
The new clock mechanism.
The Town Hall Clock required winding every eight days, and in 1971 daylight saving was officially adopted.
Along with adjustments to time, and regular oiling and maintenance, these were all part of the clock winder duties.
The Deniliquin Town Hall’s last clock winder was local jeweller Barry Calnon.
He diligently tended to the clock from 1982 through to 2018, with the aid of his wife and fellow jeweller Anne Calnon.
“It was a weight driven clock; one weight drove the clock and the other drove the strike,” Mrs Calnon said.
“The weights are still there and can be retrieved to return to weight driven if there was ever an issue.
“The benefit now (of automation) is that nobody has to go in on a weekly basis to do the setting.
“Once Barry fell ill John Maher would assist me in keeping the clock on track, and Barry would sit across the road in the car and still bark instructions on a mobile phone.
“Barry would have been thrilled to see it chime again.”
Mayor Peta Betts, Anne Calnon and clock repair man Stephen Young inside the clock tower for the ‘switch on’ ceremony.
In 2022, during major renovations, the belfry timber was replaced with a steel frame to support the bell, and the clock face was renewed.
The original clock mechanism remains in the tower, but the clock is now automated and continues to serve our community with the hourly strikes.
The work on the clock was completed by Bendigo-based clock repairman Stephen Young.
He was joined by Mrs Calnon and Edward River Mayor Peta Betts in an official ‘switch on’ ceremony in December.
Ann Calnon flicking the lever to start the historical clock tower chiming once again.
