"The hardest thing was remembering where we buried it," former Alexandra Jaycees member Murray Anderson said of the time capsule buried in 1993 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Alexandra’s clock on the hill.
"But we found it in the end, I had a pretty good idea where it was. It was buried under the number six."
The time capsule was dug up earlier this month and the capsule’s contents, including photos, newspapers and information about the clock, were displayed for celebrations to commemorate the clock’s 50th anniversary in Alexandra on Saturday.
Mr Anderson was the president of the Alexandra Jaycees when the 25th anniversary time capsule was buried in 1993 and he was joined by about 40 other Jaycee, Lions and community figures for the 50th celebrations.
John Taylor, who was president of the Jaycees when the clock was built, said the clock had become "an icon".
It was also a reminder of a time "when people had weekends free" to work on community projects, and that "when you all work together you can achieve what can seem impossible".
The clock sits on land that is part of Matangi Station, which is owned by John and Mary-Liz Sanders.
Mr Sanders said he remembered the commitment of his grandparents, Jack and Jessie Sanders, who were the station runholders in 1968, to support the clock.
He has since put about 28ha of land surrounding the clock into a QEII covenant, "so the clock will be there forever".
A new time capsule will be buried to commemorate the clock’s 50th anniversary.
