It was wonderful to receive the following thank you from a recipient of their own letter to themselves after 25 years. The memories evoked clearly made the time the letter was waiting in the ground in Victory Park all worthwhile. Hopefully, the memories will continue to flow for all recipients of the Time capsule mail. Note: the author’s name is omitted as requested.

Time Capsule  – Thank you letter

Dear Janne and Traralgon Rotary Club (happy for this to be forwarded to other members)

I wanted to send a very big thank you for the incredible initiative that was/is the Traralgon time capsule. This week, I received my letter and inclusions from the capsule and it has been such a meaningful experience to have these memories and moments flash back into my life.

Very fun and rather magical to have these memories frozen in time from when I was twelve years old and return to me now. Inside was a letter to my future self, a few stamps (45c at the time!), two tickets from the Sydney 2000 Olympics (I had a chance to attend that year), 85c in coins, some photos of family and friends, and a few news clippings I must have thought were important then. It’s been wonderful and quite funny looking back at what I chose to include.

What made this moment especially moving was finding a photo of my Gran, who passed away in 2007. These photos were taken before the days of digital, so to have them returned to me feels incredibly special. It’s a beautiful reminder of the things that were important to me then, and how much of that still holds true today.

I really want to commend Rotary for your role in creating and caring for this time capsule for so many years. What an extraordinary effort to make sure these pieces of our past made their way back to us. It’s a wonderful example of community spirit and connection to be involved and be connected and I wish you all the luck in connecting other folk to their memories. I’d obviously encourage anyone to get involved in initiatives like this in the future. 

I’ve attached a few photos of the items, in case they’re of interest. You’re welcome to use this email for social media and the photos provided but please don’t include my full name. It’s such a great story about just something so small but so impactful, all part of the amazing community work of Rotary. 

With gratitude, 

Also included a few images of other mementos below (Olympic tickets, stamps, and some striking news from the time):