Once upon a time there was a young girl who desperately needed to know the time.
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“Without the time she was like a fish without water, a flower without the sun, a tiger with no stripes,” said Adelaide Wall, aged 10, of Braidwood.
“One day when that girl was walking past the Bendigo Bank her watch fell off and shattered.”
For three whole minutes the girl was lost in her day, until out of the bank came kind Branch Manager Nick Fry.
The girl explained she needed to know the time, so that she would be able to catch the bus home.
Mr Fry said “We shall build a great clock, so all Braidwood people and visitors to this special town know the time.”
In a short while, ‘Baby Ben’ was born.
That was how the town's first ever community clock came into being, according to the St Bede’s student.
Unveiled today, the clock is a fifteenth birthday present for the town from the Braidwood Community Bank, in the works for more than a year.
On the stroke of midday, the curtains fell, revealing Braidwood’s very first community clock.
The chimes of the mysterious shrouded shape had tantalised the town for a fortnights, as it sat atop the awning of Braidwood’s Community Bank.
Today the town waited no longer, as Deputy Premier John Barilaro officially unveiled the ornate timepiece.
With Wallace Street blocked off, tourists’ cars gave way to crowds, filling the street.
Balloons bobbed in the air as hundreds of schoolchildren looked on.
Before the unveiling viewers heard several speeches, including from Branch Manager Nick Fry, Mayor Tim Overall and Bendigo Bank executive Robert Musgrave.
St Bede’s Year Two were the highlight, giving a clock themed performance.
Everywhere Mr Fry has gone for at least six months, he’s looked to see if that town has a clock, and what it’s like.
Nothing has impressed him more than what was revealed in Braidwood today, he said.
“We want something unique, something different, so we can get people into Braidwood,” Mr Fry said.
“To me it shows how much the community has supported the bank, because we wouldn’t be able to do it without the community supporting the bank.”