Most time capsules buried and then unearthed are filled with newspapers, photos and other bits and bobs to tell future discoverers what the times were like when it was buried.
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But on this day in 1973, a buried capsule was being unearthed that had been put underground for a very serious reason.
The Department of the Capital Territory was set to pull up a capsule that had been buried in 1942 - during the dark days of World War II - containing information about the city's land leases.
The buried documents would have allowed the re-establishment of the city's leases in the event they and large parts of the city were destroyed, presumably during feared Japanese bombing raids.
The capsule was buried near Mount Stromlo at a point along a direct line between it and Black Mountain.
The recovery party was led by the only living person associated with its burial, a Mr JFV Knight, who had been a staff surveyor at the time of the burial.
While there was happily never a reason to need the capsule, the decision to retrieve it was made because of curiosity about its full contents as well as how it had weathered its three decades underground.
