The clock in Brisbane City Hall is late.
The clock in the Brisbane City Hall tower is running late.Adobe Stock
Exactly one minute and five seconds late,lately.
I don’t have time for that.
I first noticed the historic clock that looms over King George Square off Ann Street was late several months ago when it chimed to mark a 15-minute interval and theBrisbane Times’ journalists began to scurry into the morning news conference.
Except it was not exactly 9.45am,I realised upon glancing at the time on my desk phone,a device that has become almost obsolete as I only use it to check the time (I use my mobile phone for actual phone calls because who is tethered to landlines these days?).
It was a minute or two after 9.45am.
Or was it?
Dismissing my confusion,I forgot about the mistimed clock bells and by the time I thought about it again,and checked against my phone’s time,the City Hall clock was dinging and bonging bang on time.
But it’s wrong again,and as I’m lucky enough to have a front-row view of City Hall from my desk,and column space to fill,let me reveal the findings from my horological investigation.
Reporter Felicity Caldwell took a video of the City Hall clock chiming late,comparing the time with her watch. My watch says it’s 4.01pm,but the clock bells say it is 4pm. This is a screengrab.Felicity Caldwell
The clock was built in the late 1920s and was described in a brochure as the “most modern and complete electrical time-keeping system in Australia at the present time. The whole system is automatic.”
The clock face is the largest in Australia,and when it was unveiled,many people did not wear watches,let alone have phones in their pockets that told them the time to the second.
When the City Hall clock struck the hours and chimed the quarters,that was invaluable for anyone in the auditory vicinity who had somewhere to be.
Now,it’s mostly just a minor irritation.
Apple boasts its aim is,the world’s time standard,pulling in time signals from satellites.
But as one of Brisbane’s most recognisable icons,and a feature of Trent Dalton’s internationally acclaimed book and Netflix seriesBoy Swallows Universe,it’d be great if the City Hall timepiece actually kept the time.
About 11 months ago,Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner revealed the council was trialling a new electric motor on the almost century-old analogue clock and asked people not to worry if the clock was “running a little fast or slow”.
“It’s all part of our plan to keep the beautiful heritage-listed clock tower ticking,” Schrinner posted on LinkedIn.
My investigations can reveal the clock face motors were upgraded in early 2024 to ensure accurate time keeping on the clock face,separate to the bell motors,which were functioning as expected.
Monthly maintenance is done on the clock,including minor adjustments to bell chiming and fixing up discrepancies,like being a minute off.
Brisbane City Council Community and Arts civic cabinet chair Cr Vicki Howard said:“From time to time our City Hall clock may lose a minute,but this almost 100-year analogue clock remains reliable and with its monthly servicing will continue to chime every 15 minutes now and into the future.”
You might be wondering if I noticed this anomaly because I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.
Maybe I’d have even more if I didn’t keep discovering I’m 65 seconds behind.