Facebook call solves letter mystery
An exhibition celebrating Kwinana’s history led to a hunt to find the author of a letter written in 1972, which was found in a library book about a decade ago.
Fiona Kelly kept the letter with her for years, but returned it to the library after hearing about the Free Range Kids exhibition, celebrating the childhoods of those living in Kwinana in the 1950s and 60s, from her husband.
Written by a 13-year-old boy on July 30, 1972, the letter was intended to be buried in bushland as a time capsule, but was found by Mrs Kelly in the pages of a book about planes.
The letter talked about a picture of a car made in 1968, explained what bushland was in case there was none left in the area upon the letter’s discovery and stated Earth was getting very polluted.
History officer Vanessa Wiggin posted a picture of the letter on several Facebook groups and managed to reach a friend of the letter’s author.
From there, it reached the author, Ruiseart Alcorn, who now lives in Scotland.
Mr Alcorn contacted the library via email and said he couldn’t remember how the letter came to be in a book or if they even buried the promised time capsule.
He said he had arrived in Kwinana in 1970 with his family from the United Kingdom.
“Since those days I have played in many bands within the Perth metro area, eventually relocating to Scotland with my wife and two daughters in 2008,” Mr Alcorn said.
“Nowadays I am very busy with recordings and also putting together a live show for some post COVID-19 gigs. Maybe I will pop back at some point and do some shows in Kwinana.”
Mayor Carol Adams said it was wonderful how celebrating local history could bring people together, revealing the tapestry of the area and its connections to the wider world.
“On June 4 we held a panel discussion at the Senior Citizens Centre where people got to share stories of their childhoods and describe the lifestyles they enjoyed,” she said.
“Many of them described their bush adventures and I’m so proud that one of our aspirations as a City is to be surrounded by nature, reflected in the hopes of this letter from 1972.
“At the City of Kwinana, we are proud of our natural, rural feel while still being a modern metropolitan City.”
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails