City Hall clock bell comes back to life

The Brisbane City Hall clock is chiming once again – but it may just be temporary.

In May this year, the bells were switched off by council workers for an upgrade.

The ringing resumed Friday, but a council spokesperson said at the time they were just being tested.

It continued on the hour throughout Monday.

Earlier this month council revealed workers were installing a new GPS-synchronised system.

The project included fitting six new motorised gearboxes, and was due to be completed by the end of October.

“Because of the age of the clock, many original parts are no longer available, so this has been a major upgrade,” a spokesman said.

It came a year after Brisbane Times revealed the almost century-old timepiece was chiming more than one minute late.

The clock itself has remained operational all year.

The Brisbane City Hall 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”.

It is the largest clock face in Australia – with a diameter about three centimetres wider than the Central Railway Station clock in Sydney – at the 56th biggest in the world.

The City Hall clock is one of Brisbane’s most well-known landmarks. It plays a key role in Trent Dalton’s book and Netflix series Boy Swallows Universe.