Visitors arriving at the gun emplacement WW2 heritage site at Awaroa/Godley Head could soon be in for a very surprising encounter.
A joint project between the Department of Conservation and Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) is trialling a new app which takes users back in time, watching and engaging with soldiers as they readied guns and scanned the Christchurch coastline during WW2.
The app has been developed by the HIT Lab NZ (Human Interface Technology Lab NZ) at UC and is part of a five-year project developing immersive regenerative tourism experiences in Aotearoa.
DOC Senior Heritage Advisor Frank van der Heijden says when the idea of having one at Awaroa/Godley Head’s gun emplacement was put to him, it was a “no brainer” to say yes.
“We are always looking at new and innovative ways to engage visitors with the amazing history at our heritage sites, and this is such an exciting project. You are taken into the world of the soldiers and feel like you’re standing right there next to them as they carry out their duties on coast watch,” he says.
UC’s Dr Kris Tong who created the Augmented Reality (AR) experience, says it’s still in a trial phase and will be testing it out with users for feedback this summer.
“Our goal is to make the user feel like they are part of documenting the history. You use an app on your phone, and the soldiers are talking to you and asking you to take photos of them. They tell you about their background. You then see them identify a potential target and fire the gun. At the very end you can stand there on the gun emplacement with your friends and take an actual photo with the WW2 soldiers in frame as well.”
Frank van der Heijden says young people often use their phones much more to document their travels, and this app is a way to engage them with the history of the places they visit.
“I’ve done the experience myself and I was really impressed at how immersive it is. The narrative is quite an emotional one, and it does affect you knowing these young soldiers are just like you and I at the end of the day, doing their best and making good and not-so-good decisions,” he says.
Frank says they’ve worked with the Godley Head Heritage Trust and are clear that the story presented is not purely factual but based on real events with a bit of narrative license.
“It’s a representative story, where we want people to engage with the humans and their experience and how they felt,” he says.
There’s work to do before it can be rolled out to the public.
UC HIT Lab’s Professor Stephan Lukosch says the project is one of many others to change the way visitors engage with sites all around New Zealand.
“What I love about this is the innovation. I hope it will make the visitor experience to these sites much more memorable. With this one at Awaroa/Godley Head you get the chance to interact with figures from the past, see them, speak to them and hear their thoughts. That gives you goosebumps,” he says.
Download a video of the interactive experience
