Kiama Library’s latest self-guided tour lets you experience walking the streets of Kiama during the First World War.
Using your smartphone and the Kiama Library Tours app, you can take the 2.3 kilometre tour at your leisure, stopping along the way to learn about a soldier’s story, places relevant to the Anzacs and important sites in Kiama’s World War One history.
The Kiama WW1 tour, which features 15 stops, begins at Kiama Library, circles around our Showground, along the Coastal Walk, follows the Waratah March down Terralong St and concludes at Black Beach.
The 15 locations provide a glimpse into the Kiama of 1914 using interactive imaging technology and audio that allows users to ‘see’ and hear more places such as Kiama Memorial Arch and the two army training camps that were established at Barroul and Showground.
A total of 20,000 soldiers were trained at the two camps between 1914-1916. The app also documents the stories of several soldiers from Kiama.
“Kiama Library’s First World War walk gives a fascinating window into the past,” says Kiama Mayor Mark Honey.
“As well as discovering more about those who volunteered to be sent overseas, it shows how the Great War impacted people and places in our town,” Clr. Honey says.
The tour is intended as introduction to Kiama’s past, and you can use it as a start for further research through Kiama Library’s online and physical collection.
The tour can be expected to take anywhere from one to two hours, and requires only yourself and a smartphone, sun protection (or an umbrella) and water.
The online tour can be accessed through the Kiama Library Tours app on Apple and Android devices.
Other tours available via the app include a “My place” digital tour of historic sites in Kiama, a Charmian Clift walk and a Lloyd Rees walk.
The Kiama WW1 tour was designed by Library intern Joe Edwards, who is currently studying History and Politics at the University of Wollongong, based on research conducted by our former librarian, the late Ken Donnellan, and Joe Edwards.
Image: Joe Edwards shows Mayor Mark Honey the new walking tour app
