App takes region back to the past

When the renovation of the old Wakefield Post Office is completed this year, an augmented reality (AR) app will be able to scan a post outside and bring its past to life.

Post Memory is the brainchild of local Sarah Arnold and a team of artists, designers and IT specialists who have voluntarily spent time creating an app that enables people to stand at a site and see the past come alive on the screen of their phone. She explains AR as a process of overlaying something on a phone screen that is not there but looks like it is right in front of you. In short, it’s a way of making the invisible become visible.

Sarah got the idea a couple of years ago because she’s a history buff and wants to tell the stories of the past in a way that is accessible to people.

“There are so many amazing stories from the past – their innovation and how they survived and the things they achieved – and I think it’s important to remember them, because without them, we wouldn’t be here.”

The app project is called Post Memory because they use recycled plastic posts that can be scanned using the app. One is already erected beside the cycling trail on Lord Rutherford Rd South, near Brightwater, where Constable Charles Knapp’s house still stands in the paddock beyond.

On the app, Constable Knapp is brought to life with his talking parrot which was a hit with local children back in the late 1800s.

Sarah has been working with the owners of the Wakefield Post Office, Helen and James Cooper, who have been steadily restoring the building and are keen to have two memory posts installed at the front – one for the post office and one for the former bank building that once sat beside it.

Now Sarah is seeking photographs and memorabilia for the old Wakefield Post Office, the telephone exchange, as well as the bank. She says they can create 3D models of items that were once used in the post office which can then be used on the app to recreate the scene of its former life.

“I think we’re going to create something pretty cool. It’s amazing what this new technology is going to do for heritage.”

Inside the post office, a walk-in vault will have interpretation panels and Sarah is still working on having something that people can interact with, using the app.

She says the apps’ technology is limitless and can be used anywhere to give an insight into history. While people can look up history online, she says it is far more accessible if they are at a site and see it brought to life and listen to the stories where they actually happened.

It will even be possible to take a selfie that looks like you were part of that bygone era.

The app will be launched at the same time as the opening of the restored Wakefield Post Office this year.

The app can then be downloaded and Post Memory intends to continue to add posts around the region.

Anyone with stories or photos to share can contact Sarah through the Post Memory website here.