A GROUNDBREAKING virtual reality tool will help celebrate and increase understanding of the Wimmera River’s cultural and natural resource values.
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Wimmera Catchment Management Authority and Barengi Gadjin Land Council have worked alongside the region’s traditional owners, Aboriginal groups, students and an immersive heritage specialist to create Virtual River Yarns.
The game will immerse users into the Wimmera’s cultural heritage by allowing them to experience what the region looked like before European settlement.
The authority hopes to use the tool in schools and for community education.
Specialist, virtual historian and artist Brett Leavy has used information from a series of workshops and a river yarns tour last year to build the game, which includes Wimmera-specific plants, tools, people and campsites.
Mr Leavy said he and his team had listened to and worked with many stories, and had tried to reconstruct them as authentically and respectfully as possible.
“It’s really about thinking what’s in your mind’s eye and trying to go back in history,” he said.
“This is an immersive experience, where people are walking in the footsteps of the First Nations people and experiencing the life they had along the Wimmera River.”
Mr Leavy said working with the community – which included Aboriginal digital media students from Horsham’s Federation University campus, and Horsham Primary School students – was invaluable.
“We received lots of good feedback. The kids understand this space. We’re building a serious game, and we want to make their feedback become part of that world,” he said.
“There are also historians and archaeologists who have done work in this space and produced reports. Those might only get read by a few people, but if we can use that knowledge, it then becomes usable and interactive in other ways.”
Mr Leavy said Virtual River Yarns allowed users to meet Wimmera people, then interact and be part of activities such as gathering water, creating art and other cultural practices.
“We are building time machines in effect,” he said. “We can take the traditional knowledge and present it in a way that’s better than anything done before.”
Virtual River Yarns will launch in Horsham on Tuesday as part of NAIDOC Week.
The launch at Horsham Town Hall will include a free lunch and children’s activities.
Mr Leavy invited people to see the game in action.
“We'll have three computers with big screens, so people will be able to play it on the day,” he said.
“After the launch there will be more information about how and when the game is distributed.
“Wimmera CMA would like to use it in schools as a learning and teaching tool, but we would also like to see it in a permanent space in the tourism hub where people can learn more about the rich cultural heritage of the area.”