With the launch of its ‘Identity and Place’ initiative, council is hoping to get more residents engaging with seven of the region’s volunteer-run museums.

The program uses smart-phone and augmented reality technology to bring items from the museum collection to life.

“This technology is the same as that used with games like Pokémon Go and is ideal to add extra layers of information and works well with kids and families,” gallery and museum director Bridget Guthrie said.

“The augmented reality technology will be rolled out to youth via 12 workshops to show the importance of each collection and demonstrate this exciting technology.”

Postcards are used to engage with collection items through the technology and will be available through the gallery, library, museums and in visitor information centres.

The Tamworth Regional Film & Sound Archive, Calala Cottage, Manilla Heritage Museum, Barraba Nandewar Historical Society, Gil Bennett Rocks, Gems and Minerals Collection, Australian Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Tamworth Powerstation Museum have been included in this initiative.

Council hopes to continue this initiative for other volunteer run museums in the future.

How it’s changing all sorts of industry

Tech-pundits are saying the next 10 years will be game-changing for a lot industries.

Amber Stanley, founder and director of A-Positive augmented reality, helped Tamworth Regional Gallery develop the new Changing Face of the Peel exhibition, complete with a digital, augmented experience.

Gallery visitors are encouraged to download the A-Positive app to their smart phone or tablet to access additional videos relating to the exhibitions pieces.

“It taps into your camera, imagine you’re looking at your camera feed like you’re taking a picture, but while you’re looking through that camera feed, digital content is inserted into your reality as if it belongs there,” Ms Stanley said. Read more.

Changing the face of art

STATE of the art technology has changed the state of art in the region.

Tamworth Regional Gallery has launched its latest exhibition Changing Face of the Peel which tells the story of city’s river and illustrates how human use of the river has changed over time.

The project has been developed over the last 18 months and will also deliver three pieces of permanent public art to be installed along the river. Read more.

Remember when Pokemon GO swept Tamworth?

IF YOU’VE wondered why countless people have been wandering around the streets of Tamworth with their faces glued to their phones, you probably haven’t heard of Pokemon Go.

The new smart phone app, Pokemon Go, is an interactive, reality game which encourages people to get outside, and hunt for characters from the anime series Pokemon. Read more.

The Tamworth Powerstation Museum preserves the history of Tamworth becoming the first city in Australia to be lit by municipal electric street lighting in 1888.

The Australian Country Music Hall of Fame displays memorabilia from pioneers of country music through to current stars.

The Gil Bennet Rocks, Gems and Mineral Collection located in Nundle is the work of Tamworth local, the late Gilmore Thomas Bennet who spent years collecting the unique and wondrous selection of fine stone and rock.

The Nandewar Historical Society in Barraba exists to preserve the history of Barraba and the surrounding district and encompasses the history of early pioneering families, mining, agricultural and military heritage.

The Manilla Heritage Museum houses the collections of local history buffs including stories, documents, artefacts and memorabilia.  The Museum Complex includes historic Royce’s House (built in 1884); Manilla Rural Museum; Yarramanbully Schoolhouse; Harry Burrell Memorial Garden; Manilla Chinese Memorial Garden; and the Crompton Arc Light.

The Tamworth Regional Film and Sound Archive preserves our regional film and sound heritage and houses about 8,000 cans and cassettes of locally and regionally produced visual material and over 20,000 items on the database, plus historical audio material. Tamworth and regional material dates back to 1916 and includes many local collections.

Calala Cottage was built in 1875 by Tamworth’s first mayor Philip Gidley King, the cottage is furnished mainly from the late Victorian era. The museum displays items from early Aboriginal artefacts to the establishment of Tamworth as a city. Bequests from notable local families include clothing, portraits, photographs, furnishings and machinery. The shepherd’s hut, built about 1840, is Tamworth’s oldest surviving building.