An augmented reality (AR) project is bringing meaningful art murals inspired by local geography, flora, fauna and culture to life in a small country town on the Southern Yorke Peninsula.
Warooka's Moving Murals Project blends technology with art, transforming static artworks on main street buildings and infrastructure into immersive experiences for residents and visitors.
Under the auspices of the Warooka Progress Association, in collaboration with UniSA academics, the Moving Murals project has launched as part of the 2025 Yorke Peninsula Grounded Festival, held within the state-wide South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival.
The innovative project was initiated by local community members to extend the popular Yorke Peninsula Art Trail with interactive mural experiences in aim of attracting more visitors to the southern part of the region.
Lead artist Jasmine Swales worked with a team of local artists to create the three public art murals located in the main street of Warooka;
- 'Molly's Tank' a large, concrete water tank, depicting an 'under the jetty' ocean experience.
- The side of the Foodworks supermarket, illustrating what is found in the local native landscape and creatures such as the brush-tailed bettong, goanna and mallee fowl.
- The side of Warooka Hardware, showcasing the dramatic coastal landscape and its flora and fauna; the nautilus shell, osprey, coastal saltbush, plovers, oyster catchers and a sea eagle.
The Molly's Tank and Foodworks murals include 'trigger images'; designs embedded within the artwork that visitors scan to access an AR story that expands on the artworks' design and content.
The local artists worked with students from the Warooka Primary School who also contributed to the murals' designs, stories and painting.
Researchers from UniSA's Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE), Dr Ben Stubbs and Dr Kim Munro from UniSA's Creative People, Products and Places Research Centre (CP3) were engaged for the AR technology used in the project and travelled to Warooka to meet with the project team.
They presented at a series of workshops and community consultations on how AR could be used in storytelling, and activated AR for two of the three murals. The hardware store mural requires further funding before the AR technology is developed.
"When visitors scan the QR code, they are taken to an immersive AR app where they access stories about the murals and how they reflect local life and environments," Dr Stubbs says.
"While we could help with the technology, the planning, and the logistics of thinking about story and place, this was a community-instigated and led project where stories that were meaningful to the people who lived in the region were created.
"The underwater themed mural on Molly's Tank includes an AR story of an underwater diver, and a local Narungga story of the shark. Across the road at Foodworks is the local, native landscape mural that includes AR stories of the re-wilding (natural restoration) process and local habitats."
Project coordinator and local resident Carolyn Ramsey says the AR technology brings the mural artworks to life, telling stories and sharing culture by creating immersive story experiences that connect audiences of all ages more deeply with the art.
"Moving Murals contributes to Warooka's cultural vibrancy and helps attract regional art tourism," she says. "By combining technology with visual art, the murals appeal to a broad audience and foster a deeper connection and understanding of the area's artistic, natural and cultural heritages."
Ramsey says the project would not have been possible without the collaboration of UniSA and the region's many remarkable artists.
"The partnership between UniSA and the local artists has been a great success," she says. "The trialling of this new technology and the creative thinking that was done would not have occurred otherwise. With Warooka being 300km from Adelaide, we are always open to any opportunity to attract more visitors, showcase local creativity, support local businesses and exceed people's expectations."
Warooka's Moving Murals Project was funded by Warooka Progress Association, Foundation for Regional and Remote Renewal, Northern and Yorke Landscape Board and Country Arts SA, Yorke Peninsula Council, Ballara Art and Lifestyle Retreat and Warooka Hardware.
