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NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has today launched its first augmented reality (AR) experience, allowing everyone to come face-to-face with one of Australia’s rarest seabird species like never before.This innovative new digital storytelling experience, accessed via the NPWS app on a mobile device, brings to life the incredible story of the endangered Gould’s petrel.

The Gould’s petrel breeds on islands around Port Stephens including Broughton Island. For over ten years, NPWS has been working on a special conservation project to attract petrels to Broughton Island for breeding, involving the use of artificial nest boxes and even a loudspeaker playing petrel calls. Successfully, in 2019 the first egg was laid and in 2020 the very first chick hatched.

With Broughton Island only accessible by boat, catching a glimpse of a Gould’s petrel adult or chick in the wild is unlikely for most visitors to the Port Stephens area.

Now, this new AR experience gives visitors the chance to immerse themselves in the story of the Gould’s petrel and learn about NPWS’s efforts to protect this special species, in two interactive ways. 

Visitors can go to the Tomaree Head Summit walk, in Tomaree National Park, and look for the signs along the track prompting them to download the NPWS app.

 At the summit, signage directs visitors to scan a QR code which launches the AR story on their mobile device. They can watch along while looking out over the water towards the islands the petrel calls home. 

Virtual visitors can also download or update and open the NSW National Parks app, search for ‘petrel’ and watch the AR story from home, giving everyone the opportunity to experience the AR story, not only those in Tomaree National Park.

 In the AR experience, a 3D-rendered bird moves and flies between scenes and animations on-screen as the story of the Gould’s petrel unfolds with narration.   

The Gould’s petrel AR experience will also be a feature of the upcoming Tomaree Coastal Walk, a spectacular 20km coastal walk between Tomaree Head and Birubi Point currently in development by NPWS.

To try this new AR experience, download the free NSW National Parks app on iOS and Android, or update the NPWS app to the latest version. For more information, go to nswparks.info/petrels-tomaree

This project is part of the Improving Access to National Parks election commitment, which was announced in 2019, with $9.6m invested in Digital Access Initiatives to improve the customer experience.