Coloured images shine new light on Whanganui's history

Construction Workers on the Main Trunk Line near Waiouru in the early 1900s. Photo / Supplied

Kevin Collins is spending his Covid-19 lockdown shining new light on Whanganui's history.

The Whanganui man is taking old black and white images from Whanganui and colouring them to give a new perspective on Whanganui's past.

"They are bringing them to life," Collins said. "That's what we want. We want people to get interested into them."

Although history was his self-confessed worst subject at school, it has become a lifetime hobby for Collins.

Born and raised in Raetihi, Collins has a deep-rooted history in the Whanganui region.

He has previously been involved with the Hubbard and Spokes Museum, Raymond Downs Locomotive, Shipz Maritime Museum and is currently second in charge at Waimarie Museum.

One of Collins' altered images of St Hill St in 1927. Photo / Supplied

Collins said he gets the photos from "wherever we can find them", from buying them from different parts of the world to people sending him old photos.

He has a personal collection of roughly 15,000 photos of the Whanganui region.

Using three programs to colour and alter the images, the process can be tedious, he said.

"Each image can take anything from 40 minutes to two hours. It depends on how much is in the photo. The hardest thing isn't the colouring, it's actually getting the crystal-clear images from days past."

Collins is hoping to have a free database of about 40,000 photos up in running within the next two years.

"It should be good if we can turn it into the database that I want it to be. It will give people all over New Zealand and all over the world access to pictures of Whanganui."

Learning from the past is deeply important, Collins said.

"I've found that history always teaches the future. Without knowing your history, you don't move forward."

Collins' photos can be seen at Kev's Whanganui Riverboat History page