Bundanon Art Museum and the Bridge review: Brush with fame at Arthur Boyd’s historic estate
This estate 200km south of Sydney is nirvana for eco-conscious travellers as well as musicians, artists and writers.
On the banks of the Shoalhaven River, head tilted towards soaring escarpments and sparsely timbered gullies, Arthur Boyd found himself at home in Bundanon. When the artist and his family came to this part of country NSW in the 1970s, he said he chose the spot because he wanted a slice of Australian solitude, where he could be “swamped in the landscape”.
And when you visit the old Bundanon homestead, and the nearby Riversdale site, less than 200km south of Sydney, it’s not hard to see what he meant. Since the Boyds gifted the homestead and its surrounding 1100ha to the nation in 1993, the Bundanon Trust has made good on the family’s vision of a site to house and exhibit Boyd’s paintings, as well as the work of other contemporary Australian artists.
To Arthur and Yvonne Boyd, the estate was intended to become a sleepy refuge for artists to work and reflect the natural world. Three decades on, it has become much more, a hub for practising musicians, visual artists and writers. Upriver from Bundanon’s sweeping flats and sandstone homestead, that vision now encompasses an art museum, learning centre and overnight accommodation, all carved into the hillside at Riversdale, overlooking the broad and winding Shoalhaven River below.
Weekend visitors arriving at Riversdale are immediately struck by the steel-beamed trestle bridge, a bold structure stretching 160m across a deep gully, that now offers cabin accommodation for 32 guests, plus a dining area and cafe. It’s nirvana for eco-conscious travellers and those wanting to avoid the dangers of flash flooding, which briefly closed the complex during the March floods.
A weekend stay means two things for the weary city dweller: escape and quiet. And it all begins at Riversdale, at the heart of Boyds’ legacy. Following a wander through a new exhibition, featuring the pottery and drawings of the family patriarch, Merric Boyd, visitors to the impressive Art Museum are drawn to the works of contemporary artists Stephen Benwell, Nabilah Nordin and Rubyrose Bancroft, whose sculpture and claymation sit alongside Boyd’s work as a homage to the patriarch’s legacy and influence on the family.
Mornings in the valley are cool and sharp. As a heavy mist drifts off the Shoalhaven, early risers carrying colourful yoga mats congregate by the river’s edge, while others break off in small groups and head towards the scent of eucalyptus and bush trails that lead into the foothills.
A daytime fixture of bush walking, gallery viewing, music, good food and drink shows Riversdale at its best. And when dusk arrives – and you’re reminded of the strange mix of shapes and shadows that first drew Boyd to this region – the curtain lifts on a different performance, as boxing kangaroos and bulging wombats emerge from the bush and turn the grassy hillside into a wide amphitheatre for guests to enjoy the action, drink in hand and lost in happy conversation.
Any trip to this part of the South Coast is incomplete without a visit to the Bundanon Homestead, purchased by the Boyds in 1979. After a winding drive from Riversdale, the grand 1866 sandstone building emerges into view. Collections manager Jennifer Thompson gives a potted history of the site and a tour of its English gardens before leading guests to the homestead’s chief attraction: the artist’s studio.
With his palette knife loaded and a blank canvas before him, this is the space where Boyd made the finishing touches to his famous Shoalhaven series, including two of his crowning achievements, Peter’s fish and crucifixion and Shoalhaven as the River Styx. And it’s not difficult to see where he summoned the inspiration.
Entering the small timber studio, flooded in sunlight and still smelling of turpentine, our guide says little has changed since Boyd died, almost 24 years ago, at 78. The studio is jammed with bright canvases, sketches, easels, paint tubes, vinyl records, tools and brushes. Behind the sturdy workbench, Boyd’s paint-splattered jumper and wide-brimmed hat rest side-by-side on an old wicker chair. It’s a moving sight – as if the great man had only just left.
Bundanon Art Museum and the Bridge
Perfect for: Travellers in search of a weekend city break, gallery lovers, architecture nerds and devotees of Arthur Boyd and the Boyd dynasty. Long bushwalks make it the perfect fit for nature-lovers and those wanting a weekend moving from art galleries to the great outdoors.
Must do: Visiting the Bundanon Art Museum is essential, as well as a guided bushwalk with biologist Alison Haynes, lunch and a three-course dinner in the Riversdale dining room. Guests can participate in a landscape drawing workshop and early morning yoga session along the Shoalhaven River. The Bundanon Homestead and studio, where the Boyd family lives, is set to reopen on May 14, after a major 12-month restoration project.
Getting there: Bundanon Art Museum and the Bridge is roughly halfway between Sydney and Canberra, less than 30 minutes’ drive from Nowra and an hour from the Southern Highlands and Wollongong.
Bottom line: Bundanon Bridge accommodation starts at $1300 for couples (king bed or twin singles); $900 for singles. Art Museum entry is $18 for adults, $12 for concession and $40 for a family.