Nowra Bomaderry

Distinguished and Famous people from Nowra Bomaderry

🎼 Deborah Cheetham Fraillon

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon was born at Nowra on Yuin Country and grew up with her adoptive family in Sydney. A member of the Stolen Generations, she later reconnected with her Yorta Yorta family and Country. Her career as a soprano and composer has joined musical achievement with telling Aboriginal histories, including the opera Pecan Summer. Founding Short Black Opera created opportunities for other First Nations singers. Nowra is her birthplace within a much wider personal geography, while the work draws together performance, family recovery and a determination to make room for voices long excluded from major stages.

🖼️ Arthur and Yvonne Boyd

Arthur and Yvonne Boyd first visited Bundanon in 1971, when the Shoalhaven landscape renewed Arthur’s enthusiasm for landscape painting. They bought nearby Riversdale in 1974 and Bundanon in 1979. In 1993 they gave the properties to the Australian people, creating the basis of a continuing centre for art, education and creative residencies. These river properties lie near Nowra rather than in its town centre. Their significance extends beyond a famous painter’s retreat: the gift made the setting available to other artists and audiences, allowing a private source of inspiration to become a shared cultural resource.