Arthur Boyd and Bundanon

In 1968 Arthur and Yvonne Boyd returned to Australia for a visit of six months. The open paddocks and rural atmosphere of Murrumbeena, where Arthur had grown up had disappeared under the tide of Melbourne’s rapid suburbanisation. Open Country, home to Arthur from his childhood to early married life, was destroyed to make way for a two storey block of flats.

From 1956 The Grange, the home built by his á Beckett ancestors and lived in by Martin Boyd his uncle, was at the centre of a blue metal quarry. The old 1860s house set in the rolling Harkaway Hills near Berwick out of Melbourne, with its family associations and Arthur Boyd’s 1949 murals commissioned by Martin Boyd, was demolished by the quarry owners in the late 1960s.

With Open Country and The Grange so deeply etched in his makeup, Arthur Boyd experienced a profound sense of loss after his 1968 visit to the places of his early years, resulting in a determination to preserve the heritage of his family. His first tentative ideas for Bundanon had their origins in this experience and the decision to build a collection of works to represent his family was made at this time.

In 1971 Arthur was again in Australia doing a Creative Fellowship at the ANU when he and Yvonne were invited to visit a property on the Shoalhaven River called Bundanon by art dealer Frank MacDonald, then part owner of the property.

Bundanon had an immediate and profound effect on Arthur’s thinking and work. This visit reignited his passion for en plein air landscape painting, a genre he had explored as a younger artist but moved away from during his career.

On leaving Bundanon after a two week visit Arthur and Yvonne asked Frank MacDonald to ‘look out for’ properties in the area that might come up for sale. Months later he sent the Boyds a letter and some photos of the property next door – Riversdale. Arthur and Yvonne bought the property from the photos and engaged the services of architect Andre Porebski to restore the old farm house and build another in the same style joined by a covered walkway. He also converted an old garage into a studio for Arthur.

Arthur and Yvonne Boyd went on to purchase Eearie Park and Beeweeree properties on the Shoalhaven River. Sir Sidney Nolan bought Eearie Park 1 in 1982 and, jointly with the Boyds, Eearie Park 2 in 1984. Their intention was to put together a significant parcel of land on the Shoalhaven River and the nearby escarpment that could be protected from residential development, contribute to the conservation of the natural and cultural environment and serve forever as a ‘living arts centre’—a place to inspire creativity. Arthur and Yvonne purchased Bundanon in 1979.

Licences over adjoining Crown Land were taken up as part of that plan and, in particular, to further their important wish to conserve the natural flora and fauna of the area the Bundanon Wildlife Refuge was proclaimed in 1981.

Boyd and Nolan created a significant body of work over the years on the Bundanon properties. Arthur Boyd’s paintings, in particular, took the Shoalhaven River and concerns about destruction of the natural environment to a worldwide audience in the years from 1971 up until his death in 1999.

From early 1981 when they moved in, Bundanon became the Boyd’s home—forsaking Riversdale completely—and the inspiration for Arthur’s work. One of the first things Boyd did on arriving at Bundanon was to commission John Forbes, who had built Riversdale, to build a studio at the end of the garden using the form and dimensions of the homestead kitchen as a guide. Because of its historical significance and high landscape values, Bundanon was listed by the National Trust and on the Register of the National Estate.

Sidney Nolan, Bill Lasica, David Chalker and others worked tirelessly with Arthur lobbying first the NSW State Government and then the Federal Government to accept the gift of the Bundanon properties, heritage buildings, art collection and more. It took almost two decades before it was accepted in March 1993 by Prime Minister Paul Keating on behalf of the Australian people as a unique arts centre for the promotion and facilitation of creative thought, inspiration, discussion and practice.

The Bundanon Trust was set up in the same year to administer the gift and realise the dream of Arthur and Yvonne Boyd and Sidney and Mary Nolan.