Bundanon Group Retreat 2024
The SCWC Bundanon Group Retreat is a program held in partnership with Bundanon at the homestead over a week in May. The retreat invites eight emerging or established South Coast writers to develop and complete their individual works. Nestled on the Shoalhaven River, the Bundanon Homestead is a space dedicated to facilitating creative arts and research, and sharing the deep, living history of Indigenous culture.
Driven by the vision of Arthur and Yvonne Boyd, the Bundanon Retreat is a celebration of creativity, inspiration and group support. The week-long retreat not only offers the writers dedicated time to write but also time to reflect on the craft of writing.
The SCWC program at Bundanon started in 2022 for writers living on the south coast of NSW. The writers selected to attend the 2024 retreat include Brooke Boland, Amber Steward, Elisa Cristallo, Emily Gibbs, Holly Trenaman, Bron Xavier and Ada Lester.
Elisa, one of the 2024 retreat attendees, found the experience invaluable to her creative project.
"I had a wonderful experience at the SCWC Bundanon Residency. The focused time to write was perfectly balanced with group feedback sessions and events (including a private tour of the Arthur Boyd Homestead and a public reading). As someone who is already quite disciplined when it comes to writing time I wondered if I really ‘needed’ a residency to produce work. What I found was the week gave me time to actually reflect on my story - it’s themes, structure and purpose as opposed to achieving a certain ‘word count’ per day. This was so valuable and I think my project will be better for it. Thanks again to Dr. Nicholson and SCWC.”
The writers often spent their days individually writing and developing their projects overlooking the Shoalhaven River. Daily peer-led discussions between writers allowed for a pool of support and insight. The eight writers were able to offer different perspectives and diverse voices to contribute to creative critical literary discussion.
Another one of the 2024 emerging writers on this retreat, Emily Gibbs has been writing since she was nine years old with a focus on the vastness, remoteness and uniqueness of country Australia.
"My time at Bundanon was extremely fulfilling. To have the opportunity to exist and create in a beautiful environment made accessible thanks to the Boyd family’s championing of creative pursuits, was a true privilege. From within a converted 19th century barn, overlooking kangaroos grazing on an open paddock and the trees that line the Shoalhaven River, I worked on what I hope will become my first novel – a rural crime fiction. Spending my days balancing my creative writing with walks down to the water and through the surrounding bush, was both therapeutic and inspiring. The experience would not have been so enriching without the very good company of my fellow writers in residence. It was incredibly special to have such an intimate insight into their individual projects and approaches to writing, of which I was in awe of. I thank them for their support, encouragement, advice, and friendship. I am beyond grateful to the South Coast Writers Centre for the wonderful opportunity, and to Dr Sarah Nicholson, whose guidance and wisdom over the course of the residency was invaluable. "
Holly Trenaman, a writer, filmmaker and long-time SCWC member found that the Bundaon retreat helped facilitate a week of solitude, creativity and support.
"The SCWC has provided me with so many opportunities in the past four years of being a member. My latest opportunity has been being selected for the Bundanon Residency. A week away, of solitude, off work, sometimes off my phone, to focus on simply creating. I feel like this trip embodied everything that the SCWC is, all about creation and support and building a network of fellow writers to make even the wilderness of writing feel a little less alone. Thank you to Sarah Nicholson for facilitating this experience and making us all feel so safe throughout the process."
Brooke Boland is a freelance writer with a particular interest in stories with themes of embodiment and identity. Brooke has a PhD in Contemporary Women’s Writing from the University of NSW and says the Bundanon Retreat is an experience for all writing enthusiasts. She said:
"This residency offered the solitude a writer craves, and the courage an emerging writer needs."
The Bundanon Group Retreat provided the opportunity for these emerging writers to reflect, write and edit, creative time which writers know in a busy world can be hard to come by. The picturesque landscape of the Shoalhaven and the tranquil environment allowed for isolation, new ideas and inspiration.
The group work prepared the writers for a public forum at the Bundanon Art Museum where participants were able to share and discuss their work, ranging from fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting.