Hanging Rock, Shoalhaven River

Pidgeonhouse Mountain from The Castle, The Budawangs

Kangaroo Valley

Shoalhaven Heads

Nowra is the commercial centre of the City of Shoalhaven in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Located approximately 170 kilometres south of the state capital of Sydney, it has a population together with its twin-town of Bomaderry of 27,478.

Shoalhaven River

Nowra boasts the pristine Shoalhaven River, which formerly hosted the Australian National wakeboarding championships, it is also a popular fishing location. The river divides Nowra from Bomaderry and North Nowra, and is bridged by the historic Nowra Bridge. The Shoalhaven river is a salt water river, although it itself does not flow into the sea. The Shoalhaven River meets the sea through the canal that joins the Shoalhaven and Crookhaven Rivers, which was dug by convicts under direction of local entrepreneur and pioneer Alexander Berry. It is also located nearby Berry, Jervis Bay, Kangaroo Valley, Culburra Beach, Greenwell Point, Huskisson and Shoalhaven Heads.
The region around Nowra is a farming community, sustaining a thriving dairy industry and a number of State forests, but is also increasingly a retirement and leisure area for Canberra and Sydney. The naval air station HMAS Albatross is located about 10 kilometres south-west of Nowra. The name Nowra, originally pronounced Nowa Nowa by the Aborigines of the area, is the Aboriginal word for black cockatoo.

Shoalhaven Region: The region is, after Sydney, the most visited tourist destination in New South Wales. It can be reached from Sydney by car via the Princes Highway and by rail via CityRail's South Coast Line which terminates just north of Nowra in Bomaderry. The most well-known part of the Shoalhaven is the Jervis Bay area. The area is approximately 160 kilometres long along the coastline, including 109 beaches, which allegedly possesses the whitest sand in the world, as well as pristine natural Australian bushland. The Shoalhaven area is home to numerous species of native Australian flora and fauna.
With over 300,000 hectares of National Parks and State Forests, Shoalhaven is renown for its wonderful bushwalks. Whilst the coastal walks are always very popular the ones through the hinterland open up to some truly magnificent rugged beauty. Pigeon House Mountain in Budawang National Park is one of the focal points of the Shoalhaven. It offers spectacular view of the South Coast west of Milton. In the far southern region, the magnificent coastal Murramarang National Park is famous for its rugged coastline and varied native wildlife. Kangaroo Valley, Ettrema Wilderness and Morton National Park are also close by.

History: The Nowra region, south of Bomaderry Creek was inhabited by the Wodi-Wodi tribe of the Yuin nation while north of Bomaderry Creek was inhabited by the Dharawal Aboriginal people prior to European arrival.
George Bass explored the area in 1797, following Seven Mile Beach. He crossed the shoals at the entrance to the river, calling it 'Shoals Haven' due to the shallowness of the river mouth. This river is now known as the Crookhaven, but the name was adopted for the Shoalhaven area and the Shoalhaven River.
Around 1824, ex-convict Mary Reibey applied for a land grant in the Burrier area, on the southern side of the Shoalhaven River. The Nowra township was officially recognised in 1852. Less than ten years later, in 1861, a postal service was established. Also in that year, the racehorse Archer, trained in Nowra by Etienne de Mestre, won the first Melbourne Cup. By 1885, Nowra was declared a town.
A major landmark in the area is the house Bundanoon, which started as a single-storey weatherboard structure built circa 1840. In 1866, a two-storey sandstone house, made of locally quarried stone, was built immediately in front of the weatherboard house. The sandstone house features timber verandahs and is now listed on the Register of the National Estate.