The Nowra Showground is being given a facelift ahead of the 150th anniversary Nowra Show in February 2024.
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The showground's pavilion and grandstand have been repainted for the first time in 35 years, thanks to a grant given under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund.
The grant also allowed for the pavilion's roof to be repainted, and landscaping to be carried out around the pavilion and committee room.
And while the grant covered the cost of repainting the pavilion in heritage colours, the Nowra Show Society continued the theme by paying to have parts on the woodchop area repainted in the same colours.
The first Nowra Show was held at Greenhills in Terara in 1874, making it the longest continuing community event to be staged in the Shoalhaven.
After a start in Terara the show moved when the Nowra Showground became part of the first park to be designated for public use in Australia.
Governor General Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy consented to the first Act in Australia for Parks and Public Recreation in December 1854, and the Act came into force on January 1, 1855.
Only 46 days later on February 15, 1855, 640 acres in Nowra was dedicated for a Public Recreation Ground - a clear 10 years before any other in Australia.
The trustees were announced in April 1859.
The pavilion was completed in 1904, after artist's impressions of the finished pavilion's appearance generated plenty of interest and excitement.
Many prominent people have been involved in the show's organisation, and over the past 136 years there have been 57 show society presidents.
The latest is James Thomson, whose great, great grandfather - also named James Thomson - was the first treasurer for the society when it was known as the Shoalhaven Agricultural and Horticultural Association.
