The artwork was hung last week on a blank wall installed in the Health Service waiting room last year as a privacy shield and windbreak.

Nurse Unit Manager of Emergency Melissa McGilvrey and hospital pharmacist Ann Wormald began considering what to do with the blank wall 12 months ago and settled on an artwork, subsequently approaching local art collector Gora Singh Mann for his help.

At no cost to the Health Service, Gora commissioned a piece from Eddy Harris, a friend of 25 years and the creator of numerous works in Gora’s collection.

A Wilcannia-based Bakandji man, Eddy has exhibited work in major public galleries. He won the Pro Hart prize for Hanging Art at Dunedoo’s Art Unlimited in 2012 and 2013, and his painting  River Spirits  hangs in the Governor General’s residence in Canberra.

Eddy’s piece for Mudgee Health Service, The Cudgegong River, is one of his larger works, painted during a stay in Mudgee earlier this month.

Gora took the artist on a tour of the town, from Mount Frome to Flirtation Hill, to understand the landscape, the river, and the local wildlife.

“It’s got to be happy and healthy,” said Eddy. “That’s why I’m working with light colours, all the soft colours.”

The artwork depicts the river after rain in sunset colours, along with river fish, kangaroo tracks, birds and flowers.

“We are so grateful for this gift to us,” said Mudgee Health Service manager Judith Ford.

“We are so humbled to have such a beautiful piece of work here. I wanted to touch it as soon as I saw it and I think that is something Eddie wanted people to do.”

Gora has loaned two more pieces of indigenous artwork to hang on the other side of the screen, until Eddy can create another new work for the space.