The school library at Bowen Public School has been the gateway to the magical worlds of the imagination for thousands of students over the years, but now those worlds have been brought to life on the library walls, thanks to a stunning new mural unveiled just in time for Book Week.

“This is the final piece to finish our library,” explained Bowen School principal Marianne Pankhurst.

“We have worked on our library space all last year, we’ve furnished and upgraded it, and this is the final piece.”

Created by the Brookvale-based Edugrafix Group, the mural depicts renditions of numerous popular children’s book characters from the BFG and Pig the Pug to the Gruffalo and the Wild Robot - all set upon a background of Orange landmarks with Gaanha Bula-Mount Canobolas in the centre.

“Originally, the design started as Alice in Wonderland and then it totally transformed,” Mrs Panjkhurst said.

“We said, ‘Can you add Mount Canobolas?’ and then the concept just changed and the background became all of the Orange surrounding area.

“So the waterfall represents Federal Falls, Mount Canobolas in the background and the water here is out at Ophir. Even the trees, originally, were deciduous, and that transformed as we wanted more natives to represent the local area more.”

Mrs Pankhurst said the mural has been in the planning for some time now and it was great to have it finalised in time for Book Week.

“It's fantastic that it's here now. This is the completion of our library. We've been waiting all year for it, so we're all very excited – and the kids are excited as well!” Mrs Pankhurst said.

Year 2 student Gracie agreed and said she loved seeing her favourite book character on the library wall.

“It has lots of my favourite book characters!” Gracie said, adding that Pig the Pug and Matilda were particular favourites.

“It's really colourful, and I really like it that you can see Mount Canobolas!”

Parents and other visitors had a chance to see the library transformation after the school’s Book Week celebrations last Wednesday.