Herbert Badham painted this scene during a trip with his art-teacher friend, EA Harvey, to the small, rural New South Wales township of Cudal in 1945. They were accompanied by Badham’s 16-year-old daughter, Chebi, and her schoolfriend Mary Fox, seen cycling in the foreground at right. Typically, Badham has captured an everyday scene and included people known to him personally.

Badham was born in 1899 and studied at the Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney. An early modernist, his predominantly figurative paintings depict city life and beach scenes. A passionate art educator, he published A Study of Australian Art in 1949.