ART work dedicated to the memory of a young doctor has been unveiled.

Dr Emma Chambers died when her car was in a four-vehicle crash on the A354 near Puddletown last October.

But now family and friends of the Dorset County Hospital doctor have joined forces and commissioned a series of artworks to commemorate and celebrate her life.

The works in the 'Dreams of Australia' project were unveiled in a ceremony at the hospital's Kingfisher children's ward and have been completed by Dorset artist Antonia Philips as part of the Arts in Hospital project.

The ceremony was attended by many of Dr Chambers' former colleagues, including ward sisters Mary Martin and Ruth Pitcher, and consultant paediatrician at the hospital Dr Richard Purvis, who spoke about Dr Chambers' work at the hospital - as well as her family and friends and her partner Daniel Craddock.

Jackie Donaldson, arts in hospital administrator, said: "The work was funded by all those who loved, knew and worked with Emma.

"Two side rooms in the ward are now filled with colourful and uplifting panels depicting Australian landscapes, wildlife and Aboriginal designs, with many in the form of postcards and postage stamps.

"The paintings by Poole artist Antonia Phillips were inspired by Emma's time at Cairns base Hospital in Queensland, Australia, and Dorset County Hospital as senior house officer."

She said the art is very wide-ranging. The panels include an aboriginal-style design of hands and boomerangs completed at the hospital with the help of young patients, during an artist-in-residence day.

Dr Chambers, who was 26 when she died, qualified from Southampton Medical School in 1999 and worked as a house officer at Dorset County Hospital from August 1999 to February 2000.

She returned to the hospital as part of her general practitioner training and spent six months in the paediatrics department as a senior house officer from February to August 2002 and started in orthopaedics in August 2002.

A man was fined £250 earlier this year for his involvement in the crash in which Dr Chambers died.

Van driver Luke John Richards, 21, of Goodens Hill, Whitchurch Canonicorum, near Bridport, was fined after he admitted careless driving. The sentence was condemned by road campaigners and Dr Chambers' family.