Two legends, which Coxon said were popular when he was a child, inspired the sculpture design: the first being that the lake is bottomless.
“It was drummed into us as schoolchildren by our parents that the lake was bottomless - it was simply a ploy to try and stop children from falling into the lake,” he said.
The second legend was of a Chinese trader who fell into the lake with his horse and cart, never to be seen again.
“They are two stories, both of which may or may not be true,” Coxon said.
The sculpture depicts three “larger than life” eels holding parts of the cart from the story of the Chinese trader.
The main body of the cart will be held up by one of the eels, acting as a shelter for a seat below.
“The stories have been built on to honour Sandy Dobbin, who is the latter-day lake legend if you like,” Coxon said.
The “totally whimsical sculptures” are made of Corten steel and stainless steel.
Coxon acknowledged the process that Hughes had undertaken to bring the sculpture to life.
“It’s been a laborious exercise making these eels and their heads and their mouths and their tails and putting fins on them,” he said.
There will be a signboard near the statue to explain its concept and that it commemorates Dobbin and all the park volunteers from the past 25 years.
The sculpture project was half funded by the council’s public arts fund.
Three other major sponsors include the Suzanne Mary Trust, Eleanor Burgess Trust, and Whanganui Community Charitable Trust.
The statue is located near the waka sculpture erected in 2020 to remember Pura McGregor.
“The site was chosen by the Dobbin family,” Coxon said.
“It’s in an area of the park where the Dobbin family used to make tree huts with their father, Sandy, and the stumps of the two tree trunks where they made the tree huts are still there near where the new sculpture is going.”
Dobbin’s work to establish the Virginia Lake Trust was still proving fruitful.
“There’ll be probably a dozen people there working at the lake and that happens twice a month on a Thursday morning, and it’s been going on since 1998,” Coxon said.
Over the 25 years since its establishment, the trust has raised and spent $750,000 on various projects including lighting, wiring the fountain, creating and maintaining the walking paths, and building retaining walls.
“People love the lake so much that they’re very willing to give us the money to spend wisely.”
The sculpture will be unveiled by Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe at Rotokawau Virginia Lake on Sunday, April 20, at 2pm. The community is welcome to attend.
Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
