Napier - Statue of Pania

In the gardens opposite the Hawk's Bay Art Gallery and Museum is a statue of Pania of the Reef, a mermaid-like figure who features in a Maori legend. Pania loved a man and lived with him on land, in spite of her family's appeals to her to return to the reef. One day when she swam out to visit them she was drawn down into the sea and was unable to return to her lover.

Beside the statue is the Tom Parker Fountain.