Sarjeant Art Gallery and Queens Park

A fine centrepiece for the town, the result of a bequest, the gallery design was by a young New Zealander Donald Hosie who was conscripted in 1916 to fight in World War One and died in France at the battle of Passchendaele. (See the Historic Places link.) Lively special exhibits complement the permanent collection in this well established gallery.
Gallery space is due to be expanded with a new building. The new design was the outcome of a competition won by Steve McCracken of Warren & Mahoney. Construction of the expansion was thwarted by the then Mayor, Michael Laws but is now progressing.

The Sarjeant Gallery sits in Queens Park (Pukenamu), once a fortified Maori pa and then the site of the Rutland Stockade occupied by British forces from 1847 during the land wars. At the base of the Veteran's steps leading to the Sarjeant Gallery is the Lion War Memorial commemorating 138 imperial and colonial troops who died in and around Whanganui during the New Zealand Wars, and another 18 veterans who died long after the wars ended. The memorial’s sleeping lion symbolises the British Empire.