Victoria's Statue

Wellington's Queen Victoria Monument is an early 20th-century statue of Queen Victoria by British sculptor Alfred Drury. Copied after Drury's earlier 1903 Portsmouth statue, Victoria is depicted standing triumphantly in her Robe of State and widow's cap, holding a royal scepter and orb. The monument's plinth additionally features a plaque and three bronze reliefs, designed in the New Sculpture style, depicting the Treaty of Waitangi and various artistic and scientific inventions of the Victorian era. Initially located at Post Office Square, the statue was relocated in 1911 to the median between Kent Terrace and Cambridge Terrace within the Mount Victoria neighbourhood of Wellington, New Zealand. The monument faced negative public opinion and a lack of maintenance throughout the mid-20th century. However, attempts to relocate the monument to its original location made in the 1990s met considerable public backlash from Mount Victoria residents. The statue was repaired prior to the 2001 centenary of Queen Victoria's death.