The Rotary Club of Porirua commissioned Guy Ngan to produce a centrepiece for a rose garden the club built at Aotea Lagoon urban park - one of three amenities developed by local community groups that were co-ordinated by Porirua City Council.

Ngan's design was welded from stainless steel sheet by Chubb Lock and Safe in Porirua. It was installed in October 1979, ahead of the official opening of the Aotea Lagoon in March 1980 . At the unveiling, Ngan said "I've had many moments of pleasure working on this. For its size it took the shortest time of any I have done. I can remember several smaller projects that took much longer but none that gave me as much pleasure as this one." (Kapi-Mana News, 11 March 1980, p. 3).

The rose garden was modelled on the Rotary International emblem: a gear wheel with six spokes. It was a walled garden with raised flowerbeds divided by paths, representing the spokes, leading to the sculpture on a low plinth in the centre (see photos taken by Ngan in More images).

However, the enclosed space built of brick proved hot and dry. Various proposals to cool the garden were made including a pool and fountain in place of the sculpture (ALMP (1994) p. 22). Around 1995, the sculpture was moved from the garden to the edge of the adjacent south lawn.

In 2024, the southern end of the park was redeveloped. In January 2025, the sculpture was successfully relocated and reinstalled. It stands at south-west end of the Rotary boardwalk through native wetland planting which replaced the rose garden.

See also:

• Aotea Lagoon - Wikipedia

• Porirua City Council, 'Aotea Lagoon Management Plan', Dec 1994 (held at Porirua Library Local Heritage Resource Centre)