Well-known English sculptor, Ferdinand Victor Blundstone (1885-1951), was commissioned to design this bronze statue of Wendy Darling, the young girl immortalised in J.M.Barrie's story of Peter Pan and Wendy (1911). However, his studio was destroyed in an air raid during World War II and the work was completed by Gilbert Bayes. The statue was constructed at the works of Morris Singer and Company, South Lambeth and shipped to New Zealand freight free aboard the Shaw Savill cargo liner Forsdale.

The sculpture was unveiled on 9 July 1951 as a memorial to James Ernest Campbell (Hawera mayor 1933-39).

The statue's design is after the style of Sir George Frampton's famous Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, London. Wendy, holding high a lantern, is accompanied by two elves (or gnomes) - one playing a lute, the other a fiddle - four fairies, two hares, a raven, a rooster, a fox, an owl, two hedgehogs, two ducks, two toads, three squirrels and families of rabbits and mice.

The statue is signed at the base: F V BLUNDSTONE SCULPTOR LONDON

Plaque at base of Statue: IN MEMORY OF JAMES ERNEST CAMPBELL MAYOR OF HAWERA 1933-39 THIS BRONZE STATUE WAS PRESENTED TO THE CITIZENS OF HAWERA BY HIS WIFE MARION CAMPBELL

Wendy was to be one of Blundstone's final works: he died in 1951.