Iconic Napier woman and her dog immortalised in new 'art deco' pedestrian light

October 7, 2017

An iconic, key figure in Napier's history has been immortalised in a new "art deco" pedestrian light and may soon become a common sight around the CBD.

Napier City Council is currently trialling a new set of lights, which are based on the city's bronze statue of Sheila Williams walking her pet dog 'Raven', on the corner of Hastings and Emerson Street. 

Miss Williams led the New Napier Week Carnival in January 1933 to celebrate the town's recovery from the devastating earthquake in 1931.

The first traffic light, located on the same street as the sculpture of Miss Williams, has been in the planning stages for over a month and first lit up two weeks ago. 

Artist Stephen Fuller designed the light, which the council describe on their Facebook page as "rather sweet".

Senior Roading Engineer at Napier City Council, Tony Mills, told 1 NEWS the response to the traffic light has been extremely positive. 

"It's just a way to improve dull, standard traffic signals" Mr Mills said. 

"We are hoping to start rolling the lights out in the CBD.

"It's a pretty simple way to change the traffic lights into something fun."

Mr Mills said each full set approximately costs between $1000-$1500. 

The 'Wave In Time' statue of Miss Williams, the daughter of E A Williams who was a well known architect, was installed in 2009 and was later added to in 2014 when a second bronze sculpture of a little boy climbing a pole and waving back to her, was unveiled. 

Both art deco sculptures were created by Lyttleton artist Mark Whyte. 

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