View across the Whanganui River from near St Georges Gate towards Whanganui East. The homestead visible is the first home owned by Major John and Julia Nixon. They moved to this 900 acre property in 1857, called Sedgebrook Grange. In March 1882 Sedgebrook Grange burnt down and they rebuilt the house on the same spot but this later burnt down in May 1914, leaving only the chimneys standing. Major Nixon died in May 1884 at the age of 67. In 1896 the Sedgebrook estate was sub-divied and the land was sold off.
- https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/wanganui-chronicle/20130518/282218008312716

Assumed to be near to Nixon Street in Whanganui East.

Unable to locate any records identifying W. Pharazyn. However Robert Pharazyn was a politician who served as mayor of Whanganui for a few months in 1874 and was also chairman of the hospital board and of the Wanganui-Castlecliff Railway Co. Robert married Emily Whitbread Lomax in 1871. It is possible that this watercolour is by Emily who signed it using the initial of her middle name?
- Jennifer Taylor Moore, Curator of Collections 19/8/2021