Please note: Printed catalogue reads 'Stage Coach, Ngauranga Gorge ', this is incorrect. Correct title is 'Cobb & Co Royal Mail Stage Coach, Paekakariki Hill towards Mana Island, Wellington'

Charles Barraud painted one other known version of this same scene - a watercolour sketch held in the collection of Pataka Museum and Gallery, Porirua, probably a sketch for this original watercolour.

Although he made a living as a pharmacist in colonial Wellington, English born Charles Decimus Barraud (1822-1897) was an acclaimed watercolour painter of considerable skill. In 1877 Barraud compiled "New Zealand, Graphic and Descriptive," an illustrated work published to his order by Messrs. Sampson and Low, of London. This work is noted for the beautiful illustrations from paintings comprising noted points of interest of the Colony. He was appointed Chairman of the Committee of the Sailor's Rest, elected to succeed Beetham in 1892. Barraud was the first president of the New Zealand Pharmacy Board and was president of New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.