Our lady of Omanaia

We spotted this rather strange looking statue in the middle of nowhere and thought to ourselves "what the.....?!?!?". In Omanaia, just off the Rawene turnoff there is this icon place strategically up on a hillside and after googling it I've found out that it's known as "Our Lady"placed there by the mostly Catholic community of this area to protect motorists from accidents.

Apparently it was created about 150 years ago in France from melted down armaments collected from the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and was bought to Napier here in NZ in 1890 to be used in St Patrick's Church before being moved to Auckland in 1990. Time and weather had taken it's toll but the locals have had it restored nicely by the look of it.