On a pillar at the entrance to East End Reserve is a small plaque that simply reads, "Donated by Mr.J.E. Nixon 1925". A report of the annual meeting of the East End Reserve Committee in the Taranaki Daily News on 18 August 1924 indicates that Nixon had donated "iron gates", but that the committee would have erect the pillars and a fence. Unfortunately, no other information can be found as to when exactly this happened (other than sometime in 1925) or the cost. At some later time the iron gates have been replaced by wooden gates.
John Edmund Nixon was born in England in 1872. His family immigrated to New Zealand in 1877 settling in Taranaki. He went to sea at the age of twenty, eventually coming back to New Plymouth in the early 1900s. A trained marine engineer he established his own business in the town.
He retired in the late 1930s and according to his obituary in the Taranaki Herald, he was a "well-known New Plymouth artist." He died in March, 1954, survived by his daughter, Mrs. F. McManus.
Puke Ariki has copy negatives of two paintings, each simply titled "Nixon, Painting", taken in 1931-32 by Swainson's Studios. It's possible that these are examples of John Nixon's work.
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