[4] Paddy the Wanderer, according to a telephone call made to The Evening Post a day after his death, had been given to the daughter of Mrs. R. Gardner of Wellington by a horse trainer from Christchurch.

[5] According to Dianne Haworth's 2007 biography,[6] the child had died of pneumonia; after her death, Paddy wandered the Wellington waterfront and occasionally took trips on visiting ships.

Wellington Harbour Board adopted Paddy under the formal title of Assistant Night Watchman, whose job it was to keep guard for "pirates, smugglers and rodents".

[7] Haworth also reports that apparently Paddy had almost fallen victim to a dognapping scheme perpetrated by jealous citizens of Auckland.

Erected in 1945, it was paid for by Paddy's many friends and includes stones from London's Waterloo Bridge, bombed during World War II.