Cannons were purchased by the Government in 1879 and installed at Fort Ngahauranga overlooking Port Nicholson, Wellington Harbour. The never fired a shot in anger and were obsolete by 1900. Two of these cannons were acquired by the Palmerston North Borough Council in 1909 for display in the Square to the delight of many children. By 1939, the Council decided the cannons had outlived their usefulness and sold them to a scrap dealer who cut up the steel undercarriages and buried the barrels in an Albert Street property. See Research File A175/72/2 in the Ian Matheson City Archives, City Library for more information.