This statue is identical to the famous statue that stands in front of the Judiciary Building in Honolulu. In fact, this statue is the original. The Hawaii legislature commissioned a statue of Kamehameha to celebrate the coronation of King Kalakau in 1883. The statue was designed by an American living in Florence and cast in Paris. It was, unfortunately, however, lost at sea when the ship carrying it was wrecked enroute to Hawaii. Insurance money paid for a replacement casting.

In turned out that the original statue has been salvaged and located in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. The captain of the wrecked ship spotted it, purchased it and it had it shipped to Hawaii. This is the statue that now stands in Kapa'au.