Capital Regional District Regional District

Dream of escaping to an island, for the slower pace and stunning views? An illustrated love letter to the Pacific Northwest's iconic islands--focusing on Puget Sound, the San Juans, and Canada's Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island--this guide charms and educates travelers, locals, and armchair adventurers alike. Kick back, relax, and get On Island Time! This quirky illustrated travel guide showcases the hidden delights, natural wonders, and singular history of Washington and British Columbia's islands, from the author of bestselling The Best Coast, Illustrated Adventures Along the West Coast Historic Highways

xi, 195 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 27 cm

"Interviews with Jon Guy and Priscilla Ewbank who came separately to Saturna Island in the 1970's and made a rich life and living together, raising three children and making several successful businesses as part of a vibrant community. The interviews and postscript bring us to the present. The text is enriched with 10 colour and 30 BW photographs from the family collections, as well as an original colour map of the island showing places mentioned. Jon and Priscilla were and are key island figures who were involved deeply in every key aspect of the community over these decades."-- Provided by publisher

pages cm

Found on the history shelves of the Greater Victoria Public Library, these twenty true stories are brought to life by Stephen Ruttan. They draw a picture of the life of a city with a recent past that's both unconventional and colourful. From Miss Wilson and her famous parrot, Louis, to Jimmy Chicken Island, named after a man who acquired his surname from his habit of stealing chickens, to the Pig War, when Britain and the United States nearly came to blows over the San Juan Islands, to the rise and fall of Francis Rattenbury, one of Victorias best-known architects, these stories reveal a lively history of a West Coast capital city. Archival illustrations, newspaper clippings, and modern photos help make Vancouver Island Scoundrels, Eccentrics and Originals a delightful and illluminating read.

184 pages : illustrations (some colour), maps, portraits ; 19 cm.

For centuries, borders have been central to salmon management customs on the Salish Sea, but how those borders were drawn has had very different effects on the Northwest salmon fishery. Native peoples who fished the Salish Sea--which includes Puget Sound in Washington State, the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca--drew social and cultural borders around salmon fishing locations and found ways to administer the resource in a sustainable way. Nineteenth-century Euro-Americans, who drew the Anglo-American border along the forty-ninth parallel, took a very different approach and ignored the salmon's patterns and life cycle. As the canned salmon industry grew and more people moved into the region, class and ethnic relations changed. Soon illegal fishing, broken contracts, and fish piracy were endemic--conditions that contributed to rampant overfishing, social tensions, and international mistrust. The Nature of Borders is about the ecological effects of imposing cultural and political borders on this critical West Coast salmon fishery. This transnational history provides an understanding of the modern Pacific salmon crisis and is particularly instructive as salmon conservation practices increasingly approximate those of the pre-contact Native past. The Nature of Borders reorients borderlands studies toward the Canada-U.S. border and also provides a new view of how borders influenced fishing practices and related management efforts over time.

xi, 271 pages, 27 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Jim McDowell’s The Story of Sidney Island's Three Names traces the cartographic, linguistic, and political evolution of a prominent landform in the southern Gulf Islands by examining the layered origins of its designations. The text illustrates how corporate traders and imperial hydrographers progressively superimposed colonial designations—first as "Sallas Island" under the Hudson's Bay Company and subsequently as "Sidney Island" via British Admiralty surveys—directly over the ancestral W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) territory and ancient harvesting shores of SḰŦÁMEN (Sktamaen). McDowell details the changing logistics of island access and resource extraction, showing how an Indigenous marine domain defined by reef net fisheries and seasonal harvesting was re-engineered through colonial property surveys to facilitate settler pre-emptions, steam navigation in Haro Strait, and industrial brick-making operations at Sidney Spit. Ultimately, this toponymic chronicle demonstrates how successive colonial renamings functioned as deliberate instruments of spatial control across the Salish Sea, superimposing imperial administrative authority onto an enduring Indigenous archipelago.

65 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 28 cm

Imagine it's 1915 and you're on a small island in the Strait of Georgia with a population of just over 900. Now imagine a large sawmill with what was then state-of-the-art machinery on an isolated cove on the southeast side of the island. The mill employs up to 150 workers, many of them non-resident Norwe-gians, Swedes, Japanese, and Chinese. This is only a fragment of the story Chris Hatfield researched after he acquired the 100-acre site in 1984 and began finding items discarded by the different communities that had once lived there. Chris partly donated and partly sold most of the land to BC Parks in 2006. This little book explores the property's history.

53 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 26 cm.

The southern Gulf Islands between Nanaimo and Victoria are among British Columbia's greatest scenic treasures, projecting an appeal so powerful as to make nesomanes (island lovers) of the most unromantic souls. Ranging in size from Saltspring (pop. 12,000) to unoccupied D'arcy, they first began to attract European settlers in 1859 and have been home to a special breed of freedom-loving denizen ever since. Author David A.E. Spalding and photographer Kevin Oke are both members of this unique tribe and in this book pay tribute to their chosen region with the sensitivity and insider knowledge only long-time residents can provide. Brimming with gorgeous colour photographs by Oke, Enchanted Isles begins with a historic overview detailing how the islands served as a favoured hideaway of some of BC's most distinguished eccentrics. Remittance men and other escapees from British stuffiness form one stream of islanders, but there have been many others. A census of Saltspring in 1895 included a Patagonian, Germans, Portuguese, Hawaiians, Americans, Shetlanders and Scandinavians. Today you may expect to find individuals from virtually anywhere in the world. Enchanted Isles showcases local wildlife, captures local character and history and offers insider tips for visitors. It is a spectacular coffee-table book that shows why the Gulf Islands rank with Whistler and the Pacific Rim as one of the most popular tourist destinations in BC.

144 p. : col. ill. ; 29 cm.

An historical guide to the landmarks, events, activities, parks, beaches, plants and wildlife, accommodations, restaurants, shops and services available on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. This book features charming stories of the early pioneers and offers over 200 photographs, easy-to-read map, where to stay, shop, eat and explore, points of interest, how to get around, list of major island events and activities, as well as where to see plants and wildlife. This book presents Salt Spring Island in a way no other book has. Meet the postman of the 19th century and explore what Salt Spring has to offer today, while taking a trip back in time.

242 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Published in local editions by V. A. Lindholm, An Historical Guide to Pender Islands Landmarks, Events, Activities, Parks, Beaches, Plants & Wildlife... serves as a comprehensive regional compendium for navigating the natural and human history of the Southern Gulf Islands. The guide meticulously catalogs local heritage sites, indigenous place names, early pioneer settlements, and the diverse marine and terrestrial ecosystems that define the Pender Islands. By weaving practical travel logistics together with deep historical context, the book bridges the gap between a standard visitor directory and an environmental chronicle. A keen insight drawn from the text is how community-compiled island guidebooks often act as quiet acts of ecological and cultural preservation; by meticulously detailing the specific natural habitats and historical idiosyncrasies of a small archipelago, the text implicitly teaches visitors how to respectfully inhabit a fragile insular ecosystem without loving it to death.

111, [26] pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

This history tells of the native people and of the first settlers - and with some anecdotal quotes, condenses the years of development of community, industry and culture into these pages. Anyone who has lived for any length of time in the Sooke area or whose family were participants in the early years of its growth will find this book of great interest." - Introduction

433 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Authored by Peter Grant, The Story of Sidney chronicles the evolution of the coastal town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, from its early Indigenous presence and 19th-century agricultural settlement into a vibrant modern community. The book details the establishment of local farms, the arrival of the railway, and the maritime connections that bridged the Saanich Peninsula to the broader Salish Sea region. Drawing on local archives, historical photographs, and personal accounts, the text highlights the community's persistent drive to balance commercial growth with small-town coastal character. A keen insight drawn from the work is how transportation revolutions dictate the very heartbeat of coastal towns; just as the transition from neighborhood steamships to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal radically reshaped Sidney's economic destiny, it proved that the survival of an island-adjacent community depends entirely on how successfully it manages its role as a regional gateway.

96 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

The largest of BC's southern Gulf Islands, beautiful Salt Spring Island has long been a favoured holiday destination and a prized real-estate area for those in search of an idyllic rural residence. Now available in trade paper, Salt Spring: The Story of an Island chronicles the island's rich history from the days when Coast Salish people inhabited Salt Spring's shores, through some 150 years of settlement by many diverse groups. Because of the island's rugged geography, the early story of Salt Spring is largely the story of hard-working people in small isolated communities industriously carving farms out of rough terrain. Many of the settlers who followed came to find a place where they could live their lives free of the constraints of most societies. This was as true for the African-Americans, many of whom were among the first non-aboriginal settlers to arrive in 1859, as it was for those fleeing conventional middleclass life and for Americans seeking to avoid the Vietnam War. And it's true of almost every new islander who arrives today with a unique personal dream.

344 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

To travel back in time to the Colony of Vancouver Island, read the story of the Hudson's Bay years as told through recollections of a colonial childhood by the fictional Kate Murray and the letters of the real Mary Yates. The letters are inventions, but the real Mary lived through the events of the early years. Their stories combine to give an authentic glimpse of the extraordinary life inside the palisades of Fort Victoria, the world of children at Chaplain Staines's school, the settlers who rebelled against the HBC's autocratic rule, and the growing sophistication of colonial social life before and after BC's gold rush of 1858.

viii, 156 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm

Wonderfully written history of the ever-troubled Victoria and Sidney Railway in British Columbia. Packed with black and white photos, the book brings the railway and the people who ran it (and the long-suffering passegers) to life while providing a fascinating look at life in rural Canada at the turn of the century. With maps, equipment rosters, chronology and numerous appendices that flesh out the history of the Saanich Peninsula. 236 pages.

236 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 28 cm

An introduction to the T'Sou-ke people and the people of Sooke, a small community on the western coast of Vancouver Island.

156 pages : illustrations (some color), maps, portraits ; 22 x 29 cm

Published by the Association historique francophone de Victoria and authored by John Greene, French Presence in Victoria, B.C., 1843–1991 chronicles nearly a century and a half of Francophone contributions to the cultural, economic, and religious fabric of Vancouver Island. The book traces the arrival of French-Canadian fur traders, Catholic missionaries, and European immigrants who helped establish and shape the early colonial capital long before Confederation. Through archival records, church registers, and personal accounts, the text illuminates how a distinct Francophone community maintained its linguistic and cultural identity despite the overwhelming dominance of British institutions. A keen insight drawn from the work is how multiculturalism in early Western Canadian cities existed beneath a veneer of British imperial hegemony; by uncovering the vital, behind-the-scenes roles played by French speakers in commerce and governance, the study reveals that the foundational history of British Columbia was far more pluralistic than its overtly Anglo-Saxon administrative facade suggested.

v, 200 pages, [17] pages of plates (1 folded) : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm

The Fernwood Files by John J. Ellis and Charles Lillard is a 1989 local history that traces the evolution of Victoria's vibrant Fernwood neighborhood from the 1840s through the late 20th century. Through a blend of personal recollections and detailed historical records, the book explores the area's original landowners, residential growth, and foundational institutions like its early schools and hospitals. Ultimately, it serves as a rich community archive that preserves the unique character and historical development of one of the oldest urban districts in British Columbia's capital.

125 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Dennis Minaker’s The Gorge of summers gone: a history of Victoria's inland waterway chronicles the vibrant recreational and residential evolution of the narrow, winding tidal inlet that extends inland from Victoria Harbour on southern Vancouver Island. Set against the sheltered shorelines and deep channels of this unique marine corridor, the narrative details how early pioneer families and indigenous groups navigated the transition from scattered waterside encampments to tightly knit neighborhoods of summer cottages and permanent homesteads. By chronicling the shared local traditions of community regattas, swimming clubs, and social gatherings along the water, the text reveals how residents forged enduring kinship networks through collaborative maritime recreation. Ultimately, this local history documents how the cooperative stewardship of this dynamic tidal basin transformed a seasonal waterfront retreat into a deeply rooted, cohesive suburban community that shaped the civic identity of early Victoria.

vi, 148 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 26 cm.

Victoria: The Way It Was by Michael Kluckner is a richly illustrated historical retrospective that chronicles the early history and architectural heritage of Victoria, British Columbia. Featuring a blend of archival photographs and Kluckner's signature watercolor paintings, the 1986 book captures the city's charming streetscapes and historic buildings before they were transformed by modern development. Ultimately, it serves as both a nostalgic visual tribute and a valuable reference for those interested in the history and preservation of Canada's West Coast urban landscape.

175 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 x 31 cm

Mayne Island & the Outer Gulf Islands: A History by Marie Elliott chronicles roughly 120 years of social, economic, and political development across Mayne and its neighboring southern Gulf Islands. Drawing on archival records, oral histories, and pioneer accounts, Elliott highlights how maritime transportation fundamentally shaped local livelihoods—from early homesteading, logging, and hothouse tomato farming to postwar tourism. The book also examines the cultural fabric of these relatively remote communities, notably detailing the significant contributions of Japanese-Canadian settlers before their wartime internment. Finally, it traces the modern struggles over ferry service, rapid land development, and conservation that ultimately spurred the creation of the Islands Trust to protect the region.

x, 152 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

This Old Town: City of Victoria Central Area Heritage Conservation Report by the City of Victoria, Les D. Mazer, Martin Segger, and Brian Murray Sikstrom is a comprehensive 1983 urban planning and heritage inventory focused on preserving the city's historic downtown core. The report catalogs the architectural and historical significance of buildings in Victoria's "Old Town," providing a foundational framework for municipal conservation policies. Ultimately, it served as a critical guide for city planners working to protect the area's rich late 19th- and early 20th-century built environment from modern redevelopment.

95 p. : ill., maps ; 22 x 28 cm.

The Fair Land: Saanich by Betty Bell is a 1982 memoir and historical account capturing the author's fond childhood memories of growing up on the Saanich Peninsula of Vancouver Island during the Edwardian era. The book offers an evocative glimpse into a prosperous rural farming community, detailing everyday life, local families, and early transportation like the Victoria & Sydney Railway. Through a mix of charming personal anecdotes and archival photographs, Bell preserves the history of a slower, simpler time before modern development transformed the region.

132 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, portraits ; 23 cm

In 1864 Governor James Douglas handed over his office to Arthur Edward Kennedy, closing an era in Vancouver Island's history and ushering in a period of growth and development. The optimism felt by its people was to a large extent justified; the ensuing years were to bring stability, prosperity and many changes. In Summer of Promise, a sequel to Victoria: The Fort, the author chronicles the years from 1864 to the outbreak of World War One in 1914, seeing them through the eyes of the inhabitants of the city which was the capital of the colony and later of the province. Despite its geographical isolation, its population remained well aware of world events: the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the ascension of Edward VII to the throne and the rising threat of the German navy were as much talked about as the waning of many traditional religious beliefs and the enfranchisement of women. Nearer home, these were important years for Victoria as the colony voted to join the Dominion of Canada, the railroad connected the new province with the rest of the country, and the "All Red Route" linked it by steamship to Australia and the Orient. Motorcars, aeroplanes, telephones, the telegraph and electricity brought British Columbia into the twentieth century. From the momentous to the mundane, and sometimes even to the ridiculous, Derek Pethick documents an era in Victoria's history. Summer of Promise is enlightening, fascinating and enjoyable reading.

191 pages, 8 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Fort Victoria Letters 1846-1851 documents the critical geographic and operational shift of the Hudson's Bay Company as it relocated its primary Pacific Northwest headquarters north of the newly established 49th-parallel border to the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The compiled correspondence heavily details the physical challenges and strategic advantages of building the new fort around a deep, sheltered natural harbor, positioned to command the vital maritime shipping lanes of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As the company transitioned its logistical focus away from the inland river networks of the Columbia Basin, the letters vividly describe the rugged coastal topography and dense timberlands of the island where officials struggled to establish viable agricultural outposts. Ultimately, this collection provides a foundational geographic record of how early British colonial interests pivoted to rely on this isolated maritime fortress to secure their coastal frontier against encroaching American settlement.

xcix, 277, xvii pages, 3 unnumbered leaves of plates (2 folded) : maps ; 24 cm.

Sitting on a Salt Spring chronicles the ongoing challenges and profound isolation of maintaining a remote island resort amidst the rugged Gulf Islands archipelago in the marine waters of British Columbia. Conover details how the small, forested landmass of Wallace Island—surrounded by the treacherous tidal currents and sudden squalls of the Strait of Georgia—demanded relentless physical labor to sustain basic infrastructure and a tenuous maritime lifeline to the mainland. By anchoring his narrative to specific rocky coves, weathered docks, and dense stands of coastal timber, the author illustrates how the island's imposing natural barriers actively dictated the daily rhythms of survival and coastal hospitality. Ultimately, the book serves as a deeply localized environmental memoir, capturing how the beautiful yet unforgiving marine topography of the Pacific Northwest inextricably shaped a fiercely self-reliant, water-bound existence.

160 pages ; 18 cm

A Victorian Tapestry: Impressions of Life in Victoria, B.C., 1880-1914 by Janet Cauthers is a 1978 historical compilation published by the Provincial Archives of British Columbia. The book utilizes aural history and conversational impressions, accompanied by archival sepia photographs, to capture the everyday experiences of residents in Victoria from the 1880s through the onset of the First World War. It offers an intimate, firsthand look at the social fabric and daily life of the city during its transformation into a modern metropolitan center.

77 pages : illustrations, portraits, map ; 27 cm

"Victoria as a trading post, gold rush town, despondent backwater, thriving industrial center, pleasant residential resort and busy university city... these are some of the developments entertainingly described..." Dust jacket

ix, 246 pages illustrations, maps 24 cm

Salt Spring Island by Bea Hamilton is a 1969 local history that chronicles the early settlement and community development of the prominent British Columbia Gulf Island. Written by a lifelong resident from a pioneering family, the book offers an affectionate, firsthand perspective on the island's diverse founders—including English, American, Hawaiian, and Black settlers—and its enduring tradition of rural self-sufficiency. Ultimately, it serves as both a nostalgic personal account and a valuable historical record of the region's pioneering era before modern development transformed the landscape. Officially spelled Saltspring Island.

xi, 180 pages illustrations, maps, portraits 24 cm

Victoria: The Fort by Derek Pethick is a 1968 historical account detailing the early, formative years of British Columbia's capital city. The book chronicles Victoria's rapid transformation from its origins as a remote Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post in 1843 through the frantic expansion of the regional gold rushes. Pethick offers a well-researched exploration of the pivotal figures and economic shifts that defined the colonial era and laid the foundation for the modern urban center.

287 pages illustrations, portraits 24 cm

Dorothy Abraham’s Romantic Vancouver Island: Victoria Yesterday and Today provides a geographical and historical portrait of British Columbia’s capital city and its surrounding maritime landscapes. The narrative contrasts the original footprint of Fort Victoria—an isolated Pacific Northwest fur-trading outpost on the island's southern tip—with the cultivated gardens and urban development of the modern coastal city. Expanding beyond the capital, the book maps the broader terrain of Vancouver Island, documenting the pioneer settlements, rugged shorelines, and dense timberlands that define this massive Canadian landmass. Through this localized lens, Abraham captures the physical transformation of this prominent British Columbia island from a wild frontier into an established cultural hub.

120 pages illustrations, map, portraits 23 cm

Home Port Victoria, compiled by Ursula Jupp in collaboration with Victoria's maritime-focused Thermopylae Club in 1967, is a rich anthology of authentic nautical history and personal seafaring narratives. The book preserves the firsthand accounts of veteran seamen, detailing the rugged voyages of the men and ships that sailed out of British Columbia's capital city. Alongside these captivating true stories, the volume features biographical sketches of the narrators, historical essays on the port's development, and detailed maps that anchor the region's proud maritime legacy.

168 pages illustrations, maps, portraits 24 cm

Once Upon an Island by David Conover is a classic 1967 memoir chronicling the true story of a young couple who purchased Wallace Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands during the late 1940s. The book details David and Jeanne Conover's adventures, struggles, and eventual triumphs as they worked to transform the rugged, undeveloped land into a functioning summer vacation resort. Ultimately, it serves as an inspiring and humorous narrative for boaters and dreamers drawn to the trials and joys of escaping city life for a self-sufficient island existence.

242 pages illustrations, portraits 22 cm

The British Columbia Historical Association’s A Gulf Islands Patchwork provides a fragmented but intimate pioneer chronicle of the sprawling Southern Gulf Islands archipelago, specifically detailing early settlement on Galiano, Mayne, Saturna, and the Penders. The narrative maps the defining, water-bound topography of these rugged landmasses, scattered across the treacherous tidal currents of the Strait of Georgia. By detailing the early establishment of remote lighthouses, coastal homesteads, and vital ferry landings, the book illustrates how the sheer physical isolation of this marine environment dictated every aspect of daily survival and community integration. The text highlights how early indigenous populations and subsequent pioneer settlers were forced to rely entirely on volatile aquatic highways—most notably navigating the violent, rip-tide currents of Active Pass—as dense, rocky interiors severely restricted overland transit and large-scale agriculture. Ultimately, the collection captures the profound environmental constraints of this coastal frontier, demonstrating how mastering complex maritime navigation and adapting to the unyielding isolation of a fractured island geography were the absolute prerequisites for establishing a viable, interconnected pioneer society along the remote Pacific seaboard.

192 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Fort Victoria: From Fur Trading Post to Capital City of British Columbia, Canada by Herbert P. Plasterer is a concise 1967 historical booklet that traces the foundational years of British Columbia's capital. The work provides a focused overview of Victoria's evolution, detailing its origins as a strategic 19th-century Hudson's Bay Company fort and its rapid expansion during the colonial era. Ultimately, it serves as an accessible, localized snapshot of the pioneer history and key milestones that transformed a remote settlement into a modern political center.

38 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Esquimalt: Place of Shoaling Waters by Leigh Burpee Robinson is a 1947 local history detailing the early settlement and maritime evolution of Esquimalt, British Columbia. The book chronicles the area's transformation from its origins as a Salish First Nations home and Hudson's Bay Company property into Canada's vital western naval base. Through rich historical detail and illustrations by B. Digby Robinson, the author explores the military and community developments that firmly established Esquimalt's significance on the Pacific Coast.

1 online resource (128 pages)

Esquimalt Naval Base: A History of Its Work and Its Defences by Major F. V. Longstaff is a detailed 1941 historical account chronicling the establishment, growth, and strategic significance of the British and Canadian naval presence on Vancouver Island. The book explores the evolution of the base from its early days in the 19th century through the World Wars, offering an in-depth look at its fortifications, engineering achievements, and role in Pacific maritime defense.

189 pages frontispiece, XII plates on 6 leaves 23 cm

Originally published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Alfred Emberson’s All About Victoria, British Columbia serves as a comprehensive travel guide and promotional handbook for the rapidly modernizing provincial capital. The book meticulously catalogs the city’s geography, local customs, transportation networks, and burgeoning hospitality industry, effectively marketing Victoria to tourists and potential investors as a sophisticated enclave of British gentility on the edge of the Pacific wilderness. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the early travel guide actively commodified a highly sanitized version of colonial settlement; by charting hotels and scenic attractions while completely omitting the ongoing displacement of the region's Coast Salish peoples, the guidebook sold Victoria not as a contested frontier, but as an exclusive, fully conquered playground designed solely for Anglo-American leisure.

104 pages illustrations 16 cm

Authored by early pioneer Edgar Fawcett, Some Reminiscences of Old Victoria offers a deeply personal, nostalgic chronicle of British Columbia's capital city during its chaotic transition from a quiet Hudson's Bay Company outpost to a booming gold rush epicenter. Drawing upon his own arrival in 1859 and decades of civic observation, Fawcett meticulously reconstructs the social fabric of the 19th-century port, detailing early dirt streetscapes, the sudden influx of transient miners, local eccentricities, and the establishment of colonial institutions. Through conversational anecdotes and vivid recollections, the text serves as a vibrant, street-level time capsule of a frontier society rapidly attempting to replicate British gentility on the edge of the Pacific wilderness. A keen insight drawn from the work is how pioneer nostalgia inherently sanitizes the disruption of colonial expansion; by fondly mythologizing the eccentricities and genteel aspirations of Victoria's early British settlers, Fawcett’s memoir illustrates how the pioneer elite actively constructed an insulated, aristocratic social hierarchy to maintain cultural dominance amidst the overwhelming demographic shifts of the gold rush era.

4 unnumbered pages, [5]-294 pages : plates, portraits ; 20 cm

Originally marked on the naval charts of 1858 as "Admiral Island," it has of late years altogether dropped that name, and is now known both popularly, and also in the more recently published maps, as Salt Spring Island^ — the saline springs, of which there are some 14 or 15 on the island, being sufficient reason for its present name

30 pages : illustrations, map