Latest News
Upcoming Lecture: The Fort at Yorke Island, 1937-1945
During World War II, one of Canada’s least known military fortresses was built on Yorke Island, BC, just six kilometers northeast of Kelsey Bay. The fort was armed with guns, searchlights, examination vessels, and upwards of 500 men. From 1937-1945 this was Canada’s key western defence against Japanese attack. Life for the soldiers on Yorke Island had to be self-sufficient, but there was plenty of interaction with the local population. The locals never forgot these soldiers, who sometimes took shots at them, but who were also grateful for their hospitality when so far from home. Click here for Details
Upcoming Lecture: Looking and Seeing – Visual Design in Photography
Most images we make in photography seem to end their short lives with the overly worn “Delete” button on the backs of our cameras. Why? This entertaining 1.5 hr lecture and slide presentation explores the thought process and mechanics behind visual design and compositional techniques – why they work and why they sometimes fail. Facilitator Boomer Jerritt will use his compelling images to provide thought provoking information for the beginning and advanced photographer alike. Click here for Details
Before Television: Blue Heron
Blue Heron, CDM 998.236.1 "Before Television" is a newsletter feature that shares the Courtenay and District Museum collection with readers and highlights the ingenuity and creativity of people as they added beauty and personal style to items from their home and work life. This painting of a blue heron is from an instruction booklet created by Rose Baikie (later Rose McKenzie) when she was a teacher in the Comox Valley. Rose carefully painted images of a dozen local birds and gathered facts about their habits to share with her students. Rose (b. 1906 – d. 1979) spent her first years of teaching at the [...]
New Kid on the Block
Gillian Miller started her position running the visitor services at the museum in June. She enjoys the daily variety of work that the position offers. Never before has she sewn eyes on a dinosaur outfit or fed live worms to an African Lung Fish! Gillian’s hometown is Brighton, England. She has been fortunate enough to have lived and worked in London, Vancouver, Washington DC, and Cape Cod. Gillian moved permanently to Vancouver in 1986 where she married and worked in credit card services for a major credit card company. Gillian has worked at numerous other occupations, everything from being a nanny, Montessori teacher, manager [...]
It’s All There in Black and White: Fall Fair
How does the Fall Fair of 1949 compare with today’s Comox Valley Exhibition? Check out this advertisement from the Comox District Free Press of August 25, 1949 to count the ways! Click for Larger Image Click for Larger Image
Agnes Deans Cameron
By Christine Dickinson The first school in the Comox Valley opened on Mission Hill in 1871. The first teacher was S. F. Crawford, who divided his time between farming and being a schoolmaster. After 10 years, Crawford moved on to open the school on Denman Island. Crawford’s successor in 1882 was Agnes Deans Cameron, a young woman, who came with good recommendations, high ideals and strong opinions. She had been the first girl to graduate from Victoria High School, and was a fully qualified teacher at 16. At just 18 years old, Aggie Cameron already had two years of teaching behind her at the [...]
Special Visitors: Authors of Cruisin’ Along the Fossil Freeway
Left to Right: Kirk Johnson, Chief Curator and Vice President for Research Collections at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Ray Troll, renowned artist. Courtenay and District Museum blog Discoveries Happen is where you’ll find ongoing information about museum events, visitors, tours and programmes—welcome! We’re starting off the blog with a pleasant surprise visit this morning from Kirk Johnson, Chief Curator and Vice President for Research Collections at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and renowned Artist, Ray Troll. Troll and Johnson are co-authors of Cruisin Along the Fossil Freeway a book and CD about “fossils, fossil finders and [...]
Welcome to our New Blog
We are very excited about our new website, and it's new features. One of the most exciting features is our blog. We'll use our blog to share current events, news about the museum and our programmes, news about local history, palaeontology news and much much more. Check with us often for updates, and most importantly please comment and ask questions. We love to hear from you!