Thunderbird Park is a
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
in
Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where...
next to the
Royal British Columbia MuseumThe Royal British Columbia Museum is a history museum located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1886. It was given the "Royal" title upon a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986, and merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003....
. The park is home to many totem poles (mostly
GitxsanGitxsan are an indigenous people whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English...
,
HaidaThe Haida are an indigenous nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise the archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands, known in the Haida language as Haida Gwaii , and the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, which...
, and
Kwakwaka'wakwThe Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the the adjoining mainland and islands. Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
) and other
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
monuments. Also in the park are a
carvingWood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool held in the hand , resulting in a wooden figure or figurine or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
studio, St. Anne's Schoolhouse (built 1844),
Helmcken HouseHelmcken House is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, located in Thunderbird Park. It was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, the first doctor in Victoria, in 1852. It is currently the oldest house in British Columbia that is open to the public. Some interesting items on display include his...
(built in 1852 by Dr.
John HelmckenJohn Sebastian Helmcken was a British Columbia physician who played a prominent role in bringing the province into Canadian Confederation...
), and Mungo Martin House (
Wawadit'la), a traditional
Kwakwaka'wakwThe Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the the adjoining mainland and islands. Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
"big house" built in 1953 by Kwakwaka'wakw Chief
Mungo MartinChief Mungo Martin or Nakapenkem , Datsa , was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. He was one of the major contributors of Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood sculpture and painting...
. The park is part of the Royal BC Museum Cultural Precinct, an area around the museum that contains a number of historical sites and monuments.
Totem poles were first erected on the site in 1940 as part of a conservation effort to preserve some of the region's rapidly deteriorating
AboriginalThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
art.
Thunderbird Park is a
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
in
Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where...
next to the
Royal British Columbia MuseumThe Royal British Columbia Museum is a history museum located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1886. It was given the "Royal" title upon a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986, and merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003....
. The park is home to many totem poles (mostly
GitxsanGitxsan are an indigenous people whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English...
,
HaidaThe Haida are an indigenous nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The Haida territories comprise the archipelago of the Queen Charlotte Islands, known in the Haida language as Haida Gwaii , and the southern half of Prince of Wales Island in the southernmost Alaska Panhandle, which...
, and
Kwakwaka'wakwThe Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the the adjoining mainland and islands. Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
) and other
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
monuments. Also in the park are a
carvingWood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool held in the hand , resulting in a wooden figure or figurine or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
studio, St. Anne's Schoolhouse (built 1844),
Helmcken HouseHelmcken House is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, located in Thunderbird Park. It was built by Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, the first doctor in Victoria, in 1852. It is currently the oldest house in British Columbia that is open to the public. Some interesting items on display include his...
(built in 1852 by Dr.
John HelmckenJohn Sebastian Helmcken was a British Columbia physician who played a prominent role in bringing the province into Canadian Confederation...
), and Mungo Martin House (
Wawadit'la), a traditional
Kwakwaka'wakwThe Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the the adjoining mainland and islands. Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
"big house" built in 1953 by Kwakwaka'wakw Chief
Mungo MartinChief Mungo Martin or Nakapenkem , Datsa , was an important figure in Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. He was one of the major contributors of Kwakwaka'wakw art, especially in the realm of wood sculpture and painting...
. The park is part of the Royal BC Museum Cultural Precinct, an area around the museum that contains a number of historical sites and monuments.
History
Totem poles were first erected on the site in 1940 as part of a conservation effort to preserve some of the region's rapidly deteriorating
AboriginalThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
art. The site was opened as Thunderbird Park in 1941. By 1951, many of the poles had greatly decayed, and in 1952 the Royal BC Museum began a restoration program with Chief Martin as its head carver. Martin died in 1962 and was succeeded by renowned carver
Henry HuntHenry Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw people of coastal British Columbia.He was born in 1923 in the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Fort Rupert, B.C. He is a descendant of the renowned Native ethnologist George Hunt...
. Other artists who have worked as part of the program include Henry Hunt's sons
Richard HuntRichard Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw nation of coastal British Columbia....
and
Tony HuntTony Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist of Kwakwaka'wakw ancestry noted for his work carving totem poles.He was born in 1942 at the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Alert Bay, British Columbia. He received early training from his maternal grandfather Mungo Martin...
, Tim Paul, Lawrence Bell, David Gladstone, David Martin, and
Bill ReidWilliam Ronald Reid, OBC was a Canadian artist whose works included jewelry, sculpture and painting. He was born to a father of European descent and a mother from the Haida in Victoria, British Columbia...
. All of the original poles were replaced with new versions by 1992, and some of the originals are now preserved within the museum.