Governor’s Desk
Figurine
On his desk in London, the Secretary displays this prized carving from China sent to him as a gift from an official in the rapidly growing British territory of Hong Kong.
Despatch from the Colonial Office
These imagined letters are based on actual despatches from the Colonial Despatches collection at the University of Victoria. The artists imagined that, in drafting a reply to the despatch from BC, the secretary in London is looking over the portraits sent by the Governor of some of the residents of the new colony.
Natural History Book
Natural history was all the rage in the 1850s and everyone, including the Secretary, wants to know more about the strange and wonderful animals of the new world.
Colonial Map
El Dorado is a mythical place of fabulous wealth. This is one of the earliest maps of British Columbia, published in London in 1858, and it calls BC the New El Dorado. The map boasts of providing “a complete view of the newly discovered gold fields in British North America.”
Acacia Thorns
The Secretary is an amateur naturalist who takes delight in receiving souvenirs of flora and fauna from the far reaches of the British Empire. These long thorns are from acacia trees from southern Africa. The wolf skull is from North America.
Four Years in British Columbia
This is one of the very first books written about British Columbia. It is based on the travels of Commander RC Mayne of the British Royal Navy who sailed to BC in 1857 and scouted out the territory for Britain. The subtitle sums up the British Empire’s pre-meditated theft: “An Account of Their Forest, Rivers, Coasts, Gold Fields and Resources for Colonisation.”
The Origin of Species
Hot off the press, this soon-to-be-famous book is The Origin of Species, in which Charles Darwin shares his theory of evolution with the world. It was published in 1859, one year after the BC gold rush began.
Despatch from the Governor of BC
Despatches were key to how Britain governed its empire. Governors sent in reports detailing everything of importance that was happening in their colony and the Colonial Office in London wrote back with instructions on how to govern. The letters on the desk were written by the artists as an imagined correspondence between BC and London.
Despatch Case
A steady flow of mail travelled back and forth between colonies like BC and the Colonial Office in London, England. Despatch cases were used to safely package and transport important messages from colonial governors to the secretaries at the Colonial Office. In 1858, it could still take as long as six months for a despatch from London to reach BC.
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