Shawnigan in 110 Objects
A Message from the Head of School
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A Message from the Head of School
Read MoreMy wife Kathini and I recently bought a house on a bend in the Chemainus River and have found ourselves eager to learn the local history – from the first occupants in the late 19th century to a local landmark on the old highway, the Westholme Tree/“The Old Guardsman” (a giant Douglas fir that crashed down in a storm in 1913).The garden at our new house neighbours All Saints Cemetery, and, when exploring on Remembrance Day, the Lamonts discovered that Cedric J G Lonsdale is buried there – a former teacher at Shawnigan and the nephew of our Founder.Shawnigan Lake School was carved out of the Canadian wilderness in 1916 by CW Lonsdale, and modelled on his alma mater, Westminster School in London, England. It has gone from one class of eight students to 550 students and is now perhaps Canada’s pre-eminent boarding school.Character & Courage, a visual history of Shawnigan, was published in 2016 to mark the School’s centenary, and we are hugely fortunate to have the most wonderful museum on campus which captures the journey of the School.
List of 20 news stories.
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Art Easel
Headmaster C.W. Lonsdale reported to the Board in 1928 that the year saw a new innovation: a drawing school “very ably instituted and conducted by Mr. [Robert] Rose, who has spent a good deal of his own money and endless time and trouble, in order to make the drawing school attractive and useful.” Drawing was made compulsory throughout the School, up to Form VI (Grade 12). In addition, any boys who wished for more, could have individual teaching from Mr. Rose for $15 per term. A former student recalls that the art room had articulated models of the human form, busts of famous people, and a model of a Corinthian column. Mechanical drawing was included in the curriculum.Read More -
Billy Brooks' Letter to Parents
This letter was penned by a very homesick nine-year-old boy in September 1925. Shawnigan Lake must have seemed a million miles away from Billy’s home in Vancouver. In those days, boys would know that the first opportunity to go home would be at the end of term at Christmas, after four months at School. Certainly, this young boy's experience is not unique; through the decades, many students and parents have experienced the pain of separation expressed in this letter, especially in September when goodbyes are fresh and the new, unfamiliar surroundings are daunting. It is very encouraging to know that Billy did adjust – and stayed at the School for six full years. A framed version of this letter hangs in the Museum and reminds us of the courage it takes for some to leave home to attend a boarding school.Read More -
Clothing List
Packing for boarding school can be daunting, especially since boys in the first few decades of the School’s history returned home only once or twice during the school year. Parents were given a list to help guide them in choosing what their son would need. The photograph depicts such a list from 1919, the earliest example in the School archives. It reveals a much simpler time – when school fees were only $175 per term. The dress code did not include uniforms, but boys were given guidelines for clothes to purchase at home. Early students spent their school days wearing “khakis.” A grey flannel suit was worn when attending church and for formal occasions. A dressing gown and slippers were critical for the unheated dormitories. Work boots were essential for all, because the boys did quite a bit of manual labor clearing the land, maintaining the grounds, and chopping firewood. Slickers, gum boots, and sou’westers were needed for the typically wet weather.Read More -
Hobbies Building, now the Bruce-Lockhart Centre for Creativity
The “Hobbies” building was an innovation of C.W. Lonsdale, built in 1934. Lonsdale placed high value on a “creative educational system” that developed a boy’s ability to fashion things out of the materials at hand. It originally housed a small museum of natural history, a printing press, a falconry club, rooms for manual training in both wood and metal, a drafting classroom, a large open room used to store cadet equipment and, later, outdoors club equipment.Read More -
Craig Building
In 1962, the School received a very generous donation: one of the School’s science teachers, Cyril Craig, and his wife, Geraldine, donated a new science building – the “Craig Block” – including most of its equipment. The building contained a well-equipped physics laboratory, a lecture room, a well-stocked science library, and a special room for a new language laboratory. Generations of students will remember this building near the south edge of Lake Omar with its distinctive bubble skylights covering most of the roof.Read More -
Hunting Trophies
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, displaying hunting trophies was common practice. The trophies were symbols of wealth, social status, traditional masculinity, and a connection to the “wild.” Typically, these mounted animal heads, antlers, and hides were displayed in homes, clubs, museums – and, apparently, in some boarding school public areas.Read More -
School Bell
When the School took on the challenge of rebuilding after the 1926 fire, support came in many forms. One symbol of encouragement came in the form of a bell, gifted from Corchester School in England, C. W. Lonsdale’s former school. Lonsdale wrote this in response: "It is many years since love of the Profession was first instilled into [my] mind [while attending] Corchester, a North Country school in very beautiful surroundings, where efficiency was demanded and where genuine sportsmen were developed…. Shawnigan Lake School is in many ways the fruit of that zeal, implanted by Corchester, so that we are all the more grateful to Corchester for the gift of our new School Bell." Corchester School was established in 1882.Read More -
Boathouse
With the School property bordering a lake, it is natural that boats are a prominent part of School activities. The current boathouse has had a few predecessors. Photos from the early 1920s depict a small boathouse and dock.Read More -
Old Boys' Chairs
When the School buildings were lost to fire in 1926, some furniture was saved, but new furniture was also needed. The December 1927 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine notes that “the scheme of furnishing the Big School room with chairs given by Old Boys is proving a great success.” An alumnus could commission a chair with his name and dates of enrollment at the School carved into the back of the chair. In 1934, it is mentioned that the cost to order a chair was $10. We read, “The Secretary [of the Old Boys’ Society] would like to remind Old Boys that in addition to making themselves immortal, they are also helping the Red Cross Workshops by giving chairs.” By 1934, 97 chairs had been commissioned.Read More -
Honour Boards
In the Closing Week of the school year, major awards are handed out for distinction in leadership, academics, sports, the arts, and citizenship. The names of recipients are recorded in gold on special boards in the Main Building foyer and central staircase.Read More -
Pipe Organ
Built with German pipes in 1929 by Chandos Dix, the original organ was a gift from Mabel Lonsdale, sister of CW Lonsdale and music teacher at the School. The organ loft was above the choir stalls on the west (left) side, with a few pipes showcased above the choir stalls. This original organ consisted of 10 ranks, or about 640 pipes. The instrument was played from a console located in a small room at the side of the Chapel, and the wind pressure was supplied from bellows pumped by two boys!Read More -
Indigenous Stag
The artwork “Into the Light” was created by Kwagiulth artist Rande Cook and gifted to the School in 2006.Read More
In the artist’s own words: “The reason why the black border is only on the left side and along the bottom is that it represents the past and any negativity, which may have come from the past. The red is the power of us as people, not only as First Nations but all races. The Stag leaping away from the black and into the light of the moon and being surrounded by the power of the red is to show renewal. This shows that we are all connected one way or another and we, as mankind, can always take that leap of faith.” -
Hyde-Lay Pavilion
Majestically set on a slope surrounded by playing fields, the Hyde-Lay Pavilion was opened in June 1998. The facility includes changing rooms, a spacious Great Room for socializing, and a wraparound deck for viewing the action. It was the gift of John M.S. Lecky ’57 (Groves’), named for Derek Hyde-Lay, who had been Lecky’s rugby coach while a student here. The plaque reads:Read More -
Wisteria
Wisteria is a woody, twining vine with long, fragrant clusters of purple-blue blossoms. They are vigorous climbers and usually bloom in early spring. Long ago, someone (unknown) planted a wisteria vine on each side of the entrance to the Main Building. The vines are large enough to be detected in photographs as early as 1929. On the south-facing building, they thrived, climbing over 35 feet to the very peak of the building. At some point, the more easterly wisteria must have died, but its companion lived on. When the wisteria was in bloom, it offered a heady fragrance to anyone passing through the front doors.Read More -
Arched Entrance Doors
After the 1926 fire, several major donors stepped up to make the new School, what we now call the Main Building, possible. The 1927 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine includes a pen and ink drawing with the caption, “A very handsome door and window which form the main entrance to our new building. This entrance was presented by various friends of the School who wished to show their appreciation in some concrete form. The design was the work of Mr. Douglas James of Duncan. Our most grateful thanks are due to the many friends who so generously subscribed for this.” We speculate that the donors consisted of parents of Shawnigan students, community members, and staff members, all willing to help the School succeed.Read More -
Slide Carousel
“Lantern shows” are mentioned in the 1928 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine as a favorite event of the students. The School Chaplain, Rev. E. Willis, was a frequent provider, but there were also guest speakers, such as a renowned botanist, who presented these lantern shows. In 1941 it is noted that during a mandated “blackout” (due to perceived threats during the war), students did prep in “a lecture room which was provided with blinds used to darken the room while lantern slides [were] shown.”Read More -
Kaye Gardens
Creating the garden adjacent to the drive leading into the School grounds was a challenge right from the start. The low ground may have originally been a gully that channeled water into the lake, and the road running around the north end of Shawnigan Lake probably blocked drainage. Efforts to make improvements are noted in the 1929 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine: “A feature of the School which has elicited praise from all visitors is the garden and approach to the Main School. Those who remember the rather unedifying swamp between the buildings and the road will be astounded [by] recent developments, in great measure due to Mr. R.J. Cromie’s generosity.”Read More -
Original School Enrollment Ledger
This lovely ledger gives us a glimpse into the simple beginnings at the School. We see entries for enrolled students handwritten with a fountain pen by the Founder of the School, C.W. Lonsdale. A new list was created each term. Michaelmas Term ran from September until the Christmas break; Lent Term ran from mid-January until mid-April; and the Summer Term ran from mid-April until early July. How exciting it must have been for Lonsdale to write those first six names!Read More -
Old School Desk
In the early days of the School, each grade was assigned a classroom, and students stayed in that classroom throughout the day, while the teachers rotated to different classes. Desks were arranged in rows, and the teacher’s desk was at the front on a slightly raised platform. This photo is from the late 1920s. It is interesting to note that in the original school building, each room had its own small stove that burned wood and coal. Boys had the job of lighting the fire each morning – and thawing the ink bottles!Read More -
Hobson Hatchery
The Mark Hobson Hatchery serves the dual purpose of student education and enhancement of the local salmon population. It is named to honour Mark Hobson ’70 (Groves’) who returned to the School in 1974 to teach science. In 1980, the Grade 9 science curriculum was changed to include the Federal Fisheries Salmonid Enhancement Program, and Mark built a “mini hatchery” next to the Craig Block. Eggs and milt were harvested from adult salmon taken from the Goldstream River; they were successfully incubated, grown and released back into Goldstream. After some time, permission was granted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to obtain brood stock for the hatchery from the entirely “man-made” coho run on Shawnigan Creek – one which has grown to be one of the most successful runs on all of Vancouver Island and has certainly benefited from the Mark Hobson Hatchery’s productivity.Read More
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
