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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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 -
School Tie
The School uniform has changed many times over the last century. Boys in the beginning only remember khaki shorts and white shirts. For Chapel on Sunday, they wore a grey wool jacket, long pants and an Eton collar with tie. The 1918 School Prospectus – the earliest one in the Archives – does not include a clothing list, but the 1919 Prospectus does, which includes mention of a “School tie,” to be purchased at the School. Early photos are in black and white, so we can only see that the tie has a wide stripe, and we assume it is like our first samples, with stripes of black and gold as seen in the above photo. This basic design continued until the mid-1990s with varied widths of stripes, and of the tie itself, over time. The use of grey flannel jackets and pants for formal photos and occasions continued for many decades.Read More -
Flags
Shawnigan has welcomed students from outside Canada nearly from the beginning. As early as 1918 records show that there were a few students from the United States, Hong Kong, and Chile. It appears that the boys from Hong Kong and Chile were Canadians whose parents worked abroad.Read More -
The Ice Arena
The School first formed an ice hockey team in 1974, using the ice rink at Kerry Park Community Centre. Practice time was quite limited and did not always fit well into a Shawnigan schedule, which limited the team’s development. Eventually, the building of an arena on campus was inspired by, and made possible through, a leadership donation from Andrew Purdey, as well as other generous donors, and is named to honor Andrew’s brother, Charlie Purdey.Read More -
COVID-19 Mask
On March 17, 2020, while Shawnigan Lake School students were enjoying their Spring Break, British Columbia’s Public Health Minister, Bonnie Henry, announced the province’s first COVID-19 death, prompting the closure of schools. Immediately, Shawnigan assembled the COVID-19 Response Team to manage logistics and ensure the safety of staff and students.Read More -
Cricket Pavilion
The first mention of a School cricket team is in the 1924 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine. The School teams played other schools, such as Brentwood College School and other independent schools in Victoria and Saanich. They also played community cricket clubs, such as Cowichan, Chemainus, and Victoria. When playing these clubs, the School team was often supplemented with two or three adult players, including the Headmaster, CW Lonsdale, Myles Ellissen, E.D.W. Levien, & J.Y. Copeman. Overall, interest in playing cricket was high, with the School fielding a 1st XI, 2nd XI, and, occasionally, a 3rd XI, plus a Colts XI.Read More -
School China
When the entire School campus was lost to fire in 1926, we don’t know what – if any – dinnerware they were able to save, but likely this event led to purchasing the custom-made china pictured here, which we know was in use by the 1930s. In 1998, a senior alumnus sheepishly returned an egg cup from the set, which he had taken as a memento when he graduated in 1932. We are grateful for this donation, as we have only a few pieces of this china in the archives and museum.Read More -
Study Bedroom
When the School began in 1916, the boys slept in large dormitories with approximately 10 beds in each. After fire levelled the School and a new School (the Main Building) was built, the large dormitory format continued. Initially, boys did prep in the dining room; later they did prep in their house common rooms, and later still in the Classroom Block.Read More -
Answer Buzzer
The Quiz Master asks the trivia contestants: Name a country that starts with the letter ‘Q.’ One overly-eager contestant slams his hand on the answer buzzer too soon and spits out Cuba! This was the scene at a recent round of “Reach for the Top.” Instantly realizing the folly of his answer, the respondent’s face grimaced in embarrassment and regret for pressing the answer buzzer too soon. He knew better, but the excitement of the competition got the better of him.Read More -
School Constitution
February 1928 was a major turning point for the School. Since its founding in 1916, the School had been a private enterprise, owned by the Founder and first Headmaster, C. W. Lonsdale. After a fire destroyed the campus in 1926, he raised an astonishing $150,000 to rebuild, and the new facilities were finished by September 1927.Read More -
Head's Office
The above 1927 photo depicts the Founder, C.W. Lonsdale, sitting at his desk in the headmaster's office in the newly built school building, occupying the south end of the east wing. This office has remained in the same location over the years, the seat of eleven Heads since Lonsdale. It is remarkable to realize that Headmasters (now called Heads) have shared the same view out of these office windows for nearly 100 years.Read More -
Salt Water Gargle
Many early student stories include memories of the salt water gargle – a strong association with ANY visit to the School nurse, whether it was for a sore throat, tummy ache, stitches, or broken arm. Everyone was given this treatment as long as they were within arm’s reach of the “surgery” (health clinic), “just in case.”Read More -
Sportsplex
The Sportsplex consists of two gymnasiums and bleachers, three weight rooms and six squash courts. The original gym (1927), along with the lockers and changing rooms, located on the ground floor of the west wing of the Main Building, was replaced in 1966 by a new gym built near the old Classroom Block, which has since been removed and replaced elsewhere on campus. In 2009 a second gym was added to the existing gym structure, along with additional squash and tennis courts and a weight room to make up today’s Sportsplex.Read More -
Armorial Bearings
The above photo depicts the Grant of Arms made to Shawnigan Lake School in 1981 by the College of Arms in London. Key parts of the armorial bearings are described below, paraphrased from the words of Graham Anderson as cited from the 1982 Yearbook.Read More
The “coat of arms” refers to the shield and all that is displayed on it. The overall design follows very closely the one which C.W. Lonsdale adopted and used for many years for the School. The maple leaves are a reference to Canada, and the wavy diagonal “bend” is a nod to Shawnigan Lake. The shield’s quadrants and the mantling (the ribbon-like forms to the sides) are in the School colours, black and gold. -
Concert Program
Mabel Lonsdale, the Founder’s sister, was enlisted from the start to teach French, mathematics and music. She was an accomplished violinist, having trained under famous Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim. Former students remember that she could teach every instrument in a philharmonic orchestra. Under her direction, the School had at one time the only orchestra on Vancouver Island. The Founder himself played the flute and the oboe, and surely would have joined the ensemble, along with any other willing teachers as they were added to the staff.Read More -
Marion Hall
What better way for a community to gather and share an experience than through the ritual of breaking bread. Marion MacMillan Hawley believed so firmly in the power of this practice that she gifted Shawnigan with a building that would promote exactly that: a shared community experience.Read More -
Rugby Ball
From 1916-1928, the main School sport was soccer. The founder, Christopher W. Lonsdale, had been a semi-professional soccer player in England, who loved playing and coaching the sport. In 1927, E.D.W. (“Tiny”) Levien joined the Shawnigan teaching staff and brought with him his passion for rugby. He had played for England and was determined to change the main sport at Shawnigan from soccer to rugby. By September 1928, Levien convinced Lonsdale to make this shift. From then until the early 1990s every boy played rugby. In the 1990s, rugby became mandatory for boys Grades 8-10, and in 2008, for Grades 8 and 9 only, allowing the older boys to choose to play rugby, or a different sport. In the spring of 1993, the first girls' rugby team was formed and is still going strong.Read More -
Samuel House
House Colours: yellow and redRead More
House Emblem: dragon
House Motto: Cartref – “A Loving Home”
House Hymn: Calon Lan -
Duxbury House
House Colours: royal blue and goldRead More
House Emblem: wolf and crown
House Motto: Cave Lupum – “Beware of the Wolfpack”
House Hymn: I Vow to Thee My Country -
Renfrew House
House Colours: orange and whiteRead More
House Emblem: cougar centred inside a sun
House Motto: Solae paulum uniter tantum – “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”
House Hymn: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
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 West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
