Excerpt from
roadstories.ca/thunderbird-park-victoria/:
Thunderbird Park is one of the most serene and beautiful places in Canada. Eleven traditional totem poles rise gracefully skyward, carved in thunderbirds, orcas and bears, creatures both real and mythical. A traditional longhouse has a large green and white sea-monster face painted on its side and a Kwakwaka’wakw Heraldic totem towers beside the longhouse. It’s hard to realize you’re in downtown Victoria next door to the Royal BC Museum and only a few minutes’ walk from the iconic Empress Hotel and the Inner Harbour. The park is both spiritual and moving.
Thunderbird Park has a fascinating history. In the late 1930s, with many of the totems acquired by the Museum starting to decay, the Kwakwaka’wakw carver, Mungo Martin, was hired to make replacements. He and his assistants carved eleven replica poles, which were raised in the park in 1941. In 1952, Martin also constructed the long house, Wawadit’la, which nestles among the totems.
Many of the top Native carvers from the west coast have honed their craft at the park. The first carving shed was built in 1952 and burned down; the second decayed and was replaced. The third shed was taken down in 2009 and has not been replaced.
Although all the totems in Thunderbird Park are replicas, a new one was added in 2001. The Kwakwaka’wakw Honouring Pole, topped by a thunderbird, was carved by Jonathan Henderson and Sean Whonnock. It is dedicated to the Coast Salish people on whose ancestral land the park is located.
