Bastion Square

Tilikum was a 38-foot (12 m) dugout canoe that was used in an effort to circumnavigate the globe starting in 1901. The boat was a "Nootkan" (Nuu-chah-nulth) canoe which was already old when she was obtained by captain John Voss in April 1901. The boat was built in the early 19th century as a dugout canoe made from a large red cedar log. Tilikum was purchased for $80 in silver from a native woman (Voss describes her as a "siwash") in a transference ceremony allegedly sealed by a bottle of rye whiskey - the name Tilikum means "friend" in Chinook jargon. Apparently, John Voss and his companion in this venture, Norman Luxton, were inspired by the voyage of Joshua Slocum, who sailed the 37-foot (11 m) sloop Spray around the world a few years earlier and wrote a best selling book about his adventures. The boat was refitted - reinforced, covered and rigged with sail, 230 square feet (21 m2) in total, and readied for her voyage at a shipyard in Spotlight Cove on Galiano Island BC. Tilikum was then sailed to Oak Bay harbour, then departing from there for the Cook Islands on May 20, 1901, captained by Voss and mated by Luxton. After 10,000 miles (about 16000 km) and five months on the Pacific Ocean, Tilikum struck a reef and Luxton was thrown from the boat. His whole body was badly cut by coral. The boat limped into harbour at Penrhyn Island in the Cook Islands on 2 September 1901, and Luxton left the trip entirely in Suva, Fiji on 17 October 1901. Tilikum was crewed by 10 more men between that time and when she finally pulled into harbour on the Thames in London, England in September, 1904. On 25 October 1901, after leaving Suva, the mate, Louis Begent, the binnacle, and the compass were lost in 'large breaking seas'. Voss was now alone without a compass, 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from Sydney. Tilikum arrived in Melbourne on 13 March 1902 and was exhibited in full rig in Collins Street. She was moved to another vantage point at the Exhibition Buildings, but during loading onto a 'wagon', the hook broke and she was damaged, with splits appearing in five different places. Voss repaired her himself using thin steel ribs. She was then sailed on Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, and presented with a new set of sails by local yachtsmen, before travelling to Geelong to be returned to the sea. Voss was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London after lecturing in Britain about the voyage, but he never completed the process to officially become a fellow. Captain John Voss published his sailing memoir as The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss in 1913. Many years after the voyage, Norman Luxton wrote his own version of the journey with Voss in his Tilikum Journal. This manuscript was edited by his daughter Eleanor and was published after Luxton's death as Tilikum: Luxton's Pacific Crossing in 1971.Tilikum changed hands a number of times in London, losing her bowsprit and masts over time. In 1929, the Furness Shipping Line returned Tillikum to Victoria, British Columbia. She underwent restoration beginning in 1936 by the Thermopylae Club before she was moved into the Maritime Museum in 1965, where she remained until 2015. The Tilikum is currently on display at the Ogden Point cruise ship terminal in Victoria, B.C.

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia (MMBC) is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, that engages people with the maritime culture and history of the Pacific Northwest through rotating exhibits, educational and community-based programs, research services, and more. In 2015 the MMBC completed its relocation from its long-term home in Bastion Square to a Society Office in Nootka Court at 634 Humboldt St., Victoria, with its collections being stored off-site in a climate-controlled facility. In August 2021, the MMBC moved to its current interim location at 744 Douglas St., with space to house exhibits that display artefacts from the collection, public research space, a gift shop, and staff offices.

Fort Victoria began as a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company and was the headquarters of HBC operations in the Columbia District, a large fur trading area now part of the province of British Columbia, Canada and the U.S. state of Washington. Construction of Fort Victoria in 1843 highlighted the beginning of a permanent British settlement now known as Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. The fort itself was demolished in November 1864 as the town continued to grow as a commercial centre serving the local area as well as trading with California, Washington Territory, the United Kingdom, and others. The location of Fort Victoria was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924.

Macdonald Block is an historic building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

The Rithet Building is an historic building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is a three-storey brick commercial building on the east side of Wharf Street, facing Victoria's Inner Harbour.

Munro's Books is a large independent bookstore in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Munro's has a staff of 30 and a large children's book section. The store celebrated its 50th anniversary in September 2013.Since 1984, the store has been located in downtown Victoria in a neo-classical building (Royal Bank Building) with a 24-foot (7.3 m) coffered ceiling, designed in 1909 for the Royal Bank of Canada by architect Thomas Hooper. Munro's Books has been described by journalist Allan Fotheringham as "the most magnificent bookstore in Canada, possibly in North America."The store was founded in 1963 by Jim Munro and his first wife Alice Munro, the 2013 Nobel Prize-winning short-story writer; at the start, its stock was mostly paperbacks. According to Jim Munro, Alice Munro began to write after reading some of the bookstore's stock and deciding angrily that "I can write better books than this." Although Alice Munro has not had any relation to the bookstore for decades, the store still receives fan and press calls asking for her.Textile artist Carole Sabiston, Jim Munro's second wife, created the tapestries that decorate the bookstore.

Odd Fellows Hall is an historic building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Wharf Street and Fort Street in downtown Victoria, and it is now the location of The Keg restaurant.

The Bank of Montreal Building, or Bank of Montreal, Government Street Branch, is an historic building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Designed by architect Francis Rattenbury, the building was constructed in 1897. It is located on Government Street, at the entrance of Bastion Square, a few blocks north of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings and The Empress. This building currently hosts the Irish Times Pub.

The Royal Bank Building is a historic building in the downtown core of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It currently houses Munro's Books.

Morley's Soda Water Factory is an historic building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the few industrial buildings in the Old Town District to survive the 1880s.

The New England Hotel is an historic building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Mark Loria Gallery is one of the leading indigenous art galleries in the world specializing in contemporary art from the Northwest Coast of Canada. Based in downtown Victoria, BC - and grateful to be on the traditional Coast Salish territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples - Mark Loria gallery has been proud to represent the leading indigenous artists from Vancouver Island, BC and Canada for over 40 years (previously known as Alcheringa Gallery), and has placed art in private and public collections all over the world. Leading gallery artists include Susan Point (Coast Salish), Robert Davidson (Haida), Rande Cook (Kwakwaka'wakw), Maynard Johnny Jr (Coast Salish), Dylan Thomas (Coast Salish), and KC Hall (Heiltsuk). The gallery produces four to six exhibitions every year, supplemented by ongoing new works by over 40 gallery artists. Mark Loria Gallery has one of the largest indigenous fine art print collections to be found anywhere, and also represents paintings, carvings/sculptures, wearable art, ceramics, and textiles. The gallery has had a decade's long commitment to supporting and promoting artists by donating back to their communities in ongoing efforts to preserve and protect indigenous culture. The original name of Mark Loria Gallery - Alcheringa - is an Aboriginal Australian word for the Dreamtime, the mythical time of creation, when the world and all living creatures were sung into existence. Similarly as it is in the Northwest Coast, it is believed that singing and dancing maintain the state of the spirit world and the physical landscape, and that these invisible song-lines hold Mother Earth together. Mark Loria Gallery carries on this tradition and philosophy with artworks that represent the sacred, supernatural, and mysteries in indigenous art that goes beyond what is shared and visible. It was one of the first galleries to make use of the internet in 1996.Mark Loria Gallery is a member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada.The gallery sells indigenous art to private collectors, governments, museums, architects, designers, and corporate clients, as well as offering other art-related services such as appraisals and consignment.