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NATURE

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FIRST PEOPLES

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First Nations in the City

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Mungo Martin

Chief Mungo Martin (ca. 1881 – 1962). Jim Ryan, RBCM PN 13492.




		Thunderbird Park Year-round, the Royal British Columbia Museum's Thunderbird Park illustrates the coming together of First Nations images and traditions within the modern city. The park displays totem poles in the styles of many First Nations, which were carved by the carver, Chief (Mungo Martin). Mungo Martin came to Victoria in 1952 to start a carving program at Thunderbird Park and to replicate some of the poles in the museum's collection. In 1953 he built , a smaller version of a traditional bighouse that once stood in (Fort Rupert), with the assistance of his son-in-law, Henry Hunt, and Hunt's sons, Tony and Richard.


, the Mungo Martin House, in Thunderbird Park. Mungo Martin carved the heraldic pole in 1952 to represent all of the nations. RBCM PN 13195-10.


View of Thunderbird Park, 1977, showing the entrance arch, replicas of poles and the Haida-style carving shed with replica of a Haida house frontal pole.RBCM PN13195-11.


Mungo Martin painting a mask at Thunderbird Park, ca. 1953. R. Kirkman, RBCM PN 13327.

		Over the years, many First Nations artists took part in the carving program. Some, like the late Art Thompson (Ditidaht), went on to become internationally renowned and respected artists. The carving program enables First Nations artists to study traditional carving and painting techniques while providing the general public with accurate information about the cultural property of First Nations people.
Mungo Martin, Tony Hunt and Henry Hunt at Thunderbird Park with pole commissioned on behalf of the Government of Canada for presentation to Mexico, 1961. BC Government Travel Bureau, RBCM PN 15843.


The most recent pole in Thunderbird Park was raised in 1999 to honour the families of the two carvers, Henderson and Whonnock, and is dedicated to the Coast Salish people. Olive Quale, RBCM PN 23143.3a.

		Currently, the Victoria Native Friendship Centre administers Echoes of Ancestry, a summer carving program in Thunderbird Park for young First Nations artists. The centre has also developed A Day's Journey, a program for schoolchildren held at the Royal British Columbia Museum. Developed by Leslie McGarry, the Victoria Native Friendship Centre's culture and community relations director and the granddaughter of Henry Hunt, this program provides local grade schools with educational sessions in the museum to increase youth awareness of aboriginal culture and heritage.

First Nations in the City -


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