Fonds consists of photographs of the Gorge Harbour Lodge and Lodge activities, the Corneille and Ballantyne families, and Gladys Ballantyne's house, Gypsy Hill.
Bobby (Elizabeth) Corneille Ballantyne (1914-2009) was born in Vancouver and moved to Cortes Island as a young child. She was 4 years old when her father died suddenly on Marina Island in 1919; she remembers that they had to wait 3 days for a Union Steamship to get the body. Her mother Tena (Sarah Christena) Corneille (1877-1949) bought a tourist lodge at the east end of Gorge Harbour in 1929, and ran it until 1936 with the help of her two teen-age daughters. Gorge Harbour Lodge offered accommodations in the main building or in tents, tennis and badminton courts, and excellent boating, bathing and fishing. Vacationers came up from Vancouver on the Union Steamships for a round-trip ticket price of $6.65. The annual Regatta was the main social event of the season, with people arriving by boat from Cortes and the surrounding islands. It featured boat and swimming races, and a dance in the evening.
Gladys Georgeson Ballantyne (1882-1964), first came to Cortes in about 1910. In about 1920 she bought a property in Whaletown (now 640 Whaletown Rd.) that she called "Gypsy Hill". She was one of the original members of the Whaletown Friendly Circle, later the Whaletown Women's Institute. Gladys, her son Bill, daughter Valerie and her fiance were all on Cortes building a summer cottage when the Depression suddenly hit. Their off-island jobs fell through, and they remained at "Gypsy Hill" for the duration.
Bill Ballantyne (1908-1993) was in the Merchant Marine from 1924-1929. When he was unable to find work on ships during the Depression, he took whatever jobs he could find hand-logging and fishing. Bill and Bobby Corneille were married in 1937. They and other young Whaletown residents formed the Gorge Harbour Dramatic Society to help raise funds to build a community hall, and Bill was the work boss of the building crew for the Gorge Hall. In 1941 they moved to Victoria, and after the war settled in Courtenay with their two sons Peter and Ross. In the late 1950s they returned to Whaletown on Cortes Island where they fished for many years on the gulf troller “Viking”. During that time many young “deckhands” spent time aboard during summer vacations. On retirement, Campbell River became their home.
Custodial History
Electronic records were downloaded in 2012 from an internet address provided by Peter Ballantyne. One photograph was scanned from a photograph temporarily loaned by John and De Clarke.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of photographs of the Gorge Harbour Lodge and Lodge activities, the Corneille and Ballantyne families, and Gladys Ballantyne's house, Gypsy Hill.
Binder contains a photocopy of a Province of BC bulletin on how to pre-empt land (1929), and a list of pre-emptions from the records in the BC Archives in Victoria.
Binder contains a photocopy of a Province of BC bulletin on how to pre-empt land (1929), and a list of pre-emptions from the records in the BC Archives in Victoria.
"Granite and Fossils" is a compilation of informatioin about Cortes Island fossils created by Christian Gronau for the Cortes Island Museum in 2002 and updated in 2016 and 2023. It has been digitized as Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Christian Gronau studied palaeontology and geology in Germany. He came to Canada in 1972 and
worked in the mining sector in the N.W.T. (among other places), where he met Aileen.
Christian and Aileen (C&A) moved together to Cortes Island in 1978, where they lived for 34 years on a
water-access-only property, without hydro or telephone (Swamp’s Edge), supporting themselves as beach-
only shellfish farmers (Last Farm Oysters). Throughout, C&A have been avid naturalists, continuing this
tradition from their present home at the south-end of Cortes Island (Tanglebank).
Scope and Content
"Granite and Fossils" is a compilation of informatioin about Cortes Island fossils created by Christian Gronau for the Cortes Island Museum in 2002 and updated in 2016 and 2023. It has been digitized as Volume 1 and Volume 2.
File contains scanned copies of photographs donated by Jim Palmer for the Carrington Bay exhibit in 2009, depicting the community living in Carrington Bay in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jim Palmer and Jan Gemmel lived in a house on the west side of the log jam between Carrington Lagoon and Carrington Bay. Jim built the house at the property of John and Anna Gregg in Manson's Landing and relocated it onto pilings in Carrington Bay. Jim and Jan later fabricated steel pontoons for it. In 1985 the house was moved onto the floats and towed into Gorge Harbour by Bob Thompson with his boat "Sutil Chief".
File contains scanned copies of photographs donated by Jim Palmer for the Carrington Bay exhibit in 2009, depicting the community living in Carrington Bay in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jim Palmer and Jan Gemmel lived in a house on the west side of the log jam between Carrington Lagoon and Carrington Bay. Jim built the house at the property of John and Anna Gregg in Manson's Landing and relocated it onto pilings in Carrington Bay. Jim and Jan later fabricated steel pontoons for it. In 1985 the house was moved onto the floats and towed into Gorge Harbour by Bob Thompson with his boat "Sutil Chief".
