Fonds consists of records of the Cortes Emergency First Aid Service (CEFAS) including the constitution, meeting agendas, correspondence, survey responses and attendant schedules. It is arranged in three series: Administrative Records, Correspondence and Survey Responses.
In 1988, concerned members of the Cortes community formed the Cortes Island First Aid Society (CIFAS). They were trained in basic first aid and provided volunteer service to the island for the next four years. A retired industrial ambulance was procured by Sully and Marg Sullivan and outfitted with some medical equipment. Prior to this people were transported in private cars and trucks.
In 1992, the British Columbia Ambulance Service opened a station on Cortes which continued and expanded that service, and CEFAS was dissolved.
Custodial History
Bonnie MacDonald held these records from the time of her involvement in the founding of CEFAS; she donated them to CIMAS.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records of the Cortes Emergency First Aid Service (CEFAS) including the constitution, meeting agendas, correspondence, survey responses and attendant schedules. It is arranged in three series: Administrative Records, Correspondence and Survey Responses.
Series consists of five folders containing a hand-written constitution, meeting agendas, planning documents, a list of donations and a schedule for first aid respondents on call.
Series consists of five folders containing a hand-written constitution, meeting agendas, planning documents, a list of donations and a schedule for first aid respondents on call.
Series consists of one folder containing responses to a survey of islanders designed to establish the feasibility of establishing an emergency first aid service.
Series consists of one folder containing responses to a survey of islanders designed to establish the feasibility of establishing an emergency first aid service.
Series consists of cassette tapes of interviews with residents of Cortes Island and nearby islands, of recordings of events which occurred on the island, and of musical performances by island artists and groups. Twenty-six of the tapes are interviews about the history of the island and early settler families done by Oonagh O'Connor for the Cortes Island Seniors' Building Society in 1995. Other interviews were recorded by museum volunteers gathering information for exhibits.
In 2017 the 54 cassette tapes in the collection at that time (along with 21 cassette tapes from Fonds # 2007.001: May and Elmer Ellingsen, 1 VHS tape and 1 mini-DVD) were digitized with a $1,000 grant from the Terry Reksten Memorial Fund, administered by Friends of the BC Archives. There are three components to each item: the original cassette tape, an electronic .wav file preservation master made from the original tape, and an .mp3 access file. The electronic files are stored on archival quality CDs as well as on a dedicated hard drive and the .mp3 files are available on the Museum and the Archives computers.
Series consists of cassette tapes of interviews with residents of Cortes Island and nearby islands, of recordings of events which occurred on the island, and of musical performances by island artists and groups. Twenty-six of the tapes are interviews about the history of the island and early settler families done by Oonagh O'Connor for the Cortes Island Seniors' Building Society in 1995. Other interviews were recorded by museum volunteers gathering information for exhibits.
In 2017 the 54 cassette tapes in the collection at that time (along with 21 cassette tapes from Fonds # 2007.001: May and Elmer Ellingsen, 1 VHS tape and 1 mini-DVD) were digitized with a $1,000 grant from the Terry Reksten Memorial Fund, administered by Friends of the BC Archives. There are three components to each item: the original cassette tape, an electronic .wav file preservation master made from the original tape, and an .mp3 access file. The electronic files are stored on archival quality CDs as well as on a dedicated hard drive and the .mp3 files are available on the Museum and the Archives computers.
Storage Location
Cassette tape boxes 1 and 2
Geographic Access
Cortes Island
Related Material
2007.001 - May and Elmer Ellingsen fonds
2009.001 - Island Women's Club
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.
Scan of Cortes Marketer 2011 containing Advisory Planning Commissions (APC) for local land use management; agenda from SRD Electoral Area Services Committee (EASC) meeting; and local advertisements on back
Scan of Cortes Marketer 2011 containing Advisory Planning Commissions (APC) for local land use management; agenda from SRD Electoral Area Services Committee (EASC) meeting; and local advertisements on back
Photo of Bob Langdon's amphibious Seabee, 1948. Receipts from Island Airlines, Elmer Ellingsen, 1969. Clippings with info on the history of seaplane use and Campbell River's seaplane industry. Transcript of Susan Ellingsen, Dianne Hentschel, and Doreen Thompson, 2005. Harbors magazine featuring Kenmore Air 2011. Additional keywords: Bob Langdon; Campbell River, the Spit; mercy flights; bush pilots; injured loggers
Photo of Bob Langdon's amphibious Seabee, 1948. Receipts from Island Airlines, Elmer Ellingsen, 1969. Clippings with info on the history of seaplane use and Campbell River's seaplane industry. Transcript of Susan Ellingsen, Dianne Hentschel, and Doreen Thompson, 2005. Harbors magazine featuring Kenmore Air 2011. Additional keywords: Bob Langdon; Campbell River, the Spit; mercy flights; bush pilots; injured loggers
Educational pamphlets, catalogues, and posters on bats, 1994-2004; copies of Bat House Project instructions for building a small economy bat house, 2004; articles, emails and newspaper clippings about bats, 2006-2016; public service announcement from Linda Solomon and Bhaskar Krag re: bats and rabies, undated; drawings of bats by school-aged children, undated. Keywords: pest control, wildlife at risk, Keen's Long-eared Myotis, Bat House Project, Bat Conservation International, California Myotis, White Nose Syndrome, rabies
Educational pamphlets, catalogues, and posters on bats, 1994-2004; copies of Bat House Project instructions for building a small economy bat house, 2004; articles, emails and newspaper clippings about bats, 2006-2016; public service announcement from Linda Solomon and Bhaskar Krag re: bats and rabies, undated; drawings of bats by school-aged children, undated. Keywords: pest control, wildlife at risk, Keen's Long-eared Myotis, Bat House Project, Bat Conservation International, California Myotis, White Nose Syndrome, rabies
