South Oak Bay is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...

located in the Municipality of

Oak Bay Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordered ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, to the south of Oak Bay Avenue and lying east of the boundary between Oak Bay and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, British Columbia.

History

The neighbourhood was originally the territory of the

Songhees The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation (lək̓ʷəŋən often called the Songhees or Songish by non-Lekwungens) are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria a ...

aboriginal people who lived generally in the southeastern part of what is today Greater Victoria. In the mid-19th century the land that today comprises South Oak Bay was divided between Isabella Ross,

Joseph Despard Pemberton Joseph Despard Pemberton (July 23, 1821 – November 11, 1893) was a surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Company, Surveyor General for the Colony of Vancouver Island, a pre-Confederation politician, a businessman and a farmer. He was born in 1821 i ...

and

William Henry McNeill William Henry McNeill (7 July 1803 – 4 September 1875) was best known for his 1830 expedition as the captain of the brig ''Llama'' (also spelled ''Lama''), which sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, around Cape Horn, to the Pacific ...

. The McNeill property was located between present day McNeill Avenue and McNeill or Shoal Bay One of the early buildings in the neighbourhood was the Mount Baker Hotel, built in 1893 on Beach Drive and looking toward

Mount Baker Mount Baker (Lummi: '; nok, Kw’eq Smaenit or '), also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington in the United States. Mount ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. South Oak Bay remains primarily residential, with a large area of the neighbourhood forming part of the Victoria Golf Club. Residential development followed the arrival of the streetcar, including the B.C. Electric line in 1890. Windsor Park was established in 1890 as the Oak Bay Recreation Park. The Victoria Golf Club, was founded in 1893. In 1895 the Victoria Railway and Electric Lighting Company established a bicycle racing track at what is now Windsor Park to encourage use of the streetcar system. Although residential development began in the early 20th century, much of the housing dates from the period between 1920 and 1970. The Oak Bay breakwater was built in 1959 funded by the federal government, Oak Bay Marina was opened in 1964, and replaced the Oak Bay Boat House built in 1893.

Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point

In 1903 the Chinese Consolidate Benevolent Association in Victoria purchased land at Harling Point for a cemetery. Between 1903 and 1908 Chinese graves in the

Ross Bay Cemetery Ross Bay Cemetery is located at 1516 Fairfield Road in Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, Canada. Many historical figures from the early days of the province and colony of British Columbia are buried at Ross Bay. History The ceme ...

were opened, the bodies exhumed and transferred to the Chinese Cemetery about away. The Cemetery remained in use until the 1950s when it was closed. In 1996 the Federal Government of Canada declared the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point a National Historic Site.

South Oak Bay today

There is a small commercial area on Central Avenue at St. Patrick, and another grouping of commercial premises near the intersection of Windsor Avenue and Newport Avenue, near the Oak Bay Marina. Municipal parks in the neighbourhood include Anderson Hill Park, Lafayette Park and Windsor Park. The Capital Regional District also maintains a park in the neighbourhood, Gonzales Hill Park. The neighbourhood's public elementary school, Monterey Elementary, became a middle school in 2006.

St. Michael's University School St. Michaels University School (abbreviated SMUS) is an independent day and boarding school in the municipality of Saanich, the largest and most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and on Vancouver Island. Previous headmasters i ...

Junior School campus is located on Victoria Avenue.

Notable institutions

*Oak Bay Marina *Victoria Golf Club *Oak Bay Beach Hotel *Oak Bay Guest House

References

{{coord, 48.418, N, 123.312, W, display=title Neighbourhoods in Oak Bay, British Columbia