Uplands Park is located within 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 ...

, in the Uplands neighborhood, adjacent to the city of

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. Uplands Park consists of of woodland trails and undeveloped natural reserve land, and includes Cattle Point with two well used boat ramps for trailerable

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

, as well as the Oak Bay Cenotaph which honours the 97 Oak Bay men and women who died in World War Two. From 1860 to 1910,

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

were pushed overboard from

paddle steamers A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...

to swim ashore to what is now Cattle Point, which is where the name Cattle Point comes from. It is among North America's first natural preserves to be set aside in an urban region; it was established in the 1940s by the Oak Bay city council, under the leadership of Reeve Walter Walker. A cairn, marking Walker's instrumental role in the creation of Uplands Park, stands at Cattle Point, near the southern coastal edge of the park. Cattle Point was designated an Urban Star Park in 2013 by the

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, ...

, only the second such park in the country.Cattle Point National Urban Star Park Approved
, BC Meteor Network news release, March 29, 2013 — Dead Link January 13, 2018 It joins a national and global network of

Dark-sky preserve A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution. The purpose of the dark-sky movement is generally to promote astronomy. However, astronomy is certainly not the only obje ...

s mostly found in remote areas and wilderness which adhere to guidelines to conserve the night sky for astronomical observation.

External links

The District of Oak Bay - Uplands ParkThe District of Oak Bay - Oak Bay CenotaphPhoto gallery uploaded on FLIKR

References

{{BritishColumbia-geo-stub Parks in British Columbia