Macaulay Point Park
Watercolour and oil
pastel
©2019 Charlene Brown
This is the view from
the battalion command post of the remains of a coastal defence installation,
active from the 1890s to the end of the Second World War. The British Navy,
which had been based in Esquimalt Harbour since the 1840s, built the gun emplacements,
tunnel system and ammunition stores initially because of a perceived threat
from Russia. The point was manned 24/7 throughout both World Wars, but was
disarmed and the tunnels and buildings sealed in the late 1940s.
Much of the site,
including the two remaining gun emplacements and one tunnel, is easily
accessible to the hundreds of runners and dog walkers who frequent this
spectacular park, and the whole place is quite fascinating to climb around in. Exceptions to this are ecologically
sensitive areas protected by the ubiquitous snake-rail fences I’ve included in
the painting.
