Pender Islands Historical Timeline

Brothers Howard and Stanley Harris arrive with the first power boat on the island, the 30-foot steam launch “Pearl”. They establish a sawmill at Shingle Bay.

Canal excavation across the isthmus dividing North and South Pender begins after a petition from islanders to the federal government.

The Post Office is relocated from Port Washington to a shed at Hope Bay, with James Auchterlonie as Postmaster.

Government wharves are built at Hope Bay and Bedwell Harbour.

After Canada lifts a ban on immigration from Japan in 1885, some Japanese immigrants work as domestic servants in the Gulf Islands while not fishing. Early records from South Pender indicate that “Oka“ works indoors and on the farm for Arthur and Lilias Spalding.

The privately owned S.S. Iroquois is launched and begins ferry service to Pender Island from Vancouver Island.

Alexander and Jeannie Hamilton build their home, “The Knolls” at Port Browning.

A regular mail service starts at Bedwell Harbour, with Mrs. Lilias Spalding handling postal duties for the next 43 years.

The Pender’s Farmers Institute is created, the first island-wide organization.

A great fire in New Westminster results in the Hamilton and Brackett families moving to Pender full-time.

Japanese settlers brought the ancient skill of making high-quality charcoal in pit kilns from Japan. A chance discovery of an old receipt indicates that Captain John Foote shipped charcoal from the Hayashi Co. on Pender in 1898, leading to the 2019 discovery of abandoned pit kilns on private land.

Gerald Richardson arrives on South Pender to join his friend Charlie Longe. He will acquire land, raise sheep, and remain on Pender until his death in 1932. He names Greenburn Lake after his family’s estate in northern England.

Leonard Higgs’ sisters, Winifred and Mabel, settle on South Pender in their new home, “Blue Tarpon.”

Captain Hayashi is credited with bringing the Japanese to Otter Bay. In 1897, young Yoshimatsu Yamada is killed in a logging accident nearby. Justice of the Peace Washington Grimmer records details from witnesses. Yamada’s marble headstone was unearthed at Razor Pt in 1962.

A school building is constructed beside the original community hall on Port Washington Road.

Frances “Fanny“ Lawson, the first school teacher on Pender, marries Hope Bay quarry owner Evan Hooson.

Albert Menzies leases and later buys the Rutherford Hope farm, developing an excellent dairy operation with prize-winning Jersey breeding stock.

Robert (1854-1939) and Margaret Roe (1853-1937) and their family come to Pender from Scotland.

Captain S. Hayashi purchases 160 acres from Washington Grimmer on Otter Bay, and brings Japanese loggers and fishermen to the area.

John and Jessie MacDonald build their family home (still standing near the Auchterlonie Centre) on 22 acres on North Pender .

Alexander (1860-1929) and Margaret Brackett (née Thatcher; 1864-1945) come to Pender and purchase land on Browning Harbour, next to the Hamiltons.

BC bans people of Japanese descent from voting in provincial elections.

Charlie Longe builds first house at Bedwell Harbour. He had arrived to help Arthur Spalding in 1888.

John M. MacDonald (1843-1917; brother to Henrietta Menzies), his wife Jessie (1854-1953), and their five children arrive on North Pender.

The first school and a three-member school board are elected, with 11 pupils. Fanny Lawson is hired as the first teacher.