Signs of Lekwungen - Lower Causeway Site

This sculpture is one of seven in the Signs of Lekwungen series. 

The Signs of Lekwungen consists of seven unique larger-than-life spindle whorl sculptures. Each is a site marker, creating an interpretive walkway along the Inner Harbour and surrounding areas that honours the art, history and culture of the Coast Salish people who have resided in the Victoria area for hundreds of years.

All seven sculptures were carved from a piece of cedar, then cast in bronze and assembled. Spindle whorls were traditionally used by Coast Salish women to spin wool, and were considered the foundation of a Coast Salish family. 

Significance of the Lower Causeway Site: whu-SEI-kum, “place of mud”, marked wide tidal mudflats and some of the best clam beds on the coast. These flats were buried when the area was filled in to construct the empress hotel. This place was also one end of a canoe portage. The portage could be used to avoid the harbour entrance during heavy seas by cutting through from the eastern side of what is now Ross Bay Cemetery. Along the route, arrowheads and other stone tools are still found, reminding us that the lowlands were rich for hunting. When housing development began, the lower elevations were left for market gardens and nurseries until after the second World War. 

View the Signs of Lekwungen brochure to learn more