VIEW OF VICTORIA
The government offices, Supreme Court, and the hall occupied by the Parliament, form one pile of buildings, and are situated some distance from the chief thoroughfare of the town, on James's Bay. A magnificent natural park, called Beaconhill, of large extent, with a high knoll in the centre, and fringed with pines and oaks, has been reserved for public use.

Matthew Macfic, Vancouver Island and British Columbia, 1865