Georgian Bay Jewel: The Killarney Story (review)

In 1906, Margaret E. Derry’s great-grandfather built a cottage on George Island, in northern Georgian Bay. Her personal connection to the Killarney area gives us a sympathetic and impassioned view of a ‘land of spectacular beauty.’ But Georgian Bay Jewel is also a rich and meaty account of a place whose history ‘in many ways mirrors that of the nation’ and informs such current issues as Aboriginal rights, land use, and regional identities in Ontario.

What makes Killarney so interesting is that it was utterly transformed within a handful of years, and within living memory. In the early 1960s it saw the decline of a lucrative fishery, the creation of one of Ontario’s best-known provincial parks, and most critically, the end of its water-access lifestyle. The construction of a highway linking interior and shore resulted in a belated and fundamental reorientation for a community that had cultivated a sense of isolation and independence (essentially from the urban south) on the one hand, and a historical network of ties through the Great Lakes system on the other. Derry does this last very well – particularly with regards to First Nations and Manitoulin Island, a uniquely prominent site in colonial Aboriginal policy in Upper Canada, and a hub of trade connections between Aboriginal and French families.

Her work also has a richer environmental sensibility than many local histories (its readable explanation of the area’s ancient and highly complex geology is, quite simply, the best I’ve seen), since her argument is that people have been drawn to Killarney by the ‘wealth found in land and water.’ Accordingly, much of the book is structured around corporate biographies: logging companies, fishing magnates, shipping lines, and mining conglomerates, all of whom have tied Killarney into networks of national and international commerce. So how the local community has evolved with or in response to such outside agendas is a central theme. Ironically, after centuries of active land use, it was recreationalists and the creation of a park that would provoke one of the strongest reactions among residents. As early as the 1920s the Ontario Society of Artists had lobbied for protection from logging, but it was the wilderness-class Killarney Provincial Park that, according to Derry, ‘appeared to be a transplanted thing, alien to northern ways.’ The community’s ambivalence toward southern Ontario was acute at precisely the moment it was deemed central to parks policy and an ideal of wilderness. Although Derry does fall into the trap of praising its ‘untouched beauty,’ she also notes insightfully the ‘false foundation’ of designating the area ‘“primitive” or “wilderness” when it never really fit either description,’ given its long human history.

Georgian Bay Jewel is exquisitely illustrated with photography, art, and maps, and makes excellent use of both historical illustrations and insets about their creators, such as William Armstrong and Anna Jameson (even if placed somewhat randomly; Henry Bayfield’s key map from 1822 is found in a section on fishing, Frances Hopkins in the chapter on the park). Although Derry opts not to use direct citations, the bibliography is thorough and ranges broadly (though it seems dated in parts; her first recommendation is Adam Shortt’s 1914 Canada and Its Provinces). But she also uses her local knowledge to advantage, drawing on private collections and less conventional sources to convey the voices of a local fisherman or a woman who lived at Collins Inlet. I admire the tone of Georgian Bay Jewel very much. I found it difficult to describe the Georgian Bay landscape without gushing, or to shed my outsider’s desire to romanticize the place, but Derry manages to convey both affection and serious scholarly interest. It is a local history with weight and colour, and a most enjoyable read.