Rockland, Greater Victoria

The area known today as Rockland was originally divided between the land grants taken up by James Douglas, second governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island and Joseph Despard Pemberton.

As early as 1860 Cary Castle was built on a high point in Rockland with extensive views south to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

In the late Victorian period additional grand homes were constructed along Belcher Avenue, as Rockland Avenue was then known, including Duvals, constructed in 1862 and occupied by Joseph Needham, then Chief Justice of the Colony of Vancouver Island and later of Trinidad, before being sold to Francis Jones Barnard who operated a freighting company and stage coach line to the Cariboo and was later a member of the House of Commons of Canada (his son Francis Stillman Barnard was later Lieutenant-Governor).

[5] Further along Rockland Avenue stands the Rattenbury-designed residence built in 1900 for Lyman Duff, who became Chief Justice of Canada and his wife Elizabeth.

At the beginning of Rockland Avenue on the edge of Downtown Victoria stands Christ Church Cathedral, begun in the 1890s with construction extending to 1990.