"Plaque Build-up" Commemorating the Buxton Settlement, 1950 - 2000"
Embedded in the landscape are several commemorative plaques. In South Buxton, immediately in front of St. Andrew’s Church, there stands a short cairn with a small bronze plaque that reads, “1949, In memory of Rev. Wm. King who founded Buxton Settlement, 1849, and built St. Andrew’s Church, 1859.” A few steps away from this cairn, stands a blue plaque that also commemorates the Buxton settlement. It was placed there in 1965. In North Buxton, there is a museum and a set of three plaques that designate the Buxton Settlement as a national historic site. Why are there so many commemorations to a single place and a single moment in history?
Cultural Tourism, Commemorative Plaques, and African-Canadian Historiography: Challenging Historical Marginality
Although Black Canadians have participated in the history of Canada since the
European invasion, the study of Blacks in Ontario has been a marginalized historical
endeavour. Recently the marketing of Black history as a tourist attraction
has attempted to bring the African-Canadian experience to the attention of the
general public. Commemorative plaques, erected by local historical societies and
all three levels of government, including the Ontario Heritage Foundation of the
Ontario Ministry of Culture and Tourism, form the backbone of these tours. The
absence of plaques pertaining to experiences since the Civil War and the wording
and viewpoint of many of the older plaques, however, do not do full justice to
Blacks’ role in the history of the province.
The incidence of dead and dying fish in the Moray Firth, September 1963
Dead and dying fish were reported from the Moray Firth during a period of 15 days in September 1963. The initial mortalities were in the inner Firth, but they later spread outwards, especially eastwards along the southern shores of the Firth. Mass mortalities of the lugworm (Arenicola marina) also occurred in Scottish waters in 1962 and 1963, and at Balintorein Easter Ross fish and lugworm mortalities were contemporary.