Craigdarroch Castle from Victoria B.C. Canada

Postcard

Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria is an imposing Victorian mansion completed in 1890 for Robert and Joan Dunsmuir, Scottish immigrants who made their fortune from Vancouver Island coal.

Robert Dunsmuir died in 1889, just months before his majestic Craigdarroch Castle was completed.

Stamps

(left) From a set of two stamps in honour of February's Black History Month: Irene Davis Desmond.

“With her husband, they travelled the province expanding their businesses of barbershop and hairdressing salons. One day in 1946 when she developed car trouble in New Glasgow, she decided to go to the movies while it was being repaired. She bought her ticket and took a seat on the main floor unaware that, in New Glasgow, tickets sold to blacks were for the balcony only and the floor was reserved for whites. She refused to go to the balcony and eventually the police were called and she spent the night in jail. She was charged with defrauding the Government of Nova Scotia the difference in tax between a ground floor and balcony seat, which amounted to one cent. She was also fined $20, which she paid, but she decided to fight the tax evasion charge. No-one admitted that the theatre had a racist seating policy and that Viola was black. In 2010, a posthumous pardon was granted to Viola Desmond, the first ever such pardon granted in Canada, and the Government of Nova Scotia made an official apology.”

(middle) A stamp to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.

(right) To celebrate Year of the dragon 2012.