File:Fort-victoria.jpeg

Fort Victoria from inside, circa 1850-1853, looking east along fort street. On the left is the building that housed the officer's mess and Chief Factor's house. On the right is the schoolhouse. Photographer unknown. "Helmcken Reminiscences", originally published in The Colonist, Jan. 1, 1891, beside this text: Few photographs from the inside of Fort Victoria exist, but this well-known image, looking east toward what became Fort Street, shows the HBC officers’ mess hall, left. It was here that members of the first elected legislative assembly west of the Great Lakes were sworn in and heard Governor Douglas deliver his “elegantly well composed” speech, according to House speaker Dr. John Helmcken.

The diagram of the layout of Fort Victoria buildings (below - not to scale) locates Bachelors’ Hall where the House of Assembly met, according to Dr. John Helmcken: “Behold the seven honourable members seated in the House of Assembly this being ‘Bachelors’ Hall,’ a part of a squared log building situated in the Fort, about the spot where the Bank of British Columbia now stands.”

Found here.

Photos taken before 1949 are public domain in Canada, where this image was created, regardless of when the author died.

In jurisdictions where this image is not public domain, the following fair use rationale applies:

Since this image is:
 * of low definition and
 * used for educational purposes only
 * used to illustrate the articles Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island and Fort Victoria (British Columbia)
 * of a building which no longer exists, and therefore impossible to replace with an equivalent free image

it is believed that it is fair use.