Peter O'Reilly (civil servant)

Peter O'Reilly (27 March 1827 – 3 September 1905) was a prominent settler and official in the Colony of British Columbia, now a province of Canada who held a variety of positions, most notably as the head of a commission struck to revise and allocate Indian Reserves throughout the province.

Biography

O'Reilly was criticized in his time and by latter-day academics for largely shirking his duties and avoiding meetings with First Nations leaders, but the basis of the Indian Reserve system as it remains in British Columbia today is the outcome of his assignment, known informally as the O'Reilly Commission. O'Reilly was also the second Gold Commissioner of the Rock Creek Mining District, replacing W.G. Cox at the time of the Governor's visit during the Rock Creek War.

Point Ellice House

O'Reilly's residence in Victoria, Point Ellice House, is preserved today as a historical museum and gardens. It was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1966.[1] Completed in 1864, it is a one-storey Victorian cottage; the cottage and its gardens represent one of the finest examples of the British Picturesque aesthetic in Canada. It is located right next to the site of the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster on the Gorge waterway.

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Point Ellice House / O'Reilly House. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 28 January 2012.


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