Council Rock

Jamie Hunter said there is a fascinating piece of Ojibway cultural history - a rock - out near the southern end of Awenda Park.  The Ojibway occupied the northern part of Georgian Bay, generally, for between 5 and 7,000 years while the Huron were in the southern.  Jamie showed some slide of Paul Kane paintings that were done around here that showed life when Europeans were first traveling though the area.

By the Treaty of Paris in 1763 all the land rights were vested in the first nations and transfers had to be negotiated.  The British surveyed and entered into treaties.  One involved a series of discussions regarding the purchase of the peninsula that is now Tiny and Penetanguishene between the British and the Chippeway, which is recorded by the carvings and glyphs on Council Rock made in 1793.

No one knows why this rock was selected though some suggest it might have seemed anthropomorphic.  It is on a high point so it might have been a focal point for the natives.  The names of the surveyors and the translators and the totems of the nation chiefs have been carved into it.  The area purchased, the Penetang purchase, covers all of what is now Tiny and Midland and went for 101 pounds.  It was the first surrender on Georgian Bay and the rock is a rare and permanent record of the transfer.

Jamie thinks there are too many details for it to be a fake, though they are still researchin it.  It was discovered by a man studying the lichens which had covered it so it was obvious it had been undisturbed for many years.  There are many examples of rock art in our area but this is unique.  Following this purchase there was the Nottawasaga Purchase of 1818, which covered most of Simcoe County, the Williams treaty of 1923 which gave hunting and fishing rights to the Crown and the Coldwater negotiations which saw a payment of 408 million for properties that had never been ceded.  Currently all of Orillia - 110,000 acres - are under negotiation and have been since the 1950's though it seems a conclusion might be close to being ratified with a vote to follow.