Creative Publishers, St. John’s, N.L., 2011
262 pp., illus., $18.95 paperback
Whenever I head back to my hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, my eyes automatically dart to the skyline around the harbour, looking for that familiar landmark that lets me know I’m home. A beloved attraction for locals and tourists alike, Signal Hill offers striking views that often overshadow its importance as a National Historic Site.
In The Lookout: A History of Signal Hill, retired Parks Canada historian James E. Candow provides a broad history that centres on Signal Hill (originally called The Lookout) but extends beyond St. John’s and even North America.
Reminding readers that Newfoundland was a territory shared between the English and the French for much of its history, Candow explores the many skirmishes between the two empires for control of the lucrative fishery. Such conflicts were over by the early twentieth century, when the French gave up their fishing rights and Newfoundland became a British Dominion. However, as Candow illustrates, Newfoundland remained in the global spotlight for its strategic position during the First and Second World Wars.
Candow takes a unique approach and uses Cabot Tower, the familiar structure atop Signal Hill, as a way to investigate the form of Newfoundland nationalism that emerged and evolved in the twentieth century. Begun in 1897 in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and the four hundredth anniversary of John Cabot’s discovery of Newfoundland, Cabot Tower was a proud symbol of Newfoundland’s strong relationship with the British Crown.
However, after Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless signal across the Atlantic (not from Cabot Tower, as many believe, but from an abandoned diphtheria hospital on Signal Hill), the tower became a sign of Newfoundland’s modernity and independence, Candow argues. In other words, Cabot and the Crown were out, and Marconi was in.
The Lookout is a detailed history of Signal Hill and a good overview of Newfoundland’s complex history. Candow’s prose is reminiscent of a good Newfoundland storyteller, making The Lookout an enjoyable read.
This review appeared in the February-March 2013 issue of Canada's History magazine.
— Joanna Dawson (Read bio)
Joanna Dawson is Canada's History Society's Acting Director of Programs.