The 72nd Regiment, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and the 6th Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles at the beach at Malahat, BC on 29 June, 1912. There are men on the beach washing and there are Seaforths in kilt order marching on a road above the beach with a wagon. Photo 143 From BC Studies - BC Pre-War Militia, pages 65,66: "By 1912, the militia of British Columbia was conducting training exercises that involved several regiments at a time throughout Military District 11, demonstrating how far the force had come since the 1890s when social activities had absorbed most of its time. On 28 June 1912, a total of five hundred volunteers from Vancouver’s 6th Regiment, DCOR and the 72nd Highlanders crossed the Strait of Georgia to land in the Cowichan Valley. A route march that carried these “attackers” over the Malahat Road towards the Fort Rodd Hill batteries was observed by Victoria Boy Scouts camped amidst the densely wooded mountains. These “active youngsters, taking an intense interest in all that was going on,” reported the invaders’ progress to Lieutenant Colonel Arthur W. Currie of Victoria’s 5th (BC) Regiment, Canadian Artillery – a unit that, on five occasions between 1907 and 1913, won the coveted Governor General’s Cup for General Efficiency, open to all artillery units in Canada. Six years later Currie would command the Canadian Corps during its final drive against the German Army on the Western Front, but, in 1912, his efforts were concentrated on directing the movements of Victoria militiamen, cadets, and even Boy Scouts in a massive “sham fight” that took place just outside Langford: “Outposts were real, and discipline excellent, and it is safe to say the training has been more valuable to all who took part than any previous annual training … No training in the future will be considered complete in the 11th M.D. that does not include work of this nature. Malahat is an unincorporated area in the Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island, north of Victoria. VANCOUVER ARCHIVES ITEM DETAILS PAGES ATTACHED