John Craven Jones was a Black teacher who graduated from Oberlin College, Ohio with a first-class degree in 1856, He taught Salt Spring’s students from their first arrival (1859) until at least 1875. For the first ten years he received no pay. In the background can be seen the kind of log shack the first students learned in — or outside of, on a sunny day!

This mural of John C. Jones teaching in the 1860s was painted by Alfred Temmel in the early 1970's. It may still exist - either saved from demolition, or no longer visible or retrievable, if it had wallpaper glue applied to it, and wallpaper, as well as several layers of paint applied subsequently. Alfred says that even if restoration were possible "It is no Sistine Chapel, Usha"; meaning that in his opinion it would not be worth the labour. However, Alfred Temmel was a master muralist of the old Bavarian tradition, and man of remarkable humility.

The mountie with the “PULL” sign is an intriguing mystery; Alfred did not remember anything about it when last asked.

This photograph of the J.C. Jones mural is also held in the collection of the BC Archives.

The wall this mural was painted on is in the Green Room at the Harbour House, which, when it was painted, was the bar, or pub.

This mural was one of many, which Alfred Temmel was commissioned to paint all round two sides of the pub, depicting the history of Salt Spring Island's settler community - none remain.

Almost every separate illustration was accompanied by a poem composed by Alfred; he still remembers some of the other poems.

For many years, this illustration of John Craven Jones teaching seemed to have been the only Harbour House pub mural that was ever photographed (it appears in Bea Hamilton’s book Salt Spring Island); but more photographs of this extensive mural of the history of Salt Spring showed up when other photographs by Marshall Sharp were donated to the Salt Spring Archives: see www.

Alfred Temmel lived on Salt Spring Island, and died in 2010. In 2012 just one of his many public murals is still in existence — opposite the Anglican Church, on the harbour side of the Fulford-Ganges Road, in the vicinity of that road’s junction with Park Road. This mural is an illustrative map of the island, with a little boy from the black community sitting on the ground on the left.

Usha Rautenbach 2012