Culturally significant site to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. This is one of seven markers created with circular bronze casts of original cedar carvings. This artwork depicts the spindle whorl, a tool traditionally used by Coast Salish women to spin wool - considered to be the foundation of a Coast Salish family. The concept for the base was developed by Heritage Planner Richard Linzey. The base's top is inscribed with the traditional place name, phonetically in Lekwungen as well as English.
whu-SEI-kum "place of mud" marks wide tidal mudflats and some of the best clam beds on the coast. These flats were buried when the area was filled in to construct the Empress Hotel.
This place was also one end of a canoe portage. The portage could be used to avoid the harbour entrance during heavy seas by cutting through from the eastern side of what is now Ross Bay Cemetery.
Along the route, arrowheads and other stone tools are still found, reminding us that the lowlands were rich for hunting. When housing development began, the lower elevations were left for market gardens and nurseries until after the Second World War.