Shawnigan is an anglicization of the Hul'qumi'num name for the area, “Shaanii'us”.1 The Hul'qumi'num used the area for cedar harvesting and salal gathering, as well
as hunting and spiritual bathing.2
The Shawnigan District was mapped as part of Pemberton's surveys of the southern Vancouver Island during the 1850s, which can be seen on this map and another, both from 1859.
In 1862, the amount of arable land around Victoria was becoming scarce, so Douglas took prospective farmers upcoast to Cowichan Bay aboard the Hecate to give them the opportunity to stake land in the Somenos, Shawnigan and Quamichan districts.3 According to the British Colonist, in compensation for the land, the government gave the Indigenous people two blankets
per person for the land that they surrendered.4