Wark Point adopted 20 March 1907 on Ottawa file OBF 0023, as identified in Walbran's manuscript. Form of name changed to Work Point 5 April 1927, as had been labelled on Pemberton's 1855 map Southeastern Districts of Vancouver Island, and on British Admiralty Chart 567, 1864. (Ottawa file OBF 0023).

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

"Wark Point [sic], named by the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and adopted by Captain Kellett, HMS Herald, on making the first survey of Victoria Harbour in 1846; after John Wark [sic] a noted officer in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company on this coast. Born 1792, a native of Ireland, and entered the service of the company in 1814, serving in the eastern part of Canada for eight years, when he crossed the Rocky mountains to Astoria. In 1823 was one of a party to examine the country between the Columbia and Fraser rivers near the line of coast. From 1835 to 1849, having risen from clerk to chief trader, Wark was in charge of the post at Fort Simpson, and in the latter year was removed to Victoria as one of the managers of the company's affirs west of the Rocky mountains. Chief factor 1846. In 1856 appointed a member of the Legislative Council of Vancouver Island, a position he retained till hes death, which occurred at his residence, Hillside, Victoria, 22 December 1861...."

Source: Walbran, John T; British Columbia Coast Names, 1592-1906: their origin and history; Ottawa, 1909 (republished for the Vancouver Public Library by J.J. Douglas Ltd, Vancouver, 1971)

"Named after Chief Factor John Work (1792-1861). Born John Wark in County Donegal, Ireland, he subsequently changed his name to Work. He entered the service of the Hudsons Bay Company in 1814 and was posted to York Factory. Transferred to the Columbia District in 1823, where he spent the rest of his life. He was on the expedition in 1824 to select the site for Fort Langley [his journal contains an interesting account of that journey]. Work became a Chief Trader in 1830. For some reason he incurred the hostility of Dr. McLoughlin, and for many years he was left in the isolation of Fort Simpson. After McLoughlin's resignation in 1845, Work resumed his advancement in the Company. In 1846 he was promoted to Chief Factor, and in 1849 he became a member of the Board of Management for the Columbia. In this same year the Church of England solemnized his marriage to Josette Legace, the half-Indian woman who had become his devoted "fur trade wife" more than twenty years earlier. In 1853 Work took up residence at Fort Victoria as a member of the Board of Management of the Western Department. In 1853 Governor Douglas appointed to the Legislative Council of Vancouver Island "...John Work Esqre, a gentleman of probity and respectable character, and the largest land holder on Vancouver Island." Chief amongst Work's holdings was his farm at Hillside, where he had his family home. Work died in Victoria, still in the service of the HBC, in 1861." See also BC Historical Quarterly, vol VII, October 1943, p.268.

Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997