In 1982 when living in Tuen Mun at what was called ‘Area 20’, I took the elements of this panorama from the balcony of my apartment.
Left to Right
Tuen Mun Highway-construction not yet completed. Only one carriageway is seen in use for two-way traffic. This proved to be a very dangerous road to travel on for many years.
Lok On Pai government de-salting plant chimneys
Beaulieu Peninsula gated residential housing estate
Pearl Island access causeway
Pearl Island Hotel plus mainly holiday apartments only used at weekends
North side of Lantau Island-two islands-The Brothers- East Brother & West Brother. Between them is a CY Tung owned twin-funnel liner Constitution/Oriental Empress laid up waiting its ultimate fate. During Typhoon Ellen in September 1983, this ship broke loose at the height of the storm and drifted right across the estuary and grounded, wedged behind Castle Peak Power Station’s coal unloading jetty. The power station is out of shot on the extreme right.
Further right from The Brothers is Chek Lap Kok Island, now the site of Hong Kong International Airport.
On the far horizon are Chinese islands
Further round on the horizon, Macau’s buildings can just be made out. At night these could be seen clearly sparkling in the distance.
Foreground on the left are military lands either side of Castle Peak Road. On the sea side are the military’s Gordon Hard beside the public Cafeteria Beach.
On the middle foreground is the newly constructed typhoon shelter’s protective walls and beyond the Butterfly Estates under construction. High-voltage electricity pylons line the hills feeding electricity from Castle Peak Power Station into Kowloon.
See best when you enter "Full View" then zoom in, and then scroll across the screen
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Another very interesting view
Another very interesting view, thanks for posting.
The new development around Butterfly Estates looks a long way from anywhere. Must have been an isolated spot for the first people who moved in.
I'd thought the sea walls shown in the right foreground were part of a reclamation project, but looking at the modern map they're still there today as the walls to the typhoon shelter: http://gwulo.com/map-of-places#15/22.3777/113.9776/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100
Tuen Mun new town
Butterfly Estates were indeed regarded as remote at the time of its construction. In fact, Tuen Mun new town was thought to be at the end of the world by “incomers” relocated from the city.
There was a local TV documentary in the 1980s showing the life of families living in Tuen Mun’s new government housing estates whereby the family’s wage-earners were starting to queue at bus stops as early as 0430 in order to catch old KMB buses into the city via the partially built Tuen Mun highway. Some had jobs as far away as Shaukiwan at the eastern end of HK Island.
The number of jobs available and operational factories in Tuen Mun lagged behind the speed of construction and occupation of the government housing for many years. At one time there was so much cheap rental empty factory floor space, the government’s archives had an “out-station” there, much to the chagrin of regular researchers using the archives. ‘ Letters to The Editor’ of the newspapers resulted, including an article by SCMP journalist Kevin Sinclair complaining bitterly about the archives location.
It would be a number of years before there became a reasonable balance of local job opportunities and force of circumstances diminishing such long distance commuting.
These days the area is well developed with excellent transport facilities.