Waterfall Gardens | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Waterfall Gardens

Waterfall Gardens
Submitted by christoph
Tags: 
waterfall
garden

Waterfall Gardens 1902 or 1909

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Sunday, January 1, 1905
Gallery: 
1900s Hong Kong
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Comments

Submitted by marlowe on Tue, 2010-11-30 10:25.

It could be a coincidence that HongKong Land has a development called "waterfall gardens" in Singapore. Or it could be named after something in Hong Kong??

As there is a waterfall,
and there is dense bush,
and for it to be a postcard, it is a place that could be visited (not private),
I believe would be in Midlevels, rather than the peak,

So you are looking for a gully (watercourse) with a house nearby.
so maybe around conduit road, and the botanical gardens below.
No further down, or there would be many houses in the background.

The postcard is dated 1903, so it could have been taken many years before, conduit road was finished around 1901 (I think).

All guesswork, I would love to be proved wrong ;-)

Submitted by moddsey on Tue, 2010-11-30 19:28.

Another alternative is that the postcard may have been incorrectly described as Hong Kong.

This could be the hill station Waterfall Gardens in Penang, Malaysia, The trees look rather lush and tropical.

Submitted by David on Tue, 2010-11-30 21:45.

Christoph, Thank you for the photos you've posted. They are very unusual and interesting.

I wonder if they come from your family's albums, showing a relative's visit to Asia? Any idea whether the travellers stopped off in Penang, as Moddsey says?

Is there any printing on the back of the postcard (eg the printer's name) that can help us identify it?

Regards, David

Submitted by christoph on Wed, 2010-12-01 03:24.

On first sight I myself doubted that this is Hong Kong at all. Yes, moddsey, the scenery is too tropical. Sadly the Postcard bares no publisher´s name. It was sent to Halle, Germany with a "China" overprinted German stamp on it. The chop is faintly readable as: Deutsche See Post - German Marine Mail. So it could have been sent from any German vessel travelling South East Asia. Maybe the travel agency supplied the tourists with that kind of fake souvenir.

(If it´s Hong Kong I would like to throw in another weak suggestion: Waterfall Bay Park, Pok Fu Lam.)

But again: I doubt it´s Hong Kong at all and I think it´s 1900`s tourist kitsch. Dave, if you like, you can delete it from Gwulo.

Submitted by moddsey on Wed, 2010-12-01 07:07.

David - I would suggest just leave the postcard in gwulo for the time being. Something may crop up later to verify its location whether it is in Hong Kong or otherwise.

For me, the presence of the table in the middle does not fit well into the scene as it may not be a public park.

 

Submitted by David on Wed, 2010-12-01 10:10.

Yes, no rush to delete it. As it was a printed postcard it will likely turn up again in future, and someone else will be searching the internet to find out where it was taken.

Regards, David

Submitted by philk on Wed, 2010-12-08 07:45.

Someone has sent me a link to the Penang Botanical Gardens aka Waterfall Gardens. There are some old photos on the history page but not enough to confirm the identity above.

http://www.penangbotanicgardens.gov.my/

Submitted by christoph on Sat, 2015-06-13 16:52.

Recently I found the origin of the postcard "Hongkong. Waterfall Gardens" I posted five years ago. The specification "Hongkong" had been questionable. moddsey was right - it´s Penang. The picture was taken by August E. Kaulfuss. The RCS Photographers Index has on Kaulfuss:

"August E. Kaulfuss was born and educated in Rohnstock, Silesia. He served in the German Navy for two years, probably in the late 1870s or early 1880s. Circa 1876-circa 1878 Kaulfuss worked in the photographic studio of Otto van Bosch in Frankfurt. After this he worked as a photographer in various parts of Germany. He arrived in Penang (also known as Pinang) in 1883. In 1886 he established a photographic firm. The firm was based at 9 Farquhar Street and, in 1908, was the oldest established photographic firm in Penang.

Wright states that Kaulfuss: '...has travelled extensively, having traversed on foot the whole of the Malay Peninsula, from Province Wellesley in the north to Johore in the south, at a time when there were few good roads and no railways. He explored the country behind the territory of Kedah, prospecting for minerals, and visited Bangkok. He is photographer to H.H. the Sultan of Kedah, and has taken a unique collection of photographs in the Malay Peninsula' (1908)."