HK barracks Kowloon side.png | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

HK barracks Kowloon side.png

HK barracks Kowloon side.png
Submitted by Golo
Authors: 
Golo
Tags: 
Kowloon side
barracks
identification

Does anybody recognise the location of this barracks Kowloon side used by the Royal Corp of Transport 1952/3

Gallery: 
1950s Hong Kong
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Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:05.

Whitfield Barracks. The Barracks (now Kowloon Park. in Tsim Sha Tsui) were located on a small hill. The buildings on the left are the godowns that serviced the Kowloon Wharves on Canton Road. Hong Kong Island in the distance. Photos of the Barracks can be viewed here

Submitted by philk on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:06.

Actually, I think the ridge in the background is Kowloon Peak, so this would be looking east. It doesn't rule out Whitfield Barracks but makes me think it was somewhere further north - perhaps Argyle St?

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:07.

Thanks Phil. You may be right about Kowloon Peak. But the location is on a hill... I can't picture it as the barracks on Argyle Street. What about La Salle College or may be the grounds of Kowloon Hospital ?

Submitted by Golo on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:07.

Thank you for your kind reply to my request for information ref identification of this picture location.You may well be correct with your surgestion of Whitfield barracks,i have looked at maps of the location of barracks on the kowloon side.It appears there was also other barracks on the opposite side of Nathan Road called Gun club hill.I remember my father complaining that during his time in HK,he suffered with malaria.He put this down to the fact that at the barracks he was billited in they received no moskito nets.Whilst the barracks on the other side of the road they were issued with them,British army logic he called it infathomable to him. My father returned to HK in 1998,after a 45 years absence, as he returned to UK in1953/4.We tried to locate the barracks but all had changed as expected, but i remember he had the feeling it was located near to where Kowloon Park and Austin road intersect today.However not sure as to which side of the road he would have been on.The side with no moskito nets issued as standard for the beds.. 

Submitted by Golo on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:08.

Hi, thank you for your kind reply and your opinion,ref the identification of this barracks picture location.My wife who was born in HK in 1958 seems to think the picture is probably barracks located a close to Wylie Road near to a British Soldier hospital not for the general public

Submitted by philk on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:14.

It sounds like your dad may have been based at Gun Hill club barracks then, however, I don't think that is where this picture was taken. This to me looks like Argyle Street. Either the army camp or nearby, perhaps the hospital, as Moddsey suggested.

Moddsey, I think Argyle Camp was on a small hill/raised ground as can be seen in these images https://gwulo.com/atom/22323 / https://gwulo.com/atom/19463 but the area has since been excavated and redeveloped into various annex buildings for Kowloon Hospital and other health authority buildings. I think it is probably Boundary Street in the left of the image.

Is there a chance you can scan and upload the original image? It may help with looking at the details.

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:15.

Yes, it would be nice to have the original photo posted. Hi Phil, noted the raised ground for Argyle Camp. May be wrong but it appears the original photo was taken at a higher elevation when comparison is made to the buildings nearby.

Submitted by Golo on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:16.

Hi, yes i have to agree with you the picture i have seen of Argyle street barracks, the type of building seen in the two pics looks to be the very same style of building.

I am left wondering if my father ever knew he was billeted in an ex prisoner of war camp,I know it was very much the case of needs must in the early 1950s,My father once told me he loved his time during his national service.As he got the chance to travel over seas,he was taught how to drive a useful skill and put on three stone in weight.As he had never had so much good food four meals a day,as this was not his childhood experience in Ulverston  England in the 1930/40s

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:16.

Re-posted IDJ's Kowloon Peak Image Manipulation. Agree with Phil and IDJ that it is Kowloon Peak.

HK barracks Kowloon side-looking towards Kowloon peak and the west.IDJ_.png
HK barracks Kowloon side-looking towards Kowloon peak and the west.IDJ_.png, by IDJ

Submitted by Golo on Sun, 2019-12-29 16:17.

Hello IDJ, thank you for your interest and opinion most welcome.Without having the oppertunity to confirm this with my late father,it appers to have been narrowed down to this location Argyle Street barracks.Thank you to one and all who shared both your time and knowledge on this topic.