New on Gwulo: 2021, week 10

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Submitted by David on Sat, 2021-03-13 16:00

A look at what's new on the Gwulo website...

General

Exciting news if you're interested in the history of Stanley Internment Camp: Anthony Charter has generously given permission for his father's journal to be shared on Gwulo. John Charter was interned at Stanley and kept a very detailed journal, giving valuable information about many aspects of camp life. A shortage of paper meant that every space in the journal was filled, with pages returned to several times to find space for new writing. That makes the written journal very difficult to read, but Bill Lake has painstakingly typed up the text and reassembled it so we can easily read it in the order it was written. It will be some time before the whole journal is online, but you can already see the first few entries, and if you subscribe to the wartime diaries you'll be sent the rest of the journal in the daily emails. Thank you to Anthony and Bill for making this possible.
Bob has found two mystery objects while out metal detecting, and asks if anyone recognises what they are. Here are the suggestions so far.
Thanks to Jonathan for posting the last two sections of his grandfather's memoirs of National Service in Hong Kong, 1948-49. Events include nearly being killed (on two occasions!) by faulty orders and / or equipment, and the tense wait for the expected invasion by Chinese troops.
Kowloon memories from the 1950s
Leonard has posted a 1930s home movie showing a selection of Kowloon scenes.
Unhappy memories of flying on BOAC with young children in the 1960s.
Daniel has posted directions to see the re-discovered section of the old Aberdeen-Stanley Road. It has been mentioned several times lately, with special note of a couple of handsome stone bridges.
Readers are looking for information about:
- 1950s photographers Jimmy Foo, and Roy Tsang
- Ships sailing from Hong Kong to Australia in the second half of 1981

Places

Photos added from recent visits to military relics:
- Kennedy Town PB 1
- Pillbox near Wanchai Gap
- Shing Mun Redoubt
- Tai Tam Fork Battery
- Wong Nai Chong Gap PB 3
Hong Kong
- 14, Broadwood Road [1916-????]
- 189, Des Voeux Road Central [c.1958-c.1993]
- Central Clinic [1907-1997]
- Hong Kong School for the Deaf (1st generation) [c.1935-c.1947] on Babington Path, and the replacement which was in Kowloon: Hong Kong School for the Deaf (2nd generation) [c.1948-c.2003]
- Another War Department Boundary Stone has been found near High West, WDBS #2. It's one of several that have been found in the area.
- Water Tank South Western Mount Davis [????- ]
- Does anyone recognise this building, likely up at The Peak:
- Or this one:
- Or can explain what this curious building near the Tai Tam Byewash Reservoir was used for:
Piers
- Piers usually stay put, watching boats come and go. But the first Blake Pier has had a surprisingly mobile life, spending time at three very different locations:
  1. off Connaught Road in Central,
  2. in Morse Park in Kowloon, and
  3. in Stanley Bay, where you'll still find it today.
Kowloon
- Prat Avenue [1920- ]
New Territories
- Two identical stones on the north and south shores of Lantau Island mark the points at which the pre-1997 sea boundary with China touches the Island, the South Lantau Obelisk [1902- ] and Lantau North Obelisk [1902- ]
- Shatin Heights Hotel [1955-1980]