Articles tagged "All"

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New on Gwulo: 2022, week 14

Submitted by David on Mon, 2022-04-18 11:00

A look at the latest additions to Gwulo...

General

Readers are looking for any information about:
- When the Aberdeen tunnel was built, was there any mis-alignment between the north & south sections?
- Major Terrence Steadman RE MBE, in Hong Kong in the 1950s
- Henry Qualtrough RE, bomb disposal man and rugby referee
We're about two thirds of the way through typing up the 1938 Jurors List. If you can spare half an hour, please could you help type up a page?
Upgrade update: The work on pages for Photos and Places is done, and I'm pleased with how they're looking. This week I'll work on the Person pages, and then enough of the new site will be working to let people start testing it.
There will be a bit more work before the testing begins though. The upgraded site I'm working on is based on a snapshot of Gwulo.com that is about a year old, so first I'll have to re-run all the migrations again to bring it up to date, and check that doesn't break anything. Then the hosting package I use will need to be upgraded to cope with running both the old and the new sites at the same time. Once that is done, I can upload the upgraded site to the hosting company's server, so you can access it.

Places

Hong Kong island

Bisnee Villa [????-????], dating back to the 1870s or earlier
Aerial masts on the hillside above the old RAF Little Sai Wan
Water Street Public Toilet and Bathhouse [????- ]

Kowloon

Gulf / Concord Kerosene Store [c.1971-2012]

Gulf Kerosene Store, by nahmsai
Hung Hom service reservoir [c.1895-c.1960]

New Territories

Cafeteria Camp / Gordon Camp [????-????]

People <Read more ...>

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New on Gwulo: 2022, week 13

Submitted by David on Mon, 2022-04-11 18:00

A look at the latest additions to Gwulo...

General

Klaus has searched the government records to compile this list of Regulations of Public Vehicles and Chairs in Hong Kong 1863-1941, illustrated with photos of Sedan Chairs and Rickshaws from those years.
Back in 2009 I asked if anyone could explain the mystery tunnel in Hong Kong Cemetery. Thirteen years later, we have an answer!
A 1938 film shows the anti-aircraft guns at Sai Wan Hill Battery in action
Moving a 27-ton gun barrel: 1900s vs 2020s
Readers are looking for any information about:
- Where are the horses in old Hong Kong photos?
- Has anyone seen floor plans of the first City Hall building?
- Who was the "Anderson" or "Iverson" who carved their name on this boundary stone?
Readers' memories of:
- Conder's Bar
Upgrade update: I'm still working on the image pages, as some of the features needed more work than expected.

Places

Hong Kong island

Bisnee Villa [????-????], on the hillside below Queen Mary Hospital
Braeside - 20 MacDonnell Road [????-????]
44 Conduit Road [????- ]
Go Wah Mansion, Wanchai [1964- ]
Wyndham Street Sedan Chair Stand [1863-????]
Wartime relics
- Mt Collinson Japanese Tunnels (1/3 way up) [????- ]
- Mt Collinson Japanese Tunnels (near summit) [????- ]
- Military construction on northern slope of Pottinger Peak [????- ]

People <Read more ...>

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Where are the horses in old Hong Kong photos?

Submitted by Klaus on Mon, 2022-04-11 10:42

Interesting to see horses are listed in the 1863 ordinance about hiring public vehicles, but I don’t remember having seen any horse (except for racing) or horse driven carriages on old Hong Kong photos. If someone knows more, please leave a comment. <Read more ...>

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Regulations of Public Vehicles and Chairs in Hong Kong 1863-1941

Submitted by Klaus on Fri, 2022-04-08 22:20

Introduction

The population of Hong Kong in the early 1840s was about 6,000 people, increasing to 125,000 in 1865 (about 2,000 were Americans and Europeans) (source).

Increasing numbers of inhabitants lead to increasing traffic on the roads. As the “Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies” was a civilized area and had a tendency to set rules for every aspect of life, there obviously was the need for a regulation. <Read more ...>

1 comment
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New on Gwulo: 2022, week 13

Submitted by David on Mon, 2022-04-04 17:00

A look at the latest additions to Gwulo...

General

Bob has found another selection of old bottles on Hong Kong's hillsides, and Jeff has added information on their likely uses and dates of manufacture.
Hong Kong's first automatic traffic lights - before you click, what year would you guess they arrived?
Geoffrey Emerson, expert on the history of Stanley Internment Camp, will be giving a free online talk on Sunday 10th April: Hong Kong Internment, 1942-1945：Life in the Japanese Civilian Camp at Stanley.
Readers are looking for any information about:
- Angela Fairburn, a fellow passenger on a flight to Hong Kong in 1951
- Any photos of the 3rd generation of No 2 Park Road. It stood for almost 40 years, roughly 1963-2000, before it was replaced by the current building.
- Any photos of Tai Lam Camp / Perowne Barracks / Gordon Hard / Gordon Camp.
Readers' memories of:
- Sailing between Australia and Hong Kong on the SS Changsha
Upgrade update: The pages to add, edit, view, and search for photos are taking shape and should be finished this week.

Places

Hong Kong island

Japanese Tunnel Tai Tam Reservoir [c.1942- ], new video added
Luna Park, North Point [1949-1954]
69 Robinson Road [????-1949]
Junction of Yacht Street and King's Road [????- ]

Kowloon

Hau Wong Temple, Kowloon City [c.1730- ]

People <Read more ...>

2 comments
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From Hull to Hong Kong: A shaggy dog story

Submitted by bob on Sat, 2022-04-02 20:46

Found this embossed bottle - Owbridge's Lung Tonic - on the side of a mountain on Hong Kong Island. Having not found this particular type of medicine bottle before, I took it home and went online to find out who Mr Owbridge was. I had no idea how serendipitous this chance discovery would turn out to be. <Read more ...>

1 comment
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Angela Fairburn

Submitted by jjohnantonsmith on Sat, 2022-04-02 01:02

In 1951 I went by BOAC plane to Hong Kong, arriving August 6th. Sitting opposite me for the whole way, a journey taking 2-3 days, was a 15 year-old schoolgirl, Angela Fairburn. We stayed the night before in Rangoon. I liked her a lot and hoped to meet up with her in Hong Kong. She asked me out with her parents, but I could not make it then. I never heard from her again and I have always wondered what happened to her.

I am 87 years old now so this query is a bit late in the day! <Read more ...>

4 comments
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Bottles

Submitted by bob on Thu, 2022-03-31 20:43

A week of hard labour has paid off. <Read more ...>

11 comments
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New on Gwulo: 2022, week 12

Submitted by David on Mon, 2022-03-28 18:30

A look at the latest additions to Gwulo...

General

Chris has posted several more photos from her family's time in Hong Kong in the 1950s, and also from the return trip to the UK by ship. The comments to the photo below make good reading, showing the detective work that pinned down its location.
David Clarke introduces his collection of 40,000+ Hong Kong photos taken between 1995 and 2020
The origins of the 'AM' registration numbers for government vehicles
Readers are looking for any information about:
- Susan Helen KING, older half-sister of Fiona Katherine KINLOCH [1943- ]
- The old military structures at Robin's Nest
Readers' memories of:
- Jubilee Buildings, Sham Shui Po
- Sek Kong Village
Upgrade update: Here's a chance to see what the new site will look like, with a simpler page layout that should be easier to use. (If you're reading this in an email and you don't see the video below, please click here to watch it on Youtube.)

Places

Hong Kong island

The dangers of the Albany Nullah
War Department Boundary Stone 5 + Governor's Residence Stone "L", The Peak [????- ]
Rickshaw ranks:
- D'Aguilar Street rickshaw rank [????-????]
- Wyndham Street rickshaw rank [c.1931-c.1962]

New Territories

Lobster Bay and its smugglers

People <Read more ...>

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New on Gwulo: 2022, week 11

Submitted by David on Sun, 2022-03-20 17:30

A look at the latest additions to Gwulo...

General

Free talk via Zoom on Tuesday morning, 22 March: WW II Civilian Internment in Hong Kong. "Our two speakers, Martin Heyes of Hong Kong and Julien Lehoux of Montreal, will tell you about Hong Kong’s civilian internees and how they lived during their imprisonment, the complex negotiations to repatriate the Canadians among them, and the impacts on their lives after their return to Canada."
Final-year university student Kai Hei asks for 5-10 minutes of your time, to complete a questionnaire. It will form part of their final-year thesis on heritage conservation and related online communities such as Gwulo.com.
Readers are looking for any information about:
- What was the name of the building on the right in this photo of MacDonnell Road in 1957:
  
  Our flat in MacDonnell Road, by Chris Addison
- Looking for photos of Stanley in the 1960s
Readers' memories of:
- Billy Tingle teaching swimming at the LRC, and Saturday Sports in Central
- North Point Ferry pier and bus terminal
The online archive of the South China Morning Post is available online again to readers with a Hong Kong Public Library card. If you don't have a card, Annelise has kindly offered to help with searches.
1852 journal: This 39-page Chinese-language document is a journal kept by a Christian evangelist, Chen Dui (陳兑), detailing his daily activities in Hong Kong for a few months in 1852, when he travelled around the colony, seeking converts and distributing Bibles and religious tracts.
Bob has been out exploring again, and shares more "unusual items found discarded on the slopes of The Peak", including this Watsons torpedo-shaped bottle, rescued from a thirsty tree that had a tight hold of it:

Watsons Torpedo, by bob
Upgrade update: I'm currently working on re-vamping the website's menus. The goal is to make them as simple as possible, while keeping all the important information easily available.
They have to meet our different visitors' needs, e.g. a new visitor who's browsing is different from a researcher looking for information, who's different from a regular reader who wants to add information to the site.
Finally we also need to take into account that what works well on the computer screen I normally use, may be difficult or even impossible to use on the smaller screens of tablets and smartphones.
I'll keep at it ...