Tymon Mellor: With the expansion of the colony of Hong Kong into the New Territories, an Indian survey team was mobilised in 1899 under the leadership of George Passman Tate. Its task was to prepare a topographical map and cadastral map, of the New Territories to identifying land lots of the area. By 1901, the main survey was complete […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Tucked away behind rows of red and white Victorian houses, at the end of the crosshatched street of Exhibition Road, lies The Royal Geographical Society. Whilst Lowther Lodge has been the home of the RGS since 1912, visitors are ushered into their new extension, the Foyle Reading Room. Galvanised steel frames and large glass walls strike a modern […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: With Britain’s acquisition of Kowloon under the Peking Convention in 1860, new maps were required for the territory. The Public Works Department (PWD) did not have any surveyors experienced in map making, their previous experience being limited to the setting out of building lots. It would fall to the military, in the form of the Royal Engineers to […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: We take for granted that when we turn a tap on clean water will flow. However, for the majority of Hong Kong’s colonial history, there were water shortages and supply restrictions. This was not a result of poor policy decisions but of changing circumstances, financial limitations and geographical constraints, and unlike other major conurbations, Hong Kong has no […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: The question was, “Who is Charles L Shank and what was his connection to the Shek Lai Pui Reservoir?”. A rather open question, but one that has led to an interesting journey. The questioner had acquired a large format book with 122 professional photographs of pre-war Hong Kong construction sites. Sample photographs provided documented the construction of the […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: With the rapidly increasing population in the post war Hong Kong, the availability of fresh water once more became a major problem. The poor financial situation had limited the territory’s options to overcome this, but after much discussion work commenced on Tai Lam Chung Reservoir in 1952. Before construction was complete, it was clear additional supplies would still […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Mining is always a high risk enterprise, but in the case of the Lam Tsuen lead mines, it was compounded by remote terrain, objecting villagers and corrupt officials. This is the story of the lead mines on the Lam Tsuen river at Ng Tung Chai, near Tai Po. After the Second World War, interest in mining picked up […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: The new colony of Hong Kong was built on a Christian background with arrival of the western military and merchants. The territory became a base for missionaries who provided schooling, hospitals and religious services and the opportunity to spread the word into China. One of these missionaries was a young Italian priest, Simeone Volonteri who from 1862 would […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: On the 24th May, 1843 Lieutenant Thomas Bernard Collinson, RE boarded the Mount Stewart Elphinstone[1] with a detachment of sappers and miners, two civilian clerks of works and three works foremen, who were bound for the new colony of Hong Kong. Collinson had been appointed by the Board of Ordnance to produce a detailed map of the new […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: In the 1870’s as Hong Kong, or more precisely the city of Victoria, expanded, it was a continual challenge to supply water to the growing population and new industries. Whilst the western portion of the city could utilise the new water supply from the new Pok Fu Lam reservoir, everything east of the “Clock Tower” in Pedder Street […]
» Read more