Tymon Mellor: Every day we use maps, be it in our head or on our mobile phone, they guide us and lead us through our modern complex environments. Maps show us the relationships between elements, but for this article I will focus on maps that depict geography, or to be correct, cartography and the cartographers responsible for their production. In […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: With the memory of severe water shortages fresh in the minds of the Hong Kong residents and with the political will to address, once and for all the limited water supply to the city of Victoria, in 1902 the Public Works Department embarked on the Tai Tam Tuk Scheme. Unlike all the previous reservoir schemes, this proposal included […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Below is the possible location of the old lead mine, close to Lead Mine Pass. From the 1963 ortho photo, there are abandoned buildings clearly visible on the main path (circled in red) opposite the possible mine site. The suggested mine site can be seen (highlighted in red) to be terraced, indicating some sort of man made activity […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Since the early days of the British colony, residential and commercial development have driven much of the economy. The initial land sales provided sites for merchants to build godowns to store their wares, generating revenue for the new administration and providing confidence in the stability in the colony. Construction of elegant buildings and urban infrastructure created the first […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Following five years of construction, the West Rail Line opened for revenue services on the 20th December 2003 at 2pm. The KCRC was expecting around 200,000 passenger trips a day to use the new service, with the line providing a fast direct link between Kowloon and the north-west New Territories. But once the initial euphoria subsided there was […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: During 2002, the civil works of West Rail was completed and the railway systems contractors had been provided with access to install their systems. Each system had to pass a series of tests before it could then be integrated with other systems and the wider control system. Once over that hurdle, the railway could commence trial operations and […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: The Shek Pik reservoir is part of a larger scheme to supply Hong Kong Island with a water supply through submarine pipeline from Lantau Island. The reservoir has a capacity of 24.5 million m3 with a direct catchment of 7.8 km2but with the completed catch waters the catchment area is expanded to 53 km2 or 40% of the […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: With continued water shortages on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, pressure was on the Shek Pik construction team to complete the reservoir as fast as possible. The situation was so bad that during a particularly bad drought in the summer of 1963, the Government hired 13 tankers to ferry water from the Pearl River to a new terminal […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: With the growing population in both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon there was a growing demand for drinking water, the existing supplies, primarily the Tai Tam reservoirs and Kowloon Reservoir were insufficient to meet such needs. With the failure of the spring rains, water famine became a common occurrence, and a quick fix was required. Water Shortages Following […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: As a key trading port for Southern China, Hong Kong harbour has always been full of boats stocking up for the next long journey. One question has always puzzled me, where did they get their fresh water? A look at the original maps of Kowloon provides an answer. The first map of Kowloon and the New Territories was […]
» Read more