Tymon Mellor: At the end of the nineteenth century, the great world powers were all trying to expand their spheres of influence within China. The approach of the British was to use Hong Kong as a marine trading hub, enhanced with the provision of a railway network thus extending the Colony’s commercial reach into the Chinese hinterland and connecting with […]
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Tymon Mellor: At the end of the Second World War, the returning British forces found a Japanese radar station on the top of Tai Mo Shan. This discovery highlighted the technical strength of the Japanese military. The theory behind radar had been established in the 1920’s with developments in Britain, US, USSR and Japan. However, whereas the British and Americans military […]
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Tymon Mellor: The year of 1963 was an exceptionally difficult for water supply in Hong Kong. For the fourteen months between November, 1962 and December, 1963, the total rainfall was only 901mm, as compared with an average expectation of 2,220mm. Severe restrictions were imposed on water consumption with the house supplied service being cut to four hours every fourth day. […]
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Tymon Mellor: The Lion Rock Tunnels are a key part of the Hong Kong road network, linking Kowloon to the New Territories, allowing goods and people to move across the territory. However, they were not originally conceived to serve vehicular traffic but as tunnels to carry large diameter water mains from the Shatin Treatment works to new service reservoirs in […]
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Tymon Mellor: Between 1923 and 1933, four Canadian geologists mapped and documented the territory’s geology. This resulted in the first geological map being published in 1936, along with a memoir published much later in 1952. In the post war environment, the high population growth and economic development required new and extensive infrastructure, in turn requiring a better understanding of the […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the summer of 1920, the Governor of Hong Kong decided that a geological survey should be undertaken of the territory to establish the economic resources of the Colony. The exercise was planned to be completed within 12 months. However, finding suitable personnel and a series of unfortunate events delayed the survey. It was not until 1936 that […]
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Tymon Mellor: Hong Kong was built from stone and bricks, all held together with a cement mortar. All these materials were locally made using the natural resources Hong Kong could provide. The New Territories are rich in clay, which over the years has been used for pottery and brick manufacturing. The use of air dried bricks for house building was common, and fired bricks have […]
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Introduction Tymon Mellor: With the completion and publication of the GSGS 3868 1:20,000 map of Hong Kong in 1928, the territory had a comprehensive map of the colony. As with any map, it was out of date the day it was published, and work commenced immediately on preparing new additions. However, wider problems were identified that raised doubt over the […]
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Tymon Mellor: In 1928 the Geographical Section General Staff (GSGS), a department in the British War Office, published a new map of Hong Kong reference GSGS 3868. The map contained 24 sheets at a scale of 1:20,000 and set a new standard for mapping. It had been produced from aerial photographs and unusually for the time, adopted the metric measurement […]
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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 […]
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