Tymon Mellor: Hong Kong International Airport handles over 1,000 aircraft movements a day, a long way from the first Hong Kong airfield at Sha Tin, where at 5:10pm on 18th March, 1911 Charles Van den Born, a Belgian undertook the first powered flight in the territory. Flying a 1910 Farman Mk II bi-plane named “Wanda”, he made a short flight […]
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Tymon Mellor: A silver mine was operating in the hills behind Mui Wo between 1886 and 1896, developed and owned by Mr Ho A Mei, a local Hong Kong entrepreneur and social activist. Associated with the mine was a mineral processing plant, where the ore was crushed and smelted into lead and silver. The location of the plant has never […]
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Tymon Mellor: With the completion of Tai Tam (Upper) reservoir in 1888, the city of Victoria now had a secure water supply. The “big reservoir at Taitam” would have sufficient capacity to support the population of 146,000; but now it was time to improve the supply networks[i]. However, with a growing population, unreliable rainfall and the introduction of residential water […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the previous article on tin mining in Hong Kong, the existence of a pre-war tin mine was identified near Yuen Long but the actual location of the mine was a mystery. Following further research, new details on the mine and its location have been identified. Following the introduction of the Prospecting and Mining Ordinance of 1906, parties […]
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Tymon Mellor: The mine at Lin Ma Hang was the most advanced mining operation in the colonial era of Hong Kong before the Pacific War. However, like many mining ventures, this one had a slow and difficult start. This article explores the discovery and early years of the mine’s development along with the workings that are still visible today in […]
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Tymon Mellor: Development of a modern mine at Castle Peak to extract Wolframite or Tungsten ore was awaited with much anticipation by the Colonial Government, but following a number of failed ventures and after much illicit mining, nothing came to pass. Mining Lot No. 12 was returned to Government and the area absorbed into the Ha Tsuen/Castle Peak Firing Range. […]
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Hong Kong Water Supply – Shenzhen Reservoir Tymon Mellor: In the post war Hong Kong, the rapid growth in population and industrialisation brought with it an increase in the demand for water. With improving housing conditions, there was an ever-growing need for additional supply of piped water. Considerable effort had been made to maximise the local resource but continued shortages […]
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Tymon Mellor: Immediately after the end of the Pacific War, the price of graphite, a form of carbon, peaked before declining as the world demand for steel dropped. Following the successful exploitation of graphite on West Brother Island, a number of licences were issued to allow the prospecting for Graphite throughout the New Territories during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Prospecting […]
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Tymon Mellor: Originally known as the Pat Heung Aerodrome, work on the Sek Kong airfield commenced in 1935 with the construction of a road to the planned airfield. However, very little work was undertaken until 1950 when the British Government established a new defence strategy for Hong Kong requiring the mobilisation of an expanded military support. However, for some the […]
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Tymon Mellor: To some, the workings at Cha Kwo Ling were not a mine as there was no shaft or entrance, but there was a large open excavation to remove a local occurrence of the mineral kaolin or ‘China Clay’. As one of the longest operating mines in Hong Kong, from 1928 to its closure in 1983 the mine had […]
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