Facebook: ‘Photos of Taikoo and Kowloon Dock Families’ group – additional images
Simon left a comment about Image 9 below which I have added to the script about Image 9 on 30th May 2022.
HF: Geoff Douglass, the creator and administrator of the Photos of Taikoo and Kowloon Dock Families Facebook site, contacted me in May 2016.
Geoff very kindly offered to be of any help to our group after I suggested we would probably be interested in two main areas regarding his site, namely:
a) further information about the photos of both docks shown there
b) the personal stories of individuals who worked at either yard – either first or second hand
I have started albums below showing images from the Facebook site: Kowloon, Taikoo, Hong Kong United Dockyards and Other Shipyards.
I have given each image a number so that they can be easily referenced by anyone wishing to add a comment. If you can provide further details about any of the images: (approximate) dates, exact location, details about what is shown, personnel etc it would be good to hear from you. Please leave a comment below this article.
And if you can provide an account of working at either dock please either leave a comment, contact me through Geoff or directly: Hugh Farmer indhhk at gmail dot com
Two people have kindly responded to say they would like to send information:
Alex MacDonald is looking into his father’s employment as a Kowloon Dock Police Inspector,
Geoff Douglass is researching his father’s employment with both Taikoo and Kowloon Docks.
I look forward to seeing what both Alex and Geoff can come up with.
Kowloon Dockyard (aka HK & Whampoa Dock Company, Hong Kong Kowloon and Whampoa Dock Company)
Image 7 was posted by Alexander B MacDonald and is from c1925. There are several comments on Facebook from those who remember living at places shown on this photo.
Image 7
Image 9 was posted by George Windram. Can anyone estimate the approximate date. And identify the function of the dock buildings. I presume the dock site ended just beyond the row of dark buildings running parallel to the shore. If so what were the large double storey buildings behind the latter?
Simon sent the following information about Image 9 in a comment posted on 28th May 2022: At the upper right corner of the picture, one can see the 4 blocks of 7-storey buildings of tai wan shan estate 1956-1996. Further left near the top is the hung hom estate 1958-1984.
South of the hung hom estate at 15 bulkeley street should be the whampoa building built in 1967. It is 15 storeys high. It is absent in the picture. Skirting the north side of the estate is the Fat Kwong street flyover which goes up the valley hill to the west. The valley hill estate was completed in 1964. Apparently it has not been built yet. Therefore the picture may be from the early 1960s.
Image 9
Image 1 was posted by David Yuill and shows Kowloon Docks and its famous hammerhead crane.
Image 1
Taikoo Dockyard
Images 2+3 were originally posted joined by Angus Maclean. He added the following description:-
The upper photo: Taikoo cableway, lower station about 1930
The lower photo: Summer houses, no date
HF: I believe image 2 is of the 2.3-kilometer long aerial ropeway, constructed 1911, linking Tai Koo Sugar and Docks to the Taikoo Sanitarium which contained blocks of apartments for Taikoo Sugar Refinery and Taikoo Dockyards upper management and families to use during the hotter months of the year.
Photo 3 is probably from 1911 or shortly after when the additional middle section of the Sanitarium was built.
See: The Aerial Ropeway (1891-1932) and Sanitarium (1893-1932) of the Taikoo Sugar Refinery
Image 2
Image 3
Tons of detail in Image 6 originally posted by Simon Lo with Jonathan Ho enhancing the contrast in this version. Jonathan adds on Facebook: you can see Kornhill and the elevated King’s Rd on the left.
Image 6
Image 10 was posted by David Yuill and is labelled 1958 welders.
Image 10
Derek Allan contributed Image 8: photograph from my Father’s album. A group of men from the drafting office I believe. HF: Anyone’s father there? Date?
Image 8
Hong Kong United Dockyards (HUD)
Image 4 posted by Geoff Douglass shows a competition at HUD which was formed in 1973 from the merger of Hong Kong and Whampoa Docks and Taikoo Dockyards.
Image 4
Other Shipyards
Cosmopolitan Shipyard
Image 5 was posted by Alexander B MacDonald and shows Taikoktsui (Cosmopolitan) Shipyard where Mr MacDonald says he once stayed.
Image 5
This article was first posted on 17th June 2014.
Source: Photos of Taikoo and Kowloon Dock Familes – Facebook
Related Indhhk articles:
- Kowloon Dockyard – ships built, wrecked during WW2
- Kowloon Dockyard – during the Occupation 1942-45
- Kowloon Dockyard – WW2 bombing – the aftermath
- Kowloon Dockyard – what happened to its famous Hammerhead Crane?
- Kowloon Dockyard – glass plate photographic collection
- Tai Koo Dockyard
- Tai Koo Dockyard – 1911 detailed technical article covering its construction
- Tai Koo Dockyard during the Occupation 1942-1945
- Tai Koo Dockyard, James Thirlwell, Master Mariner, captain of the tug “Tai Koo”
- Tai Koo Dockyard Tug 2 – captained by James Thirwell when sunk by a mine 1941
- World War Two – BAAG, Mateys and Allied attempts to disrupt HK Dockyards
- Hong Kong United Dockyards (HUD)