Thanks to the Imperial College Alumni Association for inviting me to talk to their members.
Here are the photos we looked at. You can click any photo to see a more detailed copy, and notes about that photo. At the bottom of the page I've also given some links to more information about the places we visited on the walk.
Feel free to leave a message in the comments below if you have any questions.
Regards, David
Who, What, Where & When
We started with a handful of photos, telling their stories, and explaining some of the tricks we use to identify them. First up was this 1930s photo showing a rat bin
followed by another photo from the same set, showng a mystery building on the Peak
We looked at the history behind these gentlemen, and worked out when they were in Hong Kong
then used a variety of clues to work out when and where this was taken
Before finishing off with the unveiling of the Cenotaph
Street views around Central
For the next section we took a walk around Central, starting from the old seafront
turned into Pedder Street
walked along Des Voeux Road
crossed over into Queen's Road
then took a look up Pottinger Street
Queen's Road
The next sequence followed Queen's Road from west to east. We started off in Sai Ying Pun
moved over to Central
then Admiralty
and Wanchai.
[Not online yet]
We stayed with Queen's Road but dropped back down to street-level at the junction with Wanchai Road
and ended up at the old Gap Road
That was the end of our journey along Queen's Road, but we added one more taken from Stubbs Road, and overlooking the venue for the talk
From The Peak to Kowloon
In the next sequence we followed Jean Gittins' daily journey from home on the Peak to school in Kowloon. We followed the main road from home
around to the Peak Tram station
There we hopped on a tram downhill
[Not online yet]
then walked over to catch a Star Ferry from the pier at Ice House Street
Over in TST we jumped in a rickshaw
then relaxed as we rode along Nathan Road
Destruction & construction
The last set started off with the destruction caused by typhoons in 1936
1906
and 1926
[Not online yet]
Then we switched from natural to man-made destruction, with the demolition of the old GPO building
The next photo straddled the destruction / construction line, excavating Morrison Hill to reclaim the shoreline
and we finished off with the miners who dug the Beacon Hill tunnel, sitting in their cable car
After the photos, we took a short walk around the area, looking at:
- The Air Raid Precautions (ARP) tunnels under Leighton Hill, one of many ARP tunnels around Hong Kong that were dug in 1940/41.
- The boundary of Victoria City, marked by a boundary stone on Wong Nai Chung Road.
- The 1845 Map of Hong Kong, showing the original layout of Happy Valley.
- An old photo of The Gap, taken when Morrison Hill was still standing.
- A wartime diary entry from 24th December 1941, describing driving at full speed along the roads here, and narrowly missing the Japanese troops in the area.
- The Bowrington Canal (today's Canal Road) and the Ngoh Geng Kiu.
- We walked up Queen's Road East and stopped to look at some signs of Mount Parish's History (it's the hill where Wah Yan College is today), and its ARP Tunnels.
- After crossing the road we finished up by walking around Hospital Hill, where the old Royal Naval Hospital used to stand. (And where there is yet another set of ARP tunnels!)