It’s a small photo, just 8cm / 3in wide, but there’s enough detail for us to investigate who and what we’re looking at, where and when the photo was taken.
(Please click here to watch the video on Youtube if it isn't shown above.)
If you'd like to see more information about the topics in the video, please use these links:
00:26 Franz Isako's Circus - https://gwulo.com/media/41650
01:06 Kowloon Wharves - https://gwulo.com/node/5306
01:13 The previous video of the 1909 panorama - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8CeJOAIdTI
03:04 Photos tagged "dredger" - https://gwulo.com/taxonomy/term/22105/photos
03:41 NYK Line - https://gwulo.com/search?query=nippon+yusen+kaisha
04:12 Gloucester Building - https://gwulo.com/gloucester-building
04:57 HSBC Headquarters - https://gwulo.com/hsbc-hq-building-3rd-generation
05:59 Multimedia Information System - https://mmis.hkpl.gov.hk/web/guest/advanced-search
You'll find lots more investigations into the Who, What, Where & When of old Hong Kong photos in my series of books, Old Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell.
Comments
Newspaper Article
The second newspaper article regarding the circus coming to town dated 1937, (I think it was in the Hong Kong Telegraph), mentions that the elephants were “unloaded” from the hold. However, the animals walked from the hold to the deck and from the deck to the wharf by means of a gangway.
Just a thought, but doesn’t seem to be the way the elephants left the ship in the photograph displayed!
Circus in 1940
A search in the Internet Archive gave a circus performance in Kowloon in 1940. No clue if this is connected to the elephant photo.
Circus in 1934
Another advert for Franz Isako's Circus, at least with a ship on it.
October 1934 Isako's Circus
Mention made in the Hong Kong Telegraph photo section dated 13 October 1934 that the arrival of the elephants had been at Holt's Wharf. Can disregard 1934 as being the year of the main photo.
Re: Main Photo
The photo may not be circus related. A different explanation of the main photo.
Hong Kong is also a transshipment port.
Three elephants arrived on the SS Katori Maru for transshipment on the SS Asama Maru for the Dallas Centenary Celebrations. One of the elephants was a rare white elephant. See China Mail 28 April 1936 here
A photo of one of the elephants being transshipped appears in the Hong Kong Telegraph of the same day. See here, scroll to Page 3.
A photo of the white elephant appears in the Sunday Herald 3 May 1936 here, scroll to page 18.