New on Gwulo: 2025, week 16

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

General

• Gwulo is coming to Cheltenham! I'll give a talk in Cheltenham on 18 June, kindly organised by Martin Reynolds. Full details and how to book (note there's an early-bird offer if you book by 30 April).
   
• Thank you to everyone who came along to the talk in London on 5 April, and thank you to the Friends of East Asia for hosting it. The sun shone, the dim sum lunch beforehand was delicious, and we had a full house for the talk.
   
• Continuing discussions in the comments about:
  • Hong Kong's old fire hydrants
     

  • the location of this photo:
     

    

• If you've enjoyed reading Martin Booth's book, titled either Gweilo, or Golden Boy depending on the edition, we've got a list of the main sites he mentions in each chapter. The list has links to the sites' location and photos, so you can see the places he describes as you read along.
   
• A look at the three old bridges across the Wong Nai Chung Nullah / Bowrington Canal.
   
• Online resources:
  • Cheung Chau Notes (c. 1923-1936)
     
  • Directory of Protestant Missions in China 1936
     
• The 1889 Jurors List is now online, and ...
• ... we've started typing up the 1888 Jurors List - please join in and type up a page if you can
   

• essarem introduces a collection of matchboxes he found on the streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon in 1966. Sample:
   

  

   

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Places & Streets

• Hong Kong Island
  • A timeline of the early grandstands at the Happy Valley Racecourse, c. 1860 to 1900
     
  • Japanese military ruins on Violet Hill [1942- ]
     
  • Leighton Hill Road Old Bridge [c.1864-????]
     
  • Early British military sites:
    • Chek Chu (Chegatchu) Military Station [c.1845-????]
       
    • Sai Wan Military Station (1st Generation) [c.1845-????]
       
    • Shek Pai Wan Military Station [c.1845-????]
       
• Kowloon
  • Fife Street Electric Substation [????- ]
     
  • Garden Mansion [1958- ], Austin Road
     
  • Kiu Fung Mansion, Austin Avenue / Kimberley Road [1963- ]
     
  • Liliane Italian Restaurant [????-????], Prat Avenue
     
  • The Stoned Crow [????-????], Australian wine cellar and restaurant on Minden Avenue
     
• New Territories
  • Centre Island (A Chau) [????- ]
     
  • H.M. Prison (Tai Lam) / Tai Lam Correctional Institution [????- ]
     

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People

• Mary BRAGA [1914-1965], music teacher and missionary

 

• Lai-Pun CHAN (aka Little Wings) [c.1937- ]. Together with his older brother, the two boys were 'adopted' by men of the RAF at Kai Tak in the period immediately after the end of WW2.

 

• Iris Helen SOUTHEY [1908-1992], whose place of birth is given as "South Face, Beacon Hill Tunnel"!
   
• Internees in Stanley Camp:
  • Cecilia Maria Leonor BETHELL (née NORONHA) [1901-1989], beautician
     
  • Frank Edward LAWRENCE [1894-????] and his son Charles Raymond Maurice LAWRENCE (aka Ray) [1923-1987], who both worked for the HK Government.
     

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Photos

coastyHK has posted several interesting screenshots from a 1945 visit. Sample below, then see the full set in gallery: 1945 Sir Keith Park's visit

 

Other recent photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Click to see all recently added photos.