Green Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

off the northwest coast of Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Island, separated by the

Sulphur Channel The Sulphur Channel is a narrow inshore passage between Green Island and the northwest tip of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The Sulphur Channel is mainly used by small craft and inter-island ferries passing between Victoria Harbour and the Eas ...

. A smaller island nearby to the east, uninhabited, is called Little Green Island (). Administratively, the two islands are part of

Central and Western District The Central and Western District () located on northwestern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. It had a population of 243,266 in 2016. The district has the most educated residents with the secon ...

Buildings

Green Island is largely uninhabited and at the east coast is Green Island Reception Centre and Green Island Police Station. On the top of the hill is an office of the Marine Department and a lighthouse southwest guides the ships in Sulphur Channel.

Lighthouse compound

The buildings of the Green Island Lighthouse Compound were declared as monuments, In 2008. The historic buildings include the two lighthouses built in 1875 and 1905 and the European quarters of the lighthouse compound. These three buildings are individually Grade II historic buildings. The first lighthouse, tall and constructed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

, began operation on 1 July 1875. There are two cross-shaped openings on its wall for ventilation and lighting. The openings resemble gun-posts like those found in medieval European castles. These are of the same construction as those found on the Cape Collinson Lighthouse at Siu Sai Wan, Hong Kong Island. It was later disused in 1905 because the building was too small to carry the lens from the

Cape D'Aguilar Lighthouse A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

. Construction began on a second lighthouse in 1904, completed in 1905, which was originally intended to house the Cape D’Aguilar light. Built of granite and concrete, sitting beside its predecessor, the newer lighthouse is tall, painted white, with a steel-caged lantern on top. A concrete spiral staircase with rails gives access to the lantern room. An upper floor was added to the keeper's house in 1923 and the lighthouse was automated in the 1970s. The two lighthouses, along with Cape D'Aguilar Lighthouse, Waglan Island Lighthouse and

Tang Lung Chau Lighthouse Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...

(Kap Sing Lighthouse) are the only prewar lighthouses remaining.

Living quarters and house

The keeper's house has a flat roof and is designed in an 'L' shape. The house has arched windows and hanging eaves. The quarters was converted to the Police Recreation Centre for an unknown time. It is currently leased to the Wu Oi Christian Centre as a youth drug treatment rehabilitation centre.

Green Island Reception Centre

The Green Island Reception Centre () was historically used as a temporary reception centre for

Vietnamese refugees Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

. As of 1997, it was used to accommodate Vietnamese illegal immigrants (VIIs) temporarily for quarantine purposes. The Centre was then managed by the CSD.

Flora and fauna

The island is densely covered with

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

and tall scrub. A total of 150 plant species and a large variety of butterfly species has been found. One ant species not previously found elsewhere in Hong Kong was recorded on Green Island. The locally rare reef egret and

white-bellied sea eagle The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related t ...

have been seen on the island.

Air traffic

Green Island is an important reporting point for location aviation in Hong Kong for entry to Victoria Harbour by air. All local traffic flying into or out of the harbour must report overhead Green Island. As the harbour is quite narrow and aviation traffic can be heavy at times due to the large number of helicopters and light aircraft, Green Island can also act as a holding point before permission to enter is granted by air traffic control.

Weather station

Shelved reclamation plan

In the 1990s, the Hong Kong Government proposed reclaiming approximately of land from

to provide accommodation for a population of 103,465 and more road infrastructure. This included a coastal highway from Kennedy Town to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

(then called Route 7) and a fourth cross-harbour tunnel to a proposed container port at North

Lantau Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands Dis ...

. This proposal was shelved due to strong opposition from environmental concern groups.

References

External links

Biodiversity of the island (WWF HK)

"Review of Egretries in Hong Kong", in ''Hong Kong Biodiversity'', Issue No. 14 March 2007, pp. 1-6.

Aerial image from Google Map
* * {{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q15920165 Victoria Harbour Central and Western District, Hong Kong