Ngong Shuen Chau
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Stonecutters Island or Ngong Shuen Chau is a former island in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. Following
land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
, it is now attached to the
Kowloon Peninsula The Kowloon Peninsula is a peninsula that forms the southern part of the main landmass in the territory of Hong Kong, alongside Victoria Harbour and facing toward Hong Kong Island. The Kowloon Peninsula and the area of New Kowloon are collect ...
.


Fauna

The island once boasted at least three mating pairs of
sulphur-crested cockatoos The sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'') is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being ...
as well as many snakes;
banded krait The banded krait (''Bungarus fasciatus'') is a species of elapid snake found on the Indian Subcontinent, in Southeast Asia, and in southern China. It is the largest species of krait, with a maximum length up to . Although the banded krait is ven ...
s, brown cobras and bamboo snakes were all common denizens as late as the 1980s. Black kites often hovered overhead, looking for prey and carrion amongst the many tamarind, ''ficus benjamina'' and banyan trees.


History


Under British rule

The island was ceded by the Qing dynasty to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland along with
Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...
in 1860 through the Convention of Peking. It was initially used for quarrying by the British, hence the English name for the island. A Royal Navy Radio Interception and Direction-finding Station was established on the island in 1935. From 1935 to 1939 the base was the main radio interception unit for the Far East Combined Bureau, which was four miles away across the harbour in the naval dockyard. After World War Two the island became host to British Army units including 415 Maritime Unit RCT and the Ammunition Sub-Depot RAOC. Explosive storage became more important following the
1967 riots 1967 riots may refer to: * Long, hot summer of 1967, marked by race riots and civil disorder throughout the United States ** Avondale riots of 1967, June 12–18, Cincinnati, Ohio ** Buffalo riot of 1967, June 27–July 1, Buffalo, New York ** 1 ...
and the Hong Kong Mines Division elected to have all commercial explosives stored on Stonecutters prior to being issued to the various blasting sites around the colony. British Royal Army Ordnance Corps soldiers oversaw all commercial explosive issues post-1968 until 1994 , at which time the RN took over care and custody of the military explosives at the site.Civilian explosive storage and issues was controlled by civilian contractors. The RN retained care and custody until the colony was transferred to
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1997. Before then, it was the training and HQ depot of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps. The island was policed by Indian
Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...
; because traditionally they neither smoke nor drink alcohol. The Army Department Police (ADP), as they were known, saw continuous service on the island during the British era. They enjoyed field hockey, and they were often seen playing bare-footed on the field. During the early 1980s the ADP boasted two Indian national hockey players. It was common to see their blue pagris (turbans) drying in the sun outside their barracks. The Royal Navy continued to provide a ferry service (known as T-Boats) connecting islanders with HMS ''Tamar'' on Hong Kong and the
Star Ferry The Star Ferry is a passenger ferry service operator and tourist attraction in Hong Kong. Its principal routes carry passengers across Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island, and Kowloon. The service is operated by the Star Ferry Com ...
terminal in Kowloon. Additional boats were provided by 415 Maritime Unit RCT and crewed by Local Employed Personnel (LEPs). During the 60s, 70s and 80s, the island became used as a 'Rest and Recuperation' resort, having several chalet style bungalows built around the
Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs c ...
shop, restaurant and swimming pool complex on the South Shore. There was also a commercial interest on the island; Jardine Matheson along with
DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
erected an explosives factory to cater for the ever-growing need for commercial blasting explosives. The factory manufactured several tonnes of water gel and other commercial explosives per week. Limited stocks of Chinese, British and other commercial explosives were stored in the island's Victorian explosive storage tunnels. During the 70s and 80s, the island was also the forward operating base (FOB) of a Royal Navy Hovercraft unit deployed to assist the Hong Kong government with anti-illegal immigration operations. The Royal Navy unit (Naval Party 1009) was under the control of Cmdr Chris Stafford and two SRN6 Mk6 Hovercraft were continually operated until 1985 when the unit was finally disbanded. Some buildings or military facilities within the Ngong Shuen Chau Barracks are now graded historic buildings.


During World War II

Stonecutters Island was captured by the Japanese Imperial Army on 11December 1941, following heavy shelling. Merchant ships in the island's docks were scuttled, and demolitions were carried out at
Kowloon Naval Yard Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...
and on the island. During World War II, radio installations on the island were used by the
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese for military purposes and for extending the range of transmission of the NHK Overseas Broadcasting Bureau. The Japanese (during the WW2 occupation) used the unique isolation of the island to house a snake farm. The snakes were milked of their venom to provide antidotes for their soldiers bitten on active duty in the Pacific theatre.


After 1997

Following the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China on 1July 1997, the naval base is now operated by the
People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...
.


Infrastructure on the island

The island was connected to the Kowloon peninsula by the
West Kowloon Reclamation West Kowloon () is the western part of Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong, situated within the Yau Tsim Mong District and Sham Shui Po District. It is bounded by Canton Road to the east, Victoria Harbour to the west and the south, and Jor ...
in the 1990s to provide land for the construction of the road and railway network to the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, and for the Container Terminal 8 of
Kwai Tsing Container Terminals Kwai Tsing Container Terminals is the main port facilities in the reclamation along Rambler Channel between Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. It evolved from four berths of Kwai Chung Container Port () completed in the 1970s. It later ...
. Stonecutters Island is the site of a large sewage treatment facility known as Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works. Since the facility was built in 2001, it has reduced the amount of
E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...
in the nearby water by 99 percent, while other pollutants have been reduced by 70-80 percent, allowing coral to return to Victoria Harbour and make Hong Kong's beaches safe for swimming again.The facility that is cleaning up Victoria Harbour
CNNGo.com Retrieved 28 February 2011. Stonecutters Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge linking the Kowloon peninsula with Tsing Yi Island to form part of Route 8, opened on 20 December 2009.


See also

* Hong Kong * List of islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong *
List of places in Hong Kong The following is a list of areashttp://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/MusicOffice/download/imts18.pdf of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Island * Central and Western District ** Central District ***Admiralty ** Mid-Levels ***Soho **Sai Wan ***Kenned ...
* Stonecutters Bridge * Ngong Shuen Chau Naval Base


References


Further reading

*


External links


Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Works

Stonecutters BridgeStonecutters Island - A meeting place for previous British Forces residents
{{Coord, 22, 19, 20, N, 114, 8, 10, E, display=title, type:landmark Kowloon Sham Shui Po District Restricted areas of Hong Kong red public minibus Former islands