Quarrying in Hong Kong

Background
For Hong Kong, the topography is rugged and hilly with slopes rising steeply from the sea and little coastal plain; while the geology is predominantly volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks. The igneous rock, mainly fine to medium grained granites, forms an excellent type of natural building materials. Granite has been used as the basic raw material for the territory construction and building industry since the 1840s, originally as dressed stone for building blocks and latterly as aggregates in concrete.

From 1840 to Second World War
Between 1840 and 1850 stone quarrying was very active along the coastal areas of the Hong Kong Island. The census carried out in 1841 estimated that 1,655 out of a total population of 7,450 were from six villages substantially involved in quarrying. In 1844, John Davies the Governor, saw a large number of workers involved in quarrying and decided to impose a tax as a sign of sovereignty, even though the income from the rocks was only a couple of percentage of the total revenue of the colony.

Tenders and auctions were adopted for all quarries on the Island until 1860s where separate leases would be signed for all quarries on the Island and the Peninsula. Not only was quarried granite used in building construction in Hong Kong, but those quality granite blocks were exported to Canton, Siam, New South Wales and San Francisco by then.

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IR DR. S.W. POON,
Adjunct Professor, Department of Real Estate and Construction University of Hong Kong
MSc; PhD Lough; CEng; MIStructE; MCIWEM; MHKIE; RPE(Struct)
Committee Member of CIWEM HK; Adjunct Professor of the Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong
Research fields cover construction management, temporary works, construction failures and safety Construction history, etc.

IR K.F. MAN
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Real Estate and Construction University of Hong Kong
BSc(Eng) in Civil Engineering; MSc(Eng) HK; LLB in Chinese Law PKU
Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong

DR. K.Y. DENG
Lecturer, Department of Real Estate and Construction University of Hong Kong
Lecturer and Honorary Assistant Professor of the Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong
Research fields cover building technology, design management, heritage conservation, etc.