Morrison Hill

View from East Point in the late 1860s. Photograph by John Thomson. The original caption read: "The eminence to the left is Morrison's Hill, crowned with a row of substantially built foreign residences, and commanding an extensive and imposing view of the city and ports."

Oi Kwan Road west, near the entrance of Morrison Hill Swimming Pool.

Queen Elizabeth Stadium entrance on Oi Kwan Road.

Masjid Ammar and Osman Ramju Sadick Islam Centre.

TSK Victoria Government Secondary School.

Morrison Hill (Chinese: 摩理臣山 or 摩利臣山) is an area and was a hill in Wan Chai near Happy Valley, on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong.

History

The hill was at the seashore until the Praya East Reclamation Scheme in the 1920s, which used its constituent rock/earth to reclaim land from the harbour, extending the shoreline away from the area. This major operation took most of the decade and to carry away the rock and soil, temporary railway tracks were laid, running along Bowrington Canal (present day Canal Road), which was covered over for the purpose.^[1]

The hill was named for J.R. Morrison, a Chinese interpreter and linguist.^[2] He and his Protestant missionary father, Dr Robert Morrison, travelled through the region as part of the Morrison Education Society. The younger Morrison died of malaria in Macau on 29 August 1843.^[3]

Features

Today, the centre of the area is occupied by the Morrison Hill Swimming Pool and several secondary schools, within a circular street, Oi Kwan Road (愛群道). A main road, Morrison Hill Road (摩理臣山道), runs along the east side of the area. The Queen Elizabeth Stadium and the Tang Shiu Kin Hospital are nearby in the area. There is also a skatepark near the children's playground.

Facilities along Oi Kwan Road

Amenity facilities include:

• Queen Elizabeth Stadium and
• Morrison Hill Swimming Pool,

Medical establishments include:

• Tang Shiu Kin Hospital,
• Tang Chi Ngong Specialist Clinic and
• MacLehose Dental Centre.

Educational institutions include:

• Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Morrison Hill) (with the headquarters of Vocation Training Council by its side),
• Lady Trench Training Centre,
• Tang Shiu Kin Victoria Government Secondary School,
• Sheng Kung Hui Tang Shiu Kin Secondary School and
• Wanchai School.

Other major facilities include:

• The Scout Association of Hong Kong Regional Headquarters,
• Tang Shiu Kin Social Service Centre and
• Ammar Mosque and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre.

References

1. 1920s Excavation of Morrison Hill, Gwulo
2. Hong Kong - Some Early Notes on its natural history - by A.H. Crook and L. Gibbs, Nov 1934, p191
3. Carey, W. H. (1850). Oriental Christian Biography, Containing Biographical Sketches of Distinguished Christians Who Have Lived and Died in the East. Calcutta, Baptist Mission Press. p. 193.

Coordinates: 22°16′31″N 114°10′47″E / 22.27538°N 114.17969°E