General Information
A long standing part of Hong Kong's military history, the Gun Club Hill Barracks arose out of the need to house soldiers on the Kowloon Peninsula following the cession of the area after the Second Opium War (1863). The British were in need of additional military facilities and had begun scouting sites on the Kowloon Peninsula. The purpose was not only to house garrisons but also provide military defences on both sides of the harbour. With the shoreline being used for civilian activities sites in the King's Park area were selected as the sites to establish encampments. The area, flush with gardens, streams and paddy fields was a popular place to hunt birds and, once the military encampments were established, several firing ranges were set up for training. So, although this has not been verified, Horsnell believes it is plausible that is how this area got its name.
The barracks compound is about 10 hectares (25 acres). The original Gun Club Hill Barracks encompassed a much larger area. The military organised a series of tented encampments situated on where now stands Kowloon Park, Gun Club Hill and King's Park. They were connected to civilian areas by horse lines in the Chatham Road area. Through the years the area has been whittled down to ‘Gun Club Hill’ a smaller portion of the King’s Park area between Jordan and Austin Road.
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