From the early 1920s Jose Maria de Castro Basto and his wife Casimira de Senna Fernandes had a house at the corner of Argyle Street and Peace Avenue, in the Homantin development of Francisco Paulo de Vasconcelos Soares . They named it "Milalda" after their two daughters Milla and Alda. Some of their sons owned homes directly across from them on Argyle Street. Their home was completely stripped to the ground by looters during the Japanese occupation as it was rumoured that Dona Casimira had treasure hidden in the brickworks of the house.
Collection Bosco Correa

Frank Soares at the front steps of his home
Collection J Bosco Correa

Frank Soares plucking fruit from his garden.
Collection Bosco Correa

Soares residence at 2 Liberty Avenue in Homantin
Photo taken by Luis ("Luigi") Antonio M. da V. Soares

Collection Bosco Correa

This photo is taken from Kadoorie Avenue with Argyle Street in the foreground and looking south down Peace Avenue with the Kowloon Canton Railway line running parallel to it. The present Jesuit-run Wah Yan College is to the middle right of the photo. Homantin Hill is in the background and Hong Kong island is in the far back ground. Again the cutting on the hill to the left of the picture is where Victory Avenue is today and you can see in this photo the actual laying down of the road work for Victory Avenue. Soares, Emma and Julia Avenues were not yet in existence when this photo was taken as they are where the unlevelled hill to the extreme left of the photo is. The avenues named Peace, Liberty and Victory were so named by my grandfather Soares in commemoration of the ending of World War I known then as the Great War.
J. Bosco Correa 2008
Collection J Bosco Correa

This photo circa 1920, showing the corner of Waterloo Road and Peace Avenue in Homantin, was taken from the railway embankment just before the railway bridge over Waterloo Road. Note the open storm "nullah" running down the middle of Waterloo Road and the absence of traffic apart from the two rickshaws. Interestingly Waterloo Road was originally known as Coronation Road.
The corner house was the home of Manuel de Figueiredo and one house up from his on Waterloo Road belonged to his brother-in-law Francisco "Chico" da Silva.
To the right of the photo showing the cutting in the hillside is where Victory Avenue is today, and the hill itself after it was levelled by pickaxe and shovel is where the three streets Soares, Emma and Julia Avenues are located. These streets were named in honour of my maternal grandfather Francisco Paulo de Vasconcellos Soares and family, his wife Emma and his daughter Julia (my mother).
The road running parallel to the railway track is Peace Avenue and the house next to Manuel Figueredo's belonged to Estefânio "Faneo" da Luz, following this is the home of Mr Tsang owner of the Yellow Taxicab Company (recessed into their property and not visible in the photo), then comes the home of Eugenio dos Remedios who named it "Alvege" which is made up of the first letter of the name of each of his six daughters. Following this is the home of Artur Alvares Alves then we have the twin residences of Artur F Osmund and his son-in-law Fernando E d'Almada Remedios.
The Kowloon (Nine Dragons) Hills are in the distant background and looking north at the far end of Peace Avenue is the hill where the present Diocesan Boys' School is located.J. Bosco Correa 2008

Collection J Bosco Correa

Homantin Development from Kadoorie Avenue circa 1920
This photo is taken from Kadoorie Avenue with Argyle Street in the foreground and looking south down Peace Avenue with the Kowloon Canton Railway line running parallel to it. The present Jesuit-run Wah Yan College is to the middle right of the photo. Homantin Hill is in the background and Hong Kong island is in the far back ground. Again the cutting on the hill to the left of the picture is where Victory Avenue is today and you can see in this photo the actual laying down of the road work for Victory Avenue. Soares, Emma and Julia Avenues were not yet in existence when this photo was taken as they are where the unlevelled hill to the extreme left of the photo is. The avenues named Peace, Liberty and Victory were so named by my grandfather Soares in commemoratio[n of the ending of World War I known then as the Great War.
[J. Bosco Correa 2008
Collection J Bosco Correa

Emma, Julia and Frank Soares
Collection Bosco Correa

Home of Francisco Paulo de Vasconcellos Soares

This is a photo of the home of my maternal grandfather Francisco (Frank) Paulo de Vasconcellos Soares at 2 Liberty Avenue, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was a very large house with a substantial garden. His whole family including my parents, my siblings and I lived there.

At the outbreak of the Pacific War on 8 December 1941 he was the Acting Consul for Portugal in Hong Kong. When the Japanese attacked Hong Kong he transferred the Consulate from the Bank of East Asia building in the Central District of Hong Kong island to his residence in Homantin as the majority of Portuguese residents lived in Kowloon. When the British abandoned Kowloon on 10 December and fell back to the island there was no law and order in Kowloon. Marauding gangs of armed looters took advantage of the situation and broke into businesses, shops and private homes to pillage them. Portuguese and other foreign residents in northern Kowloon sought refuge in the Portuguese 'enclave' in Homantin. My grandfather took in 398 refugees in our home; our neighbours also took in their relatives and close friends.

To this day I am in awe as to how, just a month short of his 73rd birthday and semi-crippled, he was able to cope with this crisis. He had to organise the accommodation of so many people, feed them, arrange for sanitary facilities, find fuel for cooking, etc., as gas, electric and water supplies as well as telephone communication were cut off. He also had to arrange for security to protect the district against the looters by establishing a Street Guard made up of Portuguese men. This situation continued until the arrival of the Japanese. He went out to meet these shock troops who were in camouflage uniforms and ready for a fight and informed them that the district was a neutral zone and requested the Japanese to protect its residents, which they did. His interpreter was my cousin Mario Augusto Correa Guterres who had been born in Yokohama, Japan and was fluent in Japanese.

Those were very difficult and extraordinary times and my grandfather rose to the occasion!

J. Bosco Correa 2016

Collection J Bosco Correa

Standing: Stella Correa, Carlos "Charlie" Marcelino Correa, Carlos "Dinho" Augusto Pereira (aka "Charlico"), Oscar Raul Correa, Antonio "Tony" Manuel Correa, Elvira "Elvie" Correa.
Seated L-R Sophia "Sophie" Maria Correa, Wilhelmina Mathilda Schmidt Correa
This photo was taken in Shanghai at the home of grandmother Wilhelmina and her husband "Charlico" Pereira in late November 1941 just after my father arrived in Shanghai from Hong Kong and days before Uncle Tony left for Manila where he was being transferred to by General Motors to be the Accountant of their Philippine operation. He arrived in Manila on December 7th 1941 a day before the Japanese attacked Manila, Hong Kong etc. J Bosco Correa
Collection Philip Chok via Anthony Correa