Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala | |
|---|---|
 The Star Ferry | |
| Died | Bombay, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Years active | 1852–1898 |
| Known for | Founding the Kowloon Ferry Company |
Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala (sometimes written 'Nowrojee') was an Indian businessman of Parsi descent in Hong Kong.
He first arrived in Hong Kong in 1852 as a stowaway aboard a ship from Bombay bound for China [1] and was a cook.
Naorojee is most recognized for the founding of the Kowloon Ferry Company in 1888 for transporting passengers and cargo (especially bread) between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The company was renamed in 1898 to Star Ferry, which today transports passengers throughout Hong Kong.
Dorabjee Naorojee was also a hotel entrepreneur, starting the King Edward Hotel in Colonial Hong Kong. [2] According to some sources, he leased the Hong Kong Hotel in 1873 for ten years and afterward started one hotel on Pottinger Street and two in Kowloon.
Other sources have a businessman by the name of Mr Hing Kee, who was tired of the hotel business and sold his landmark in 1903 to Mr Farmer, who was a veteran of the hotel business. Farmer had also worked in Australia before arriving in Hong Kong in 1890 to work at the Victoria Hotel, then the New Victoria Hotel, where he became the proprietor in 1898. His son Dhunjeebhoy Dorabjee Naorojee ran the hotel after his father returned to India and until his death in 1911. Supposedly around 1906 or 1907 Mr Madar, Dorabjee and Mr Farmer started the King Edward Hotel at 3 Des Voeux Road situated in Hong Kong Island. [3] It is believed that this hotel used the name as a franchise lease, not the original nor the very first King Edward Hotel.
Mithaiwala retired from his businesses in Hong Kong and returned to India [4] .
Hong Kong has a highly developed and sophisticated transport network, encompassing both public and private transport. Based on Hong Kong Government's Travel Characteristics Survey, over 90% of the daily journeys are on public transport, the highest rate in the world. However, in 2014 the Transport Advisory Committee, which advises the Government on transportation issues, issued a report on the much worsened congestion problem in Hong Kong and pointed at the excessive growth of private cars during the past 10–15 years.
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 43,033/km2 (111,450/sq mi) in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and the rest of the New Territories. The peninsula's area is about 47 km2 (18 sq mi).
Central is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula. The area was the heart of Victoria City, although that name is rarely used today.
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it is the region described in the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. According to that treaty, the territories comprise the mainland area north of Boundary Street on the Kowloon Peninsula and south of the Sham Chun River, as well as over 200 outlying islands, including Lantau Island, Lamma Island, Cheung Chau, and Peng Chau in the territory of HK.
The Kowloon–Canton Railway is a railway network in Hong Kong. It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) until 2007. Rapid transit services, a light rail system, feeder bus routes within Hong Kong, and intercity passenger and freight train services to China on the KCR network, have been operated by the MTR Corporation since 2007.
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 Company, which was founded in 1888 as the Kowloon Ferry Company, and adopted its present name in 1898.
The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes. It is a subsidiary of Transport International.
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony in 1841 and its subsequent development as a trading centre.
Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsim Sha Tsui. The area is bounded north by Austin Road and in the east by Hong Chong Road and Cheong Wan Road.
Statue Square is a public pedestrian square in Central, Hong Kong. Built entirely on reclaimed land at the end of the 19th century, Statue Square consists of two parts separated by Chater Road into a northern and a southern section. It is bordered by Connaught Road Central in the north and by Des Voeux Road Central in the south.
North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui that projects toward Kowloon Bay.
Hong Kong (1800s–1930s) oversaw the founding of the new crown colony of Hong Kong under the British Empire. After the First Opium War, the territory was ceded by the Qing Empire to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland through Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and Convention of Peking (1860) in perpetuity, with additional land was leased to the British under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898), Hong Kong became one of the first parts of East Asia to undergo industrialisation.
Sir Catchick Paul Chater was a prominent British businessman of Armenian descent in colonial Hong Kong, whose family roots were in Calcutta, India.
South Asians are part of the Hong Kong society. As of the 2016 by-census, there were at least 44,744 persons of South Asian descent in Hong Kong. Many trace their roots in Hong Kong as far back as when most of the Indian subcontinent was still under British colonial rule and as a legacy of the British Empire, their nationality issues remain largely unsettled. However, recently an increasing number of them have acquired Chinese nationality.
SirHormusjee Naorojee Mody was a successful Indian Parsi businessman in Hong Kong. He made Hong Kong his home for 50 years, during which he did much for the benefit of the colony and finally founded the University of Hong Kong
Mody Road is a street in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal is a ferry terminal and heliport, centrally located in Hong Kong. It is also known as the Macau Ferry Terminal, the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier or the Shun Tak Heliport, and has an ICAO code of VHSS.
The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited (HYF), is a ferry company founded in 1897 in Hong Kong. It is commonly known as Yaumati Ferry. After restructuring the company in 1989, it became a subsidiary of Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings) Company Limited.
Jews were among the first settlers after Hong Kong became a British colony in 1841. The first Jews arrived in Hong Kong from various parts of the British Empire as merchants and colonial officials. Among the first wave, the Baghdadi Jews stood out especially, including representatives of the influential families of Sassoon and Kadoorie. The construction of the Ohel Leah Synagogue in 1901 marked the beginning of a fully fledged religious life for the city's local Jews.
SS Fatshan was a passenger ferry steamer operating on the Hong Kong-Canton Line between 1887 and 1933 when she was scrapped and replaced by her namesake, Fatshan (1933). Shortly before scrapping she was renamed Fatshan I.
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