For reasons never clearly determined, a fire began in the matsheds, interlocking temporary structures erected every year during race season to cover spectators. Those sitting in the public stands became trapped as the fire, fuelled by dry winds, caused the matsheds to quickly collapse. The waterproof roof which collapsed on top of the people ensured that those under the roof got crushed, suffocated or else burned to death before fire services could reach them.
Even though the fire only lasted about 20 minutes, more than 600 people died and some 300 were injured. Along with the humans, many horses also perished in the fire.
(visit link)
(visit link)
According to the list of those who perished, most of the victims were Chinese although there were also a dozen or so Indians along with a few Portugese.
After the fire, the dead were buried at the foothills of Caroline Hill, near So Kon Po. And a memorial was built on Coffee Garden Hill.
In the early 60s the government moved all the bodies and bones to Aberdeen; Moved the Memorial up the side of Caroline Hill and levelled the Coffee Garden Hill to make way for a new stadium. In early 90s, this stadium was rebuilt again, in a grander way as Hong Kong stadium.
The Memorial, now in its new location is a well kept secret. I haven’t been able to figure out why its unadvertised but searching around the internet yields very few results for this serene and peaceful location dedicated to the dead. It seems to be one of the least known and least publicised memorial in HongKong.
It is tucked away quietly, behind the stadium. It can be reached easily.
The stairs that lead to the memorial are on the left hand side of Hong Kong stadium and they are minimally marked with arrows to the Race Course Fire Memorial. There are opening hours listed, but there is no lock on the gate, only a low wall around the site, and usually no-one around.
The path up to the GZ is also clearly marked on OpenStreetMap. Please click on the OpenStreetMap link to view the path.
This cache is a replacement for an earlier cache that had been archived.
The cache is magnetic, next to the gate where the diagonal meets the vertical.