Argyle Street Camp III + Detention Centre 

亞皆老街軍營+羈留中心

1979-1984(Camp III)aa

1979- 1982, 1988-1991 (Detention Centre)

3000+9000

​

 

The Argyle Street camps was built in 1941 as a refugee camp for Chinese people fleeing the Japanese invasion of China. It was then turned into a prisoner-of-war camp during Japanese occupation for army officers. 

Since 1979, Argyle Camp III was used as a departure transit centre, for refugees who were granted entry to the United States. Therefore, their movements were more controlled than the asylum seekers in nearby Argyle IV camp. They were housed in  purposed built wooden huts erected by the Hong Kong government. In 1984, the site was closed, but some barrack buildings remained until 1992. In the mid-1990s, the site was redeveloped into various medical institutions.

​

Camp IV were built on sports ground of Argyle Street camp. In this camp, 19 wooden huts were erected for Vietnamese asylum seekers. It is important to emphasize the Argyles camps are in the urban centre of Kowloon, and were surrounded by housing, schools, and commercial activities in the 1980s.

In the late 1980s, part of Argyle III and IV

camps were demolished to make way for the Hong Kong Eye Hospital. However, some structures remained, and the camp was reopened briefly in 1988 when the number of asylum seekers surged. About 1600 Vietnamese were kept in the remaining camp structures at the time. It was unclear when the camp closed, but news reporting about the camp ended in late 1990.