Abeyance and autonomy: water management in Melbourne and Hong Kong, 1850-1939

Melbourne and Hong Kong constructed their first water supply systems in the nineteenth century. Through case studies using newspaper, archival, and parliamentary sources, this thesis compares how and why each city expanded their water networks, and how they responded to diverse water management challenges. I argue that the nature of Melbourne as a settler colony and Hong Kong's initial colonial outpost status influenced the timeliness, but not the effectiveness of water crises responses. Moreover, the presence of resources in a city's hinterland did not guarantee that such resources were accessible to the residents.