Doca do Lamau 林茂塘區

History

In 1863 the Portuguese authorities in Macau moved beyond the city walls, took over Patane, San Kio (新橋) and Sha Kong (沙崗) and began filling in the beach, creating the street along the Patane shore (沙梨頭海邊街). Timber merchants then walled off ponds in the bay off Patane to store logs. The largest timber business and pond belonged to Lam Mau (林茂), and the pond and several nearby lanes took that name. The Macau government gazette (澳門憲報) records that the pond was begun in September 1884 and in use by May 1885, built after a petition from the Patane Earth God temple and several firms, Lam Mau among them, which indicates Lam Mau was a trading house rather than a person.

Pirates and smugglers from central and western Guangdong used to sail up from the Shizimen Channel (十字門水道) and land at the pond's stone embankment. In the last years of the Qing dynasty, revolutionaries of the Tongmenghui (同盟會) hid imported guns in the timber yards and shipped them to Guangzhou (廣州) and elsewhere in fishing boats. In the 1960s and 1970s the wooden-shack settlement at Lam Mau Tong was hit repeatedly by typhoons and fires. A fire on 22 October 1979 burned nearly 1,000 shacks and left more than 6,000 people homeless, and another fire followed in 1988. The government then moved the remaining residents to a public estate in Mong Ha (望廈), filled in the pond and laid out new roads and housing.

What to see

The Lam Mau name survives in Lam Mau Lane (林茂巷) and Avenida Marginal do Lam Mau (林茂海邊大馬路), among other streets. In 1998 a marina pier for the Macau Nautical Club (澳門水上活動俱樂部) was built here. The Lam Mau Tong temporary leisure area (林茂塘臨時休憩區) has a sandpit that is a favourite with children, and in 2024 the Macao Government Tourism Office used it as a check-in point in its "Staychill Playcool Macao" (酷玩澳門) community campaign. From mid-2020 the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (土地工務運輸局) raised parts of the sea wall from the Avenida Marginal do Lam Mau rest area to Rua Alta da Ilha Verde (青洲上街), building a concrete flood wall at least 3.2 metres above mean sea level; the work was nearly complete in July 2021.

Highlights

• Lam Mau Tong temporary leisure area 林茂塘臨時休憩區: A leisure area whose sandpit is popular with children.
• Macau Nautical Club marina 澳門水上活動俱樂部: The club's marina pier was built here in 1998.