- Hopetown

- Hopetown is 2 miles up, on the left bank of the Kamuni Creek which is a tributary on the left bank of the Demerara River, 22 miles up, near to Timehri.

It was a large, successful Chinese settlement established by the Court of Policy in 1865 under a Chinese missionary from Singapore, O Tye Kim. By 1874, there were 800 persons living in Hopetown.Hopetown was named in honor of Vice Admiral Sir James Hope who had visited the settlement when his flagship had arrived on 15 February, 1865.The main occupation was the making of charcoal and shingles which they sold in a shop in Georgetown.

When it became difficult to get wood for the charcoal business, many left for other parts of the country near the larger centres of the population where the work was easier and the profits greater. Also the younger generation was not willing to farm or do hard, manual labor. Nowadays, there is no longer any Chinese living at Hopetown, a once flourishing Chinese community.

In 1903, title to the land at Hopetown was given to the Trustees of the Anglican Church at Hopetown for the Chinese immigrants then settled at Hopetown and such other Chinese as may settle there and their descendants. This land was subsequently vested in 1954, in the Incorporated Trustees of the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Guyana. Finally, in 1972, it was agreed by Dr. Alan John Knight, the Bishop of Guyana, who was also the Archbishop of the West Indies that the land should be leased for 99 years to the Chinese Association.



Charles Blair, Main Koker Operator 1951



Handley Macfarlane in front of Hopetown Village Office in 1952





The new office of the Regional Authority located in Hopetown