Parade at the Beatty Street Drill Hall / Cambie Grounds on 19 October, 1912 - or soon after. Note that all three Senior NCOs are wearing the 1895-1902 India General Service Medal, and the WO II on the right appears to have the Hong Kong Plague Medal of 1894. Note also that the Brass Band and Drummers wore RED hackles in their feather-bonnets. In the lower left corner is "16". In the background is a sign: "Wm --- / C -- and below that is a sign "feathers ... " It is on a black cardboard backing and appears to have been cut out from a scrapbook. SCANNED AND ATTACHED TO MEDIA Larwill Park, also known as the Cambie Street Grounds, was a park and sporting field in downtown Vancouver. Currently a parking lot, the site was also the location of the bus depot of Pacific Coach Stage Lines and Greyhound Bus Lines from World War II to the mid-1990s, when it was demolished. The park was bounded by Cambie, Dunsmuir, Beatty and Georgia Streets, the former park occupied a whole city block and was laid out at the time of the CPR Townsite survey in the early 1880s. It was Vancouver's second sporting grounds, the first being on Brockton Point in Stanley Park, and was used for all kinds of sports. A house on the corner of the lot was occupied by an Alfred Larwill ("Al" or "Fred") who good-naturedly stored all kinds of game equipment in his toolshed and allowed team members to use his dining room for a dressing room. Located midway between the city's old downtown around Gastown Hastings Street and newer areas uptown around Granville, the park naturally became a centre for public meetings, the most infamous one was a rally by the Knights of Labour which led to the Anti-Oriental Riots of 1907, with the Beatty Street Drill Hall, across Beatty Street on the block's northeast flank, serving as a stage and podium. Baseball, cricket and lacrosse teams made use of the field year round. The playing fields also served as military drill-grounds, with the city's first muster being called up for the Boer War using the site for that purpose, as well as for World Wars I and II. The site was also a main site for rallies of demonstrations by the unemployed and labour organizations in the 1930s. During World War II, while the men who had used it for sport and politics were away at war and not around to prevent it, the site was converted into the bus depot. Hong Kong Plague Medal 1894 This medal was issued by the government of Hong Kong and awarded to members of the Army and Navy, together with some civilians, for services during the outbreak of bubonic plague in the colony between 5th May and 3rd September 1894. One officer and six men lost their lives during the plague. The award was not allowed to be worn in uniform as this was not a service medal. The medal was issued in gold to officers and senior civilians, and in silver for other recipients. Approximately 40 gold and 350 silver medals were issued. The obverse shows a soldier man fending off a figure of Death who is aiming his spear at a plague-striken Chinese man laid on a table. A woman, symbolising Charity, has her right hand on the patient's heart and her left hand holding a bottle of medicine. One the left the words 'Hong Kong' in Chinese characters. A scroll contains the date 1894. The reverse contains two inscriptions 'For services rendered during the plague of 1894' and 'Presented by the Hong Kong Community'. The main recipients of this award were 300 men of the Shropshire Light Infantry. There were other awards, approximately 50, to the Royal Navy, Royal Engineers and civilians, including policemen and nurses. The naming is in impressed capitals giving the recipients rank, name and regiment. The ribbon is of red with yellow edges and two thin yellow stripes down the centre.