The letters of J.C. Wilkinson, PD(TC) who lived in Abu Dhabi from September 1960 to May 1962 in the Company house built in 1951 and demolished soon after The Club moved out in June 1968 when the Abu Dhabi port was constructed. The footnotes are Wilkinson’s.

John C. Wilkinson Personal letters to his family

30.9.60 Very long letter

Apologise for long delay in writing. I left Qatar 13th, but very busy and difficult in a new environment where to start.

I have received a basic salary rise of £100 to £1,400. First few days spent in Tarif and now well settled in Abu Dhabi but weekending in Tarif. This I proceed to describe.

Abu Dhabi is on an island which is linked to the mainland by a causeway of stone about 200 yards long. Before this was constructed one could only access the

island at low tide. As with much of the coastal strip it is made of what is called sabkha, a type of mud-cum-salt flat completely destitute of any vegetation unless there is overlaying sand. However, although the approach up the island has some drift sand, the seaward side is nothing but pure white very soft sand. It is on this sand that the town/village of Abu Dhabi is situated. This means that the going is very difficult – always in 4 wheel drive: I was stuck in it for three hours the other day. Where the sabkha is beaten down into hard tracks it is motorable, but the low-lying sabkha, especially approaching the island is very treacherous, particularly at high tide or when a storm wind blows. The track to my house is frequently under water. The trouble with sabkha is that once you go through it you go right in, and this is the great problem with the air-strip.

Abu Dhabi (by that I mean the town) has a population of about 1,200 at a guess. As I say, it is built on this dazzling white sand and consists of barasti huts with Persian type wind-towers and a few more modern stone built houses. Predominant is the large fortress/palace of the Shaikh, quite imposing now it is white-washed. On the sea-front is a little jetty with a few dhows, the small suq and the new houses and offices of ADMA (Abu Dhabi Marine Areas – offshore oil exploration based at Das Island). This office belongs to their Representative, Alan Horan and their Training Officer Mike Daley (Daly?]. Both are married and have their own houses. The other really nice house belongs to Mike Malcolm the BBME (British Bank of the Middle East) Manager. Then there are several houses of a modest nature belonging to employees of ADMA, the BBME, and the Commandant of Police, Crosby Stokes. Finally, of the modern buildings are two or three well-built buildings belonging to the shaikhs and leading merchants. The Political Officer – Edward Henderson, who is an ex-member of the Company, has, what is for HMG quite a change, the best looking building of the lot.