The invasion of futsal cages across the so-called Tanglin Oval is quite a horrifying sight. Surely, the old Tanglin Barracks cricket ground deserves better, having had a place in history as Singapore’s very first dedicated military sporting ground. Set up by the soldiers of the barracks in 1870, the ground represents the commitment of their commander, Major Charles Hamilton Malan, to maintaining the mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing of the troops that he led. Malan commanded the right wing of the then Hong Kong based 75th Regiment of Foot — one of the components of the future Gordon Highlanders.
The 75th Regiment, was the second unit to be quartered at Tanglin Barracks, built to house European infantry soldiers in the early 1860s, but left unoccupied until early 1869. The living quarters back then were a mix of attap thatched timber accommodation blocks laid across the low elevations at Tanglin that up to a decade prior were planted with nutmeg trees. Thick vegetation had taken over in areas that were cleared but not built on. Malan set the troops under his command to work, clearing the “jungle” around the barracks to improve their habitability. The effort provided troops who might have otherwise idled unhappily away in the discomfort of the sweltering tropical heat some purpose.
Carving out a cricket ground — the Oval, as it would come to be known, was next on Malan’s agenda, which as Malan recorded in his memoirs, was no easy task. It not only required the clearing of jungle, but also the levelling of land — all of which was accomplished in a matter of months:
Looking down upon what was then thick jungle I said to my sergeant major: “Sergeant-major, what a capital place this would make for a cricket-ground! I’m an old cricketer; I used to be very fond of cricket. I’ll tell you what it is, we’ll make a cricket-ground. It would be good amusement.”
I looked at my friend’s face. There was a very placid smile upon it; and while he stood strictly at attention, he looked at me, as much as to say, “If you had the whole army here, you would not do it”.
Within six months of that time the jungle was gone, and there, in its place, was a cricket-ground, having a turfed level ninety yards long, forty wide and this level having been made in the slope of a hill!
How often, after it was finished, as I rode or walked up to the hospital to talk to some sick comrade, have I seen the slopes of the barracks covered with men, watching their comrades at play; and how I have lifted up my heart in thanks and praise to God, who gave me the wisdom, energy, and faith in Him to attempt and carry out such an undertaking! The making of this cricket-ground was a work of very great labour. The cutting of the jungle and rooting up the trees was the least part of it.
The former hospital.Malan’s road to the hospital.
Sport has long been a component of military life. Besides the benefits to the physical and emotional wellbeing of the soldiers, sport builds camaraderie and builds bridges between soldiers and their officers.
The cricket field (roots.sg).
Cricket fields and sporting grounds have been an essential feature of British army barracks since the 1840s when General Sir Rowland Hill, Commander in Chief of the British Army, gave orders for a cricket ground be provided in the country’s military barracks and this field in Tanglin Barracks represents the first attempt to export this to Singapore. Up to the point that it got “caged”, the field remained much as it was for over a 150 years. The addition of the futsal cages, laid on a raised bed of concrete, has quite sadly put an end to the field and the legacy (even if one can argue that the futsal cages continues its use as a sporting ground) that Malan left behind. It has also destroyed the wonderful view of the slope that Malan mentions, as well as adding the unsightly clutter of cages.
The former Tanglin Oval, before it was desecrated. The “slopes of the barracks covered with men, watching their comrades at play” that Malan described seeing as he made his way to the hospital (now Loewen by Dempsey Hill) can quite clearly be visualised.
The Tanglin Oval, late 1960s. John C Young Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore
The ugly mess that Malan’s field has become.Work started at the end of last year.De-fielding Malan’s cricket field :(.
As well as having the power to evoke a deep sense of longing in us for places we can no longer see, old photographs can be windows into the past, and provide us with clues to life beyond what the rose-tinted lenses we often have on, have us see.
This 1941 photograph, is a perfect example. Captured in colour — a rarity for photographs from those days, it was one of a large number taken by Harrison Forman. Forman was one of two American photographers, the other being Carl Mydans, who documented a Singapore making preparations for a war that no one thought would come to its shores.
McCallum Street, 1941, Harrison Forman Collection
The photograph shows an incarnation of McCallum Street that we may have forgotten about, as a street that looked quite typical of much of built-up Singapore, lined with a most common of urban constructs, shophouses, with poles of laundry hung out to dry. The shophouse façades are also quite typical, and have inscriptions in Chinese characters that told of the aspirations of the houses’ earlier occupants. A rickshaw dates the photograph to before they were taken off the streets in 1947. Interestingly the shophouses are raised, which could indicate that the possibility of the street being flooded was considered in their construction.
Another interesting aspect of the photograph, is the absence of any form of street lighting except for a single gas lamp post. Gas lamps provided much of the public illumination back in the day, and the single lamp would certainly not have brightened the street to the levels that we have come to expect today. The municipality’s first gas lamps were lit came on 24 May 1864, the birthday of Queen Victoria, and replaced the much less effective oil lamps that were first introduced on 1 April 1824. For the purpose, the Singapore Gas Company was established in the 1860s to produce methane from coal. The gas company was transferred to the municipality in November 1901.
By the time that this photograph was taken, electricity also powered a selection of street lamps. Electrical lighting on a large scale was first seen in 1897 on the premises of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company. Electricity however, was only made available to the municipality in 1905 through an arrangement with the Singapore Tramways Company to supply of excess power from its plant in MacKenzie Road. Electric street lighting was introduced in 1906 to light up Raffles Place, Boat Quay and a section of North Bridge Road. It would however only be in the mid-1950s that a complete switch was made to electric street lighting.
There would also have been other items connected with gas lighting and gas supply that would have been visible. Some appear in other photographs from the era. The huge gas holder at Kampong Bugis, part of the Municipality’s Kallang Gasworks, was on item that was quite a landmark. It was after the gasworks that the name of the area in the Hokkien vernacular, “Huay Sia” (火城) or “Fire City”, came about.
Another large gas holder from the pre-war era that was also a visible landmark was located off Maxwell Road. Installed in 1913 and reconstructed after the war, the Municipal (later City Council) Gas Holder stood on a site just across what became Kadayanallur Street from Maxwell Road Market (now Maxwell Food Centre) — right where URA Centre stands today.
The Gas Holder at Maxwell Road.
The use of gas lamps also required an team of lamplighters to be employed. The task of the lamplighter was to light the lamps up at 6 pm and blow them off at midnight. The installation of time switches in the 1940s reduced the need for these lamplighters, although many remained in employment to clean and maintain the lamps and as back ups should the automatic timers failed. The task was by no means easy or safe, lamplighters could be seen carrying their ladders on bicycles and propping them against the arms that projected horizontally from the gas lamp posts. There were a number of fatal accidents involving falls or due to lamplighters being struck by vehicles in the course of performing their duties.
I just uncovered this gem, from an interview that I conducted in 2014 with three sisters, Neng Atini Roslan, Danilah Roslan and Siti Dahlia Roslan.
The Girls of Jalan Saksama, as I called the sisters, had some wonderful stories to share of their experiences in Kangkar Fishing Village and in Jalan Saksama in Changi — two places that we can now only imagine.
With the Girls of Jalan Saksama, an elder sister, and a cousin.
Memories of Kangkar
Our father was a health inspector with the health department. Before Dahlia was born, we lived in a bungalow that belonged to the government, in Kangkar, near Punggol.
Kangkar was a fishing village. There was a fish auction market there, next to our house, and beyond that, a jetty. A police station stood at the end of the road.
There was also a mama (a commonly used Tamil word in reference to an elder or an uncle) prata shop right next to our house. The people who worked there came from India and wore a short sarong that was often pulled up.
The men had left their families back in India. They missed their children and every time they saw us, they would try to hug and kiss us. We never liked it and avoided going into the shop, even when we had to ask to borrow their matches.
The catch was brought in to the fish market very early every morning. Lots of boats came in. Although it was hard to tell from their sun-darkened skins, the fishermen were mainly Chinese. They came from Indonesia and spoke what sounded like Hokkien, or possibly Teochew.
We could see the auction from the balcony of our house, hearing shouts of “sa-chap, sa-chap; see-chap, see-chap; gor-chap, gor-chap” – “thirty (dollars), thirty; forty, forty; fifty, fifty” as the auction progressed. We once saw a huge turtle being sold. It had been turned upside down.
A towkay from the fish market, Mr Png, was very nice to us. He often allowed us to pick the best live fish for free. We could also take dead fish to feed the cat.
We were the only Malays in the village. During a visit there by the then Prime Minister Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, as the only Malay man there, my father was invited to sit next to him.
It was the Chinese neighbours, Mr Png in particular, who helped to protect us during the racial riots. There was a curfew during one outbreak. Our father couldn’t come home and called Mr Png, who came over with the news. He advised us to stay indoors, keep our doors locked and to expect a lot of noise. He also said we would be safe upstairs and gave us some fish to eat.
The riots spread to the village and it was frightening. We could hear the commotion outside, but our mother kept us well hidden on the upper floor of our house. The long stairway of 30 steps that led up could be raised and closed. We kept our heads down so no one would see us.
Mr Png had a son named Tai Seng, whom he had offered to my parents for adoption since there were only girls in our family. At the time, our mother was expecting Danilah and so declined the offer. She thought it would be too taxing to take care of two infants.
With Mr Png and the other Chinese villagers, we communicated in Malay. Everyone spoke some form of Malay then.
The Chinese wayang came to the village during the Chinese festivals. We remember a festival during which we could see the loh-tang, mediums in a trance. They seemed to go crazy and would sometimes chase the children. During that festival, ash would be thrown into the river.
Changi: “The Best Years of Our Lives”
In 1967, we moved from Kangkar to Jalan Saksama near Changi, where our parents bought two acres of land close to Kampong Darat Nanas, behind Changi Prison. The beach was close by, about half an hour’s walk away.
The house that we lived in had already been built when we acquired the land. My father refurbished it and whenever he had money, more rooms would be added. We got our drinking water from a standpipe. Water for other uses such as washing, came from a well.
Unusual as it may have been for Muslims, we had four dogs. They were needed for security. We also kept chickens, geese, turkeys, guinea pigs and even mongoose.
My father planted many trees: forty coconut palms, twenty rambutan, twenty mango and four durian trees. The durian trees only started bearing fruit as we were about to vacate the place. The rambutans were of both the red and yellow varieties. There were also jackfruit, papaya, soursop, custard apple and jambu trees.
We loved climbing the trees. Often, so as to be undisturbed by our dogs and chickens, we would climb a tree to eat nasi lemak, which would be wrapped in a banana leaf. We each also had a favourite tree, from which we would sometimes hang upside down.
There was a Chinese vegetable farm near our house. The farmer also kept pigs. This was perhaps for their manure, which was used as fertilizer. For just five cents the farmer allowed us to pick almost anything we needed from the vegetable plots and often we would take home two to three kilogrammes of vegetables.
From the farm, we also got our supply of fresh eggs, to supplement the eggs our own chickens had laid.
On the left side of our house, there was a sugarcane plantation and also a chiku and rambutan plantation. We would sometimes help ourselves to the fruit, filling baskets we carried with us. Whenever a car passed, we would hide or pretend to be picking grass for the chicken coop.
Our father was the sole breadwinner and whatever he earned went into supporting the family. We had little in terms of luxury and had ice cream only once a month. We bought this at the provision shop that we visited once a week for our grocery shopping.
We purchased groceries on credit. The credit the shopkeeper extended to us was recorded in a little booklet in which we were identified as orang kaya or rich people. It always seemed ironic to us as we owed the shopkeeper money for every item that we purchased. The shopkeeper somehow trusted us. He never failed to deliver the goods on the list our mother prepared, no matter how much we owed him.
The shop was located halfway along the road to the prison, which was in Upper Changi Road. We always had the dog Blackie with us. It was probably because of the dog that the other Malay folk in the village were wary of us. As a result we did not mix with the other Malay children in the village.
There were several other shops at Kampong Darat Nanas. Besides the Malay shop that we got our groceries from, there was also an Indian shop and a Chinese provision shop that was closer to the prison.
For 5 cents we got our supply of ice-balls from the Chinese shop. The ah-pek (a Hokkien word that refers to an elderly man) at the shop never seemed to wash his hands when he made the ice-balls. We never washed ours either and devoured the flavoured ice as fast as we could.
There was a big tree in front of the prison. The top part of the tree seemed to be dead, but the bottom was somehow alive. We called it the “haunted tree”. Everyone from the village seemed to keep well away from it with the exception of the Chinese folk because a Taoist shrine was maintained under the tree.
We were not supposed to go to the beach on our own, but we went whenever we could. This would usually be during the weekends or during the school break. What drew us to the beach was that we could play in the sea. With Blackie always by our side, we headed there on the dirt road that led to the coast.
There was a spring along the way, very close to the sea (this would have been at Ayer Gemuroh). Water gushed out from it and came out of a slope by the side of a road. It was where we could stop to quench our thirst. We never had to carry water with us.
We gained access to the beach from the side of a mosque located by the sea. There seemed to be no access from other areas along the beach because many houses and bungalows had been built there.
Our home in Changi provided us with the best years of our lives. Sadly, we had to leave it behind after living there for about 10 years because the government wanted to acquire the land to build Changi Airport. We were given six months to vacate our home.
The Pain of Moving
We decided to move out early although many of our neighbours stayed on for as long as they could. We did not want to live there without water and electricity, which had already been cut-off.
Since the flat we had applied for in Haig Road wasn’t ready yet, we were provided with temporary housing for three months, so we moved into a very cramped two-bedroom flat in Changi Village. It was rather stressful for us. There was nowhere to run around and we cried all the time.
Our father also had to give the dogs away, to a friend of his who lived on a property with land in Punggol. The dog that we were close to, Blackie, often attempted to look for us.
Once, when we were going visiting in a car, we saw a dog puffing and panting, running along the road. It was Blackie. He had run away from his new master and had somehow found us.
Blackie also looked for Danilah at Bedok Primary School where she went to school. On one occasion she had seen a dog from the bus she had boarded on her way home from school. Danilah recognised Blackie and as soon as she reached her home in Changi Village, she threw her books and her violin down, then took a bus back. Blackie was still waiting for her and when she called and approached, he immediately jumped up on Danilah, who started crying.
At Changi Village, we walked to the beach every morning. We also went fishing. There were plenty of fish to be caught, including ikan tamban (sardine) and ikan selar (yellowtail scad), which we caught without using bait. We would spend hours fishing.
Life was very different when we moved to Haig Road. A lot of adjustment was needed and it took us a long time to adapt.
These days we are spread far and wide, Danilah has moved to the U.S. and Dahlia now resides in Bahrain. We try to come back every Hari Raya and that is when we can reminisce about our days by the sea. We deeply miss the sea and everything about the place we had by the sea. We miss the trees, the dogs, climbing trees, running around, and most of all, the freedom that living there had allowed us.
A page from the Street Directory showing Jalan Saksama in relation to Tanah Merah Besar Road and Changi Prison. A large part of the area is now where Changi Airport is.
Singapore was caught up in Taylor Swift fever with the American pop sensation in town for a six-concert Singapore leg of her sixth tour. There was also much excitement over Swift’s Singapore connection with the revelation that her grandmother, soprano Majorie Finlay, “spent a lot of time in Singapore”, and that her mother Andrea, “grew up here”. Screen grabs from Swift’s music video “majorie”, a song Swift wrote in tribute to her grandmother, showing glimpses of her grandmother’s Singapore residence were widely circulated, leading to much speculation as to where the house was and if it was still standing. Without much to go on except for the screen grabs, it would have been looking for a needle in a haystack.
A house with a similar design to the house that the Finlays occupied (this is not the house but has the same typology, and has a plan that is a mirror image of the house that the Finlays lived in).
Identifying the house, however, proved to be less difficult, thanks to childhood friend’s and Singapore American School schoolmates of Andrea Finlay, including Julia Nickson (of Rambo: First Blood Part II fame) and Nancy MacIntyre Hollinshead, who runs “Singapore Childhood Remembered” on Facebook. They were able to provide leads, as well as confirm how the how looked like.
The leads included the house’s general location “off Whitley Road”, descriptions of the terrain walking up to the house from Whitley Road, as well as a photograph of Andrea with friends taken outside the house that provided vital visual cues. Unfortunately, all that can be said for reasons of privacy (of the current occupants), is that the house is part of Mount Pleasant government housing estate. It is also in a cluster of houses of the same design, with several distinctive features that match the images in the screen grabs and photograph mentioned. A positive identification of the house was made on Wednesday (6 Mar 2024).
The government housing estate laid out with Mount Pleasant Road as a spine with several branch roads running off it, contains large residences that were built for senior government officers and their families in the 1930s. They accommodated the likes of the Director of Public Works and Director of Civil Aviation, Master Attendant, as well as members of the judiciary. Some of these houses were let out to non-government residents from the late 1950s.
The residences, which have been referred to as colonial bungalows or “black and white” houses, are of various designs and while given a white finish coat with black details, and perhaps have some features typical of black and white houses, many are not technically not black and white. Common features of these houses are designs to maximise natural ventilation such as generously sized openings, verandahs, pitched roofs with Marseille tiles and use of timber floorboards. The houses were also laid out on elevated grounds and given expansive gardens and today are surrounded by lush greenery.
Mount Pleasant and the Battle for Singapore:
Mount Pleasant Road, was where on of the last battle lines was drawn before the guns fell silent on 15 February 1942. Based on the work of battlefield archeologist Jon Cooper, we know that some of the houses along the road witnessed some very fierce battles on the night of the 14th and morning of the 15th of February. More information can be obtained on this in Jon Cooper’s Tigers in the Park.
Senoko Fishery Port, which has its roots in the Teochew run fish businesses of the old Kangkar fishing village at the end of Upper Serangoon Road, has less than two weeks before it shuts for good. Once home to the remnants of Singapore’s fishing fleet, which moved from Kangkar — when it boasted of 90 boats — to Punggol in 1984, before ending up in Senoko in 1997, the so-called port operates in more recent times as a fish wholesale market.
A parting glance at Senoko Fishery Port (1997 to 2024)
Home to a tightly-knit community of 25 traders, the area of the port is intended for redevelopment — word has it that the site will host an expansion of the Micron Semiconductor plant. This will see the displaced fish traders move to the much larger Jurong Fishery Port at which all such businesses will be consolidated.
While the move is welcomed by some, who look towards the larger customer base in Jurong, many others are saddened by their last link to Kangkar’s once famous fishing port, the small but loyal customer base in the north, and the community and the air of friendly competition in which the businesses operated.
For their clients, many of whom are northern base, it also means the time and expense of having to traverse across a much larger distance to obtain supplies.
The fishery port will operate for one last time on 17 March 2024, after which most of the businesses there will move to their new western home.
Lian Yak — which has been in business since 1955 and is the oldest fish trader in Senoko. The company, which operated first in Kangkar, also ran a fleet of fishing boats.
The Pier, which was last the home of lawyer and sportsman Howard Cashin and his wife Lily in 2009, has been reborn.
Sensitively rebuilt with salvageable elements such as roof and floor tiles, bricks, timber fretwork and window frames, and an iron grille gate of the older house incorporated, Cashin House — as it is now known as, is a great joy to behold. Looking resplendent, the rebuilt house was unveiled by Minister for National Development, Mr Desmond Lee on 25 November during the 30th Anniversary celebrations of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and can now be visited through NParks through sign-ups for specially curated programmes and activities (it is otherwise closed to the public).
Cashin House reborn
Built originally in 1906 as a pier to transport rubber from Howard’s father Alexander Cashin’s Sungei Buloh Rubber Plantation, accommodation was added to it in the 1920s. The pier would become a seaside escape and on the evidence of aerial photographs, featured a bathing pagar at one point in time.
Contrasts and contradictions: a view from the mangrove lined NW coast of Singapore across the Selat Tebrau to the developed southern coast of Johor.
A landing site for during the Imperial Japanese Army’s invasion of Singapore on the night of 8 and early morning of 9 February 1942, the grounds of the house was a place of interest for both IJA war veterans and surviving Australian defenders who were known to have dropped by when the house was expanded and turned into a home for Howard Cashin and his then wife Gillian in the early 1960s. It was also during this time that the house was visited a number of times by the late Sultan Ismail of Johor (grandfather of the reigning Sultan).
The Pier remained in the hands of Howard Cashin until just after his death in 2009. In 2013 it was announced that the house was to be a gateway to and expanded Sungei Buloh Nature Park. In 2020, NParks announced the expanded section would be known as Lim Chu Kang Nature Park within a greater Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network that would include the Kranji Marshes and also extend eastwards to include the Kranji Mangroves and the Mandai Mangroves.
The house brings one close to nature.
The house on the pier is one of two sea pavilions left in Singapore. It was also rebuilt to provide for its safe and long term use. In a setting that is unlike anywhere else in Singapore, the house is not just a marker of history, but also of a world and a way of life that has long been forgotten. More on the house and its history can be found in the Instagram reel below and in these posts:
With Minister Desmond Lee, NParks CEO and Director of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, senior officers of URA, and Sungei Buloh volunteer Adriane Lee at the unveiling of Cashin House on 25 Nov 2023 (Photo: Minister Desmond Lee’s Facebook post)
Much has been made about the “mysterious” solitary Japanese tomb sitting on the southern slopes of Mount Faber. The tomb, which could be thought of as a memorial to a painful time in Singapore’s history, contains the remains of a member of staff of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ (MHI) Kobe shipyard, a naval architect by the name of Komoto Ekasa (or Omoto Egasa). Komoto was among an group of 94 MHI staff who had been sent from Kobe to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in January 1942 in anticipation of the Fall of Singapore. Arriving in Singapore on 2 March 1942, the MHI employees’ immediate task had been to revive the damaged Singapore Harbour Board (SHB) repair facilities at Keppel Harbour to the point that it could be put in operation to support the war effort.
The solitary tomb on the slopes of Mount Faber.
Enlisting the help of former executives and workers of SHB, MHI’s team was able to rapidly restore three of SHB’s graving docks at Keppel Harbour in a matter of weeks. By the third week of March, emergency repairs could be carried on the Imperial Japanese Navy oiler Tsurumi, which had been hit by a Dutch torpedo in the waters of the East Indies early that same month. By June, much of the repair facilities had been fully restored and was subsequently run as the No. 1 yard of MHI’s Syonan Shipyard (Syonan Shipyard’s No. 2 Yard was at Tanjong Rhu). Unfortunately for the hardworking Komoto, who had been appointed as the shipyard’s manager, he fell ill and passed on the 18th day of July 1942.
Singapore Harbour Board Repair Facilities included graving docks at Keppel Harbour and Tanjong Pagar.
Komoto’s efforts would however not be in vain. While MHI’s Syonan Shipyard may have been unable to support the Japanese shipbuilding efforts due to material and machinery shortages as was intended, it proved to be a great asset to the Japanese fleet as a repair yard. Some 2364 ships were repaired by the shipyard from March 1942 to August 1945 even if only a handful of ships were built. The yard was also able to provide employment to local workers, with the number of local employees exceeding 3000 at the peak of its activities. The facilities would however suffer from shortages of spares, a lack of maintenance, and also damage from Allied bombing in 1944 and 1945. By the time of the Japanese surrender in August 1945, much was left in a state of disrepair. Extensive rehabilitation work and expense was required after the war to restore the facilities.
The cellar of the much storied Keppel House. There has even been speculation that Yamashita’s gold is buried beyond the walls at the far end.
About Komoto Ekasa (小本江笠)and his link to Keppel House
Born in March 1895, Komoto was a graduate of Department of Marine Engineering of Tokyo Imperial University and joined MHI’s Kobe Shipyard and Machinery Works soon after his graduation in 1920. His death and place of burial was apparently not forgotten and several members of the naval architect’s family have paid visits to the grave over the years. A participant during a recent tour I conducted to Keppel House mentioned that a granddaughter of the naval architect had been in contact with her and had revealed that Omoto along with several other Syonan Shipyard staff members were residents of house (which the site of the grave had once been on the grounds of) during their time here. More on Keppel House can be found at: A house on which Singapore’s modern port was built.
A Discovering Singapore’s Best Kept Secrets tour to Keppel House on 29 Oct 2023. The tour was conducted with the kind support of the Singapore Land Authority.
Street names in Singapore often hold clues to the past. Names such as “Telok Ayer Street” and “Beach Road” for example, provide an indication of where the city’s original shoreline might have been. And just as there was originally a “telok” or bay along which Telok Ayer Street ran, there was also a beach by Beach Road.
Among the questions that come to mind are: what did the beach look like, and how far did the beach stretch? Well, we do know for a start that the beach was pleasant enough for Raffles to have the stretch along the beach reserved for the dwellings of the new settlement’s elite residents as part of the European section of town (see: Middle Road and the (un)European Town). Known as the “street of twenty houses” in the vernacular, a row of twenty large compound houses did actually take up the prime stretch of Beach Road fronting the beach.
Where the beach along Beach Road would have been — from a 1839 Map of the Town and Environs of Singapore.
To address the first question as to what did the beach look like, we do fortunately have more than just textual descriptions of it. A visual representation of the beach can be found in a sketch from 1847 that was made by Government Surveyor John Turnbull Thomson. Titled “View from Campong Glam”, the sketch shows a sandy beach with identifiable buildings such as The Arts House (ex-Parliament House and then Public Offices / Courthouse) and the former Raffles Institution.
J T Thomson’s 1847 sketch depicting the beach along Beach Road.
As for the extent of the beach, archeological evidence does show that the beach extended from the Singapore River (as is also seen in J T Thomson’s 1847 sketch) to Kampong Gelam. Excavations carried out in 2003 by Professor John Miksic and his team in the National University of Singapore have in fact revealed the existence of a layer of pure white sand under the Padang close to St Andrews Road dating back to the 14th century — the period when Sri Tri Buana or Sang Nila Utama established a port city in Singapore. Further excavations have confirmed that this white sandy beach stretched at least to the area fronting Istana Kampong Glam (Malay Heritage Centre). What is particularly interesting is that the white sandy beach, based on Prof. Miksic’s reckoning, may be the beach that drew Sri Tri Buana to the island, which is described in the Malay Annals as one with “sand so white that it looked like a sheet of cloth”!
Beach Road, late 1800s (G R Lambert)
Among the houses for the European elite fronting the beach was house number one at which Raffles Hotel would be established in 1887. By this time, most of the compound houses along the beach had disappeared and those that remained, had taken on a shabby appearance with the well-to-do having made the move to the more comfortable interior of the island. The area had in fact already morphed into Sio Po, the Chinese lesser town with the Hainanese community having established a temple dedicated to the protector of the seas, Mazu, at Malabar Street in 1857.
No 1 Beach Road at which Raffles Hotel was established in 1887.
It was soon after the establishment of the hotel, that it began to lose sight of the beach across Beach Road with reclamation works for what would later be known as the “Raffles Reclamation” beginning off the Esplanade — amid a blaze of rumours that sacrificial human heads were needed for work to proceed smoothly (yes, such rumours existed even then!). This would lead to an expanded Padang of the size we know today and the addition of land on the Beach Road side. By the early 1900s, the reclamation ground — which was used to dump mud dredged from the Singapore River — had become substantial enough to permit the ground to be used for polo and other sports. The old volunteer drill hall was also moved to it in early 1908 from its original site at Fort Fullerton.
The newer Drill Hall at Beach Road, which replaced the older drill hall that was moved over in 1908 from Fort Fullerton.
The reclamation site would also be where Singapore’s first permanent cinema halls were erected. Cinema first came to Singapore in 1897, just two years after the Lumière brothers exhibited the Cinématographe in Paris. Exhibitions were held either in halls and tents before the first permanent structures appeared on the Raffles Reclamation site in the 1900s.
Permanent cinematograph halls were among the first structures erected on the reclamation at Beach Road.
Further reclamation would take place through the 1930s, by which time structures such as Beach Road Camp and a newer Beach Road Police Station started to populate the reclamation site. The coastline would be altered further with the construction of Nicoll Highway in the mid-1950s and the development of what would eventually become Marina Bay, bringing us to where we are today.
1936 view of the reclamation.
Post-World War Two extent of the Raffles Reclamation.
Singapore seems to have had quite a number of burial sites laid out across swampy grounds. Examples include the since drained old Malay cemetery at Kampong Gelam on the banks of the Rochor River, the burial grounds that were found at Kallang, and the long exhumed burial grounds at former Kampong Batu Puteh. One swampy burial site, perhaps the last in Singapore, can be found off Kranji Road. More recently referred to as the Wak Selat cemetery, it occupies a site that was close to the old Malayan Railway (MR or KTM) line and just by the MR’s old Kranji Gate hut, taking this name from a village, Kampong Wak Selat, that also seems to have acquired the name in fairly recent times.
While the name “Wak Selat” may suggest a village founded by Javanese settlers, the use of the name in this case can be attributed to a headman of non-Javanese origins. The so-called Kampong Wak Selat, was really part of a larger Kampong Kranji — that is until at least the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the clearance of much of the larger village left the part of the village close to the road named “Jalan Wak Selat” isolated.
An explanation for the name of the road can be found in an account provided by a former village headman, Mydeen Kutty Mydeen. In the account, Mr Mydeen described how five roads in Kampong Kranji were named by him in the late 1950s during the days of the Lim Yew Hock administration. In the case of Jalan Wak Selat, it was a reference to an elderly man who was known to reside in the area of the road, whom Mr Mydeen had never seen but had heard about and whom I guess we can call the “old uncle of the strait” (“Wak” is a term used in Java for an uncle who is an older than one’s father, whereas “Selat” means strait in Malay).
Mr Mydeen also named Jalan Lam Huat and Jalan Chuan Seng both of which were names of pineapple canning factories served by the respective roads, Jalan Jambatan Lama after an old bridge, and Jalan Surau after a surau (Muslim prayer hall). The pineapple factories, which had been a feature in the area since the 1930s (Lam Huat was already well established in Kranji when Chuan Seng moved from Upper Serangoon Road in 1936), also meant that the village attracted Chinese settlers. A Chinese school, Tao Khoon School, operated in the area from the 1950s until 1979. The local pineapple canners, along with several others in the trade, were also responsible for establishing the Metal Box factory to support their canning needs. The factory was a well-known landmark at the end of Woodlands Road from the 1950s until 1992 and something that those who travelled up Woodlands Road upcountry during the period would not have missed.
The cemetery, much like the pineapple factories, also seems to have been in existence since the 1930s as maps from the time show. One part of this cemetery, was cleared during an exhumation exercise in 1993 to allow for road widening. This has left behind less than 40 graves out of more than a hundred. With development in the area picking up pace, it will not be long before what remains of the old cemetery, much like the village that it once served, becomes a distant memory.
The fire of the dragon of Sar Kong was seen again last evening, making a reappearance on the streets around its lair at the Mun San Fook Tuck Chee temple. The temple introduced the fire dragon dance in the 1980s, importing a tradition from Tai Hang Village in Hong Kong that has its origins in 1880. Mun San Fook Tuck Chee’s dance of the fire dragon, which usually makes an appearance once every three years, now seems a significant cultural event in Singapore and draws crowds of observers as well as many photographers.
The temple, Mun San Fook Tuck Chee (萬山福德祠), is thought to have its origins in the 1860s, serving a community of Cantonese and Hakka migrant workers employed by the area’s brick kilns, sawmills and sago making factories. The temple moved twice and came to its present site in 1901.
The dance of the fire dragon that is associated with the temple, although long a practice in its place of origin in Hong Kong, only came to the temple in the 1980s. The dragon used for the dance is the result of a painstaking process that involves the making of a core using rattan and the plaiting of straw over three months to make the dragon’s body. Lit joss sticks are placed on the body prior to the dance and traditionally, the dragon would be left to burn to allow it to ascend to the heavens.
More information on the temple, its origins and its practices can be found in the following posts:
The photographs of the remains of Connaught Battery contained in this post were taken during a recent recce accompanied by a member of Sentosa’s staff. Do note that the area in which the remains are found is out of bounds. It contains a number of hazards and it is not only not advisable not to visit the area without the necessary permissions and supervision, you would also be trespassing if you do so.
The remains of Connaught’s No 3 Gun emplacement.
Hidden in the vegetation of Sentosa’s two easternmost elevations just a stone’s throw away from one of Singapore most luxurious residential quarters, are the remains of its guns from the era of the Second World War. The better known of the two elevations, is of course Mount Serapong, which has been made accessible through public tours. A second set of guns, three 9.2 inch guns, were placed on the neighbouring elevation. These went into action during the Second World War, and were turned north and north-west to fire towards advancing Imperial Japanese Army troops in the direction of the Causeway, Jurong and Bukit Timah. All available ammunition, a large proportion of which were armour piercing and therefore ineffective against the advancing foot soldiers, was used before the guns were spiked and destroyed on 14 February 1942 — a day before Singapore capitulated. What remains of Connaught Battery include the badly damaged No 3 gun emplacement, a Battery Observation Post and an underground magazine, a retaining wall of the underground structure and several ventilation and other openings.
Another view of the No 3 Gun Emplacement (inside – the shaft and opening for the ammunition hoist can be seen)
A Battery Observation Post
Fittings for railings and a hinge on the emplacement
Inside the BOP
Inside an underground magazine (note the red brick cavity wall)
The cavity wall arrangement, which was possibly installed for moisture control
A view up the ammunition hoist
Background to the development of Sentosa’s Coastal Defence Positions and Connaught Battery
For large parts of its history, Sentosa was not as tranquil an island as its name would suggest. The so-called isle of tranquility, was previously called Blakang Mati, a name that carries with it a suggestion of death or even violence, even if little seems to be known about the origins of a name that it was known by since at least the early 17th century.1 Blakang Mati was also an island that has long had a reputation of being a pirates’ lair. This seemed to be the case as far as the 14th century, with the accounts of Yuan dynasty Chinese voyager, Wang Dayuan, describing what is now thought to be the waters in the area of the island as being infested with pirates2.
While an air of tranquility may have descended on the island following the Honourable East India Company’s (EIC) entry into Singapore with its second Resident, Dr John Crawfurd, describing it as a “beautiful and romantic spot”3, the spectre of death seem to still hang over Blakang Mati. Outbreaks of “Blakang Mati Fever” occurred. These were “of so deadly a character as to carry off three quarters of those attacked”, prompting some of those who settled on the island to flee in “fear and horror”.
The threat posed by “Blakang Mati Fever” however, did little to stop the one square mile island from being turned into one of Singapore’s most heavily armed and fortified square miles. Suggestion were in fact made as early as 1843, for an infantry garrison to be placed on the island as part of a plan to defend Singapore. While little came out of this plan in relation to Blakang Mati, the threat posed by Imperial Russia through it establishing a base in 1872 at Vladivostok on land it acquired from China, and the fact that advances in naval shipbuilding had greatly improved the speed, range, armour, and armament carrying capability of warships, prompted the building up of a coastal defence system to protect the Singapore and New Harbour. Measures taken included the placement of coastal artillery batteries on Blakang Mati. By 1878-79, batteries with fortifications were established at Fort Blakang Mati East (renamed Fort Connaught in 1890 to commemorate the visit of the Duke of Connaught to Singapore) and Fort Siloso. This effort also saw an infantry redoubt built at Mount Serapong.
Blakang Mati’s coastal defence positions and armaments on Sentosa would see overhauls over the years. Among the upgrades was the setting up of a battery at Mount Serapong following a review undertaken in 1885 with Singapore’s growing importance as a coaling station ii mind. Another upgrade, made from 1907 to 1911, came in the wake of Japanese successes in the Russo-Japanese War. This saw the battery at Mount Imbiah added, which was completed in 1912 with Fort Connaught’s battery being decommissioned as a result of it. Imbiah Battery would itself be decommissioned in 1937, when a rebuilt Connaught Battery came into play. The battery, along with a battery at Mount Serapong, remained in service up to the time of the Second World War. The rebuilding of Connaught Battery resulted in the removal of all traces of the 19th century fortifications of Fort Connaught.
While the guns at Serapong seemed to have been damaged during Japanese air raids in January 1942, the three guns at Connaught Battery were turned northwards and were fired in the direction of the Causeway and later at advancing Japanese troops at Jurong on 11 Feb 1942 and Bukit Timah on 12 Feb 1942, expanding all the available ammunition, before being spiked and destroyed on 14 Feb 1942.
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1 The first instance of the island being positively identified as Blakang Mati was through a map made by the Malacca-based Manual Godinho de Erédia. This was published in 1604 to aid in the discovery of the legendary islands of gold. In the map, the island is identified as “Blacan Mati” with the “c” being pronounced as a hard c.
2 In Wang Dayuan’s accounts contained Daoyi zhilüe (島夷誌略) or “Description of Barbarians of the Islands”, he provides a description of a pirate infested “Longyamen” (龍牙門) or Dragon-Teeth Gate, which is now believed to have been a reference to the pair of rocky outcrops at Tanjong Rimau at the western end of Blakang Mati and across the waters at Tanjong Berlayer. Known as “Lots Wife” to the British, they were removed to widen the entrance to New Harbour (Keppel Harbour) in 1848.
3 Among the early uses of the island in the early days of EIC Singapore was the installation of a flagstaff on the island’s highest peak, Mount Serapong, in 1833. The island would also find use for the cultivation of pineapple, jackfruit, guava and chempedak with three villages being established. One was Kampong Ayer Bendera, which was named after the flagstaff. This was located at the foot of Mount Serapong and inhabited primarily by Bugis. There was also a Malay village in the area known as Kampong Serapong, while the third village was Kampong Blakang Mati, another Bugis village. A few Chinese also found their way to the island.
Another set of photographs from the Harrison Forman collection offering a peak into Singapore’s past is one that contains views, in complete colour, of a famous but long demolished mansion and its curious garden in 1941. Both were objects of much fascination, and its even had the likes of Carl Mydans also photographing it for LIFE Magazine that same year, for a feature on Singapore published in July 1941.
Perched on an elevation that was described as “probably one of the best” for a mansion in Singapore and one that commanded a “striking view” of a great part of the island, the lavish and gilt-domed residence of the Aw’s in Pasir Panjang, Haw Par Villa, must have been a magnificent sight for the one thousand guests who were invited for its housewarming party in March 1937. No expense had been spared in the construction and the fit out of the rather lavish interiors of the mansion, which was topped by seven gilded domes. Such was the amount of gold that was used that Singapore’s entire stock of gold was reportedly depleted because of it!
Haw Par Villa in full colour, Harrison Forman, 1941.
Designed by pioneering Singapore architect Ho Kwong Yew, Haw Par Villa sat on a plan that was rather uniquely a series of circles centred on a central hall that was surrounded by circular rooms. Entering the house, one would have encountered its reception hall, and beyond that the central hall. There was also a drawing room, a dining room, four bedrooms with dressing rooms and attached bathrooms, all of which were furnished in a rather ostentatious manner with furnishings and decorative items that were handpicked by Mr Aw Boon Haw from the “best furnishing houses and decorators” during his travels to America and Europe. Even the coloured cement walls inside the house were expensively decorated — with mother of pearl inlays. There were also specially made bronze panels which had been brought in from Europe featuring tigers in various poses, lining the doorways inside the house. The opulent interiors would also have been brought quite literally to light by day and by night, having been illuminated by the generous amount of light filtering through stained-glass laylights fitted on the domes, and through the house’s curved steel-framed windows in the daytime, and by coloured lighting after nightfall.
A much photographed pagoda, Harrison Forman, 1941.
Almost as soon as it was completed, the villa, and the fantastical and extravagantly laid out and publicly accessible garden that was created to complement it, became an instant hit with visitors to Singapore, as well as with the local population. Open to the public, the garden was laid out over several terraces of the elevation that the villa stood on, and although it was meant to complement the mansion rather than take centrestage, much attention was drawn to it by curious press reporters and photographers. Its decorative structures, such as the rockeries and grottoes of artificial rocks, a pagoda, miniature buildings and figurines depicting animals such as cranes and storks, drew a fair bit of interest as did its 50 feet by 25 feet swimming pool.
A garden that was created to complement the villa, Harrison Forman, 1941.
The garden soon became synonymous with Singapore and a must-visit visitor attraction. Among its early visitors were Hollywood couple, William Keighley and Genevieve Tobin during part of their honeymoon in Singapore in May 1939, 39 Australian schoolboys visiting Singapore with the Young Australia League in January 1939. The garden also took centrestage for a pahit party (cocktail party) that was thrown for a visiting Republic of China military delegation in May 1941, which was attended by the British military’s top brass based in Singapore. Such was Haw Par Villa’s draw that it seemed to be the first out-of-town destination to which “all newcomers to Singapore” were brought to — as was the case with a batch of Australian nurses with the Australian Army Nursing Service who were sent to Singapore in September 1941.1
AANS nurses visiting Haw Par Villa (with the villa seen in the background) in September 1941 (source: Australian War Memorial, public domain, copyright expired).
The villa was itself was a draw. Public access to it was permitted during open houses held on festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year. Sadly, the villa did not survive very long. It was taken over for use as a residence during the Japanese Occupation and reportedly housed both Japanese and German officers.2 Poorly maintained, it was left in a poor state by the end of the war. Looting had also stripped the house of all its furnishings and many of the statues from its garden.
By early 1951, Mr Aw Boon Haw, who had lost his younger brother during the war (Boon Par died in Rangoon in 1944), had Haw Par Villa demolished in the hope that he could have a mansion modelled after a Chinese-styled palace put up in its place. Later, a 200 ft high pagoda was proposed. The ongoing austerity drive, which limited spending on private home to a mere $50,000, put paid to Mr Aw’s plans and he turned his attention instead to expanding the set of displays. In doing so, he placed focus on using displays to provide moral guidance to visiting members of the public through the depiction of scenes from Chinese folklore, the Chinese classics, and Buddhist and Taoist teaching which contained messaging on moral values such as filial piety.
Both Taoist and Buddhist themes feature in Haw Par Villa’s displays, Harrison Forman, 1941.
Mr Aw passed away in September 1954 without being able to fulfil a desire to have the demolished villa replaced. The garden, which took on the name “Haw Par Villa” from its association with the missing villa, continued to be a popular spot for visitors to the island. Its collection of figurines and tableaux would have appeared to have been quite bizarre to those not schooled in traditional Chinese teachings and was at the very minimum, a source of amusement and fascination. Among those who graced the garden was the very first Miss Universe, Armi Kuufcla, who visited in April 1953. Another famous personality to visit was teenage idol, Frankie Avalon, late in 1965.
Harrison Forman, 1941.
The garden was also popular for fashion shoots, and as a filming location. Among the movies with scenes shot at Haw Par Villa was a joint Bollywood-Malayan production, “Singapore” in 1959, which contained a scene that saw the popular Maria Menado dance with Bollywood heartthrob Shammi Kapoor. The film was released in 1960. A 1966 Hollywood production, Kommisar X, aka Operation Far East, aka So Darling, So Deadly, had a scene that featured a chase through the garden, and a 1967 British production, Pretty Polly (also A Matter of Innocence) included an evening scene that was filmed at Haw Par Villa.
Harrison Forman, 1941.
Following Aw Boon Haw’s death, Boon Par’s son, Aw Cheng Chye, introduced displays that broke with the garden’s theme, and its Chinese flavour. An avid traveller, Cheng Chye put up International Corners to mark his overseas trips. While this may have contributed to the garden’s quirkiness, it did much to alter its character. Much, much more has happened since. An attempt to convert the garden into a theme park in 1990, failed rather miserably. That saw a ride through an all too prominent dragon. This some believe, brought negative energy on the garden due to the incompatibility of the dragon and the tiger (the “Haw” in Boon Haw’s name, translates into tiger). Most recently, the garden seems to have gone the way of hell, with the current operator intent on Hell’s Museum becoming Haw Par Villa’s draw even if hell, especially the non-Chinese interpretations of life after death, was never intended as the garden’s dominant theme.
The dragon that swallowed hell up – during its theme park days.
1A number from the group were among a second batch of evacuees who would depart on board the SS Vyner Brooke on 12 February 1942, which was attacked and sunk by the Japanese forces on 14 February 1942 in the Bangka Strait. Out of a group of 65 nurses on board the Vyner Brooke, only 24 survived the war, with 21 losing their lives during a massacre on Radji Beach on Bangka Island.
2There was a German U-Boat repair and supply facility maintained at Pulau Damar Darat, which included a graving dock. Among the residences that German naval personnel were known to have used were ones in Pasir Panjang and also at Gilstead Road.
Photographs freeze moments in time, moments that may never again be seen, or even ones with a tale or two to tell. A photograph with a tale to tell is one that belongs to a collection of photographs taken by American photographer Harrison Forman. While the photograph has been dated to the 1950s, it does appear to be one of a multitude of photographs that Forman captured of pre-World Singapore in 1941, which also includes several taken on 35mm colour slide.
The photograph, taken with Amber Mansions along Orchard Road (where Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station is today) in it, also shows W J Garcia’s piano showroom. Garcia, who was a piano and organ dealer, and is now probably best known as the person behind the installation of what is now Singapore’s oldest pipe organ at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in 1912.
Garcia, was a well known personality, having been a pioneering Singapore piano maker. He ventured into the business of piano making in the 1920s, challenging the commonly-held belief that pianos could not be made in the tropics. Garcia’s motivation for venturing the piano making business had been the difficulties that existed in the postwar (First World War) period in obtaining good pianos at reasonable prices. Prior to setting the factory up in 1926, Garcia had his son W H Garcia learn the trade in London. Within Garcia’s teak piano cabinets, were sounding boards made of Romanian pine, imported iron frames, actions, keys and hammers.
Garcia’s factory, which was at Holland Road, had a machine shop measuring approximately 20 by10 metres in which teak was prepared and cut, a room 15 by 10 metres in which the teak was seasoned, and another 20 by10 metre room for assembly. The Second World War would bring Garcia’s venture to a tragic end, with Garcia, who was interned as a civilian during the Japanese Occupation, passing away at the age of 66 on 26 April 1942.
Where would the “most haunted” place in Singapore have been when you were growing up? In the days before the myths about a certain set of buildings in Singapore’s east acquired that reputation with little foundation, there were many other places or buildings that were thought of as being the creepiest. The list ranged from the old and derelict, houses with ghostly tales, to places such as the old YMCA at which the Kempeitai carried out verified acts of torture.
One that I was especially terrified of, was the so-called haunted house at Peirce Road. This was back in the 1970s and 1980s when many old bungalows whose glory days had long deserted them, could still be found and even accessed. The house at Peirce Road, was a large two-storey mansion (where Peirce Villas now stands) that was particularly popular for youthful thrill seekers seeking a nocturnal adventure. It was the place to head to for a dare, to show-off, or quite simply, to have the hell scared out of you. Reputedly Singapore’s most haunted house, the stories of those who dared venture into it were of instances of spirit possession, poltergeist-type activity and almost anything that made one’s hair stand on ends. By the end of the 1970s, the house had already become quite derelict, and even if the stories — true or false — did not put fear into you, there was the need to approach the house with some caution as there was the chance you could injure yourself if you were not careful.
Despite its reputation, the house played a starring role as the Soong family mansion in the 1989 TV mini-series, Tanamera – The Lion of Singapore, which was based on Noel Barber’s novel, Tanamera, set in 1930s Singapore. It was one of two buildings that were then in poor state that were used in the series, having to have repairs and a new coat of paint splashed on to look presentable enough; the other being the old Blakang Mati officers’ mess on Sentosa. While the old officers mess has since been refurbished as the rather resplendent Capella Hotel (the venue of the farcical 2018 Trump-Kim Summit), the Peirce Road mansion was demolished, not long after filming was completed in 1989.
Fort Canning Hill, aka Bukit Larangan or Forbidden Hill, the place of many a schoolboy adventure for me, has always been a place of discovery and rediscovery for me, as well as a space that provides an escape from the urban world. An abode of the ancient kings of Singapura — the spirits of whom are said to still roam the hill, the hill is one steeped as much in history, as it is surrounded by mystery.
Fort Canning Hill, the Forbidden Hill is a place that has long been cloaked with an air of mystery.
The mystery of the place, was quite evident when the British first established their presence in Singapore in 1819. Col William Farquhar’s attempt to ascend the strategically positioned elevation, which commanded a view of the plain across which the settlement and Singapore River, was met with resistance by the followers of Temenggong Abdul Rahman who claimed that the sounds of gongs and drums and the shouts of hundreds of men could be heard, even if all that was present then on the hill were only the reminders of a long lost 14th century kingdom. The claim did not deter Farquhar from making his ascent, nor his colleagues in the East India Company, who would exploit the hill to place the seat of colonial rule in Singapore, as an experimental botanical garden, for the first Christian spaces for the dead, and as an artillery fort and barracks, for fresh water supply to the fast developing municipality and as a strategic military command bunker.
It has long been a place of escape for me.
Much of that history, and mystery, is now wonderfully captured in the new Fort Canning Heritage Gallery — and in a book “Fort Canning Park: Heritage and Gardens” that was launched in conjunction with the gallery’s opening yesterday on 26 August 2022. The gallery is housed in a 1920s barrack block now known as Fort Canning Centre, that has seen use most recently as a staging point for the Bicentennial Experience and as the short-lived private museum, Singapore Pinacothèque de Paris. The centre, which also housed the “world’s largest squash centre” from the 1977 to 1987 during the height of the squash rackets craze in Singapore, sits quite grandly atop the slope we know today as Fort Canning Green and forms a magnificent backdrop to the many events that the former cemetery grounds now plays host to.
Fort Canning Centre, a 1920s barrack block in which the newly opened Fort Canning Heritage Gallery is housed.
Divided into five zones, the gallery provides an introduction to the hill, and through four themed zones, places focus on a particular aspect of the role that the hill has played through its own and also more broadly, Singapore’s history. The stories, told succinctly through information panels, archaeological artefacts excavated from the hill and interactive digital stations, provide just enough information to the visitor to provide an appreciation of the hill history and its heritage. There is also a condensed version of the “From Singapore to Singaporean: The Bicentennial Experience” video that plays in a mini-theatrette within the gallery.
Minister of National Development, Mr Desmond Lee, opening the new Fort Canning Heritage Gallery.
Also opened with the new gallery was an enhanced Spice Garden, which now extends to the 2019 pedestrianised section of Fort Canning Rise and a pedestrian ramp and underpass (that once led to the former car park at the rear of the old National Library). The pedestrian ramp and underpass now features the new Spice Gallery, which I thought was a wonderful and meaningful way to use a space that serves little other practical use today. The Spice Gallery, made possible by the generous support of Nomanbhoy and Sons Pte Ltd — a spice trader with over a hundred years of history, provides an appreciation of the significance of the spice trade to modern Singapore’s early development as a trading hub and also the role that Fort Canning Hill played in Singapore’s early spice plantations.
The newly opened Spice Gallery at the enhanced Spice Garden occupies a former pedestrian ramp and underpass.
A book, “Fort Canning Park: Heritage and Gardens”, authored by Dr Chng Mun Whye and Ms Sara-Ann Ang, which highlights the park’s rich heritage, was also launched together with the opening. This is available for sale Gardens Shop at various locations around the Singapore Botanic Gardens or online at https://botanicgardensshop.sg at SGD 29.90.
A book, “Fort Canning Park: Heritage and Gardens” was launched together with the opening.
Along with the permanent exhibition two galleries, there is also a “Kaleidoscope in Clay (I)” exhibition that features exhibits showcasing 5,000 years of Chinese ceramic history from 26 August to 11 September 2022 at The Gallery@L3, Fort Canning Centre. Also running is the 3rd edition of Festival at the Fort being held in conjunction with the opening and Singapore Night Festival, the programmes of which include movie screenings at Fort Canning Green, guided tours and children’s activities. The festival runs from 26 August to 4 September 2022 and more information can be found at https://www.nparks.gov.sg/activities/events-and-workshops/2022/8/festival-at-the-fort-2022.
Kaleidoscope in Clay (I) at Gallery@L3, Fort Canning Centre.
Fort Canning Heritage Gallery is opened daily from 10 am to 6 pm (expect for the last Monday of each month), while the Spice Gallery is opened from 7 am to 7 pm daily. Entry to both galleries is free to the public.
Photographs of Fort Canning Heritage Gallery during the opening on 26 August 2022.
Fort Canning Centre, various views
Fort Canning Spice Gallery / enhanced Spice Garden
The rapid pace of change in Singapore’s robs many of places dear to them. These places, ones Singaporeans may have grown up with and made memories in, provides a connection to the country in a way that can never be replaced, and is what anchors people to a place and to a large extent is what makes home, home.
Farrer Park Swimming Complex
One place where memories for many in my generation were made, was Farrer Park, at which the last laps were swum at its 65-year-old swimming pool yesterday on 9 August 2022. From attending school sporting meets, to catching childhood football heroes “in action” and watching sports on a Sunday afternoon for free, Farrer Park seemed the go-to place for anything connected with sports. Its small (by the standards of today) swimming complex was also a popular spot to spend an especially warm day, being a lot more accessible than Singapore’s first public pool up on Mount Emily.
A swimming pool that played a big part in establishing the foundation on which the swimming career of Ang Peng Siong, once the “world’s fastest swimmer”.
Like Mount Emily, Farrer Park Swimming Pool was showing the signs of its age by the time I got to use it. Nevertheless, it was one of my favourites. It had that homely feel that seemed missing from the newer public swimming complexes, such as the one at Toa Payoh at which I would learn to swim.
Designed by City Architect, M E Crocker, Farrer Park’s swimming pool was built as Singapore’s third public pool (see: A Short History of Public Swimming Pools in Singapore) at the cost of $460,000. Officially opened on 22 February 1957 by the then Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock, it drew a huge crowd following day — when it was opened to the public. A thousand pool users were reported to have used the pool that first day alone, with queues forming some two hours before its 7.30 am opening time.
A last look at Farrer Park Swimming Pool
Farrer Park would go on to become the “grounds” on which a one-time “world’s fastest swimmer”, Ang Peng Siong, was groomed. It was at the pool that Ang’s father, a supervisor at the pool, taught him to swim and provided him with his early training. In 1982, Ang became the “world’s fastest swimmer” when he recorded the world’s fastest time in the 50 metres freestyle. Ang would return to Farrer Park following its closure as a public pool in 2003, when the APS Swimming School which Ang founded in 1995, moved in 2004. The school has used the swimming complex since then until its closure this August.
The sun goes down on Farrer Park Swimming Pool
While a proposal was made to retain the swimming complex and refurbish it for future use in an area on which some 1,600 flats will be added, an announcement was made earlier this year that it would not be feasible to do so. The pool is now set to be demolished … to be replaced by a modern new-age integrated sporting complex in which new swimming facilities would be added, breaking yet another link that Farrer Park has to Singapore’s sporting history.
Brimming with life and already one of the world’s leading port cities, early 20th century Singapore received quite a fair bit of attention from the world’s press. Numerous news features and press reports were published and beyond that many images were also captured, images that are a visual record of a Singapore that is now difficult to imagine.
Singapore in 1941, a year during which the dark clouds of war were looming over the Far East, was especially well documented. For many here for much of 1941, the threat of war seemed a distant possibility, even if there were very visible preparations being made for the eventuality. Singapore was after all the bastion of British imperial power in the Far East, a great naval base, and if Britain were to be believed, an “impregnable” fortress.
Among the photographic records of Singapore from 1941, are the wonderful archives of unpublished photographs of Harrison Forman and Carl Mydans, which were captured for National Geographic magazine and LIFE magazine respectively. What can be seen in many of these photographs, some of which have already been featured in the linked articles, are preparations for war, street scenes, the legal processing, sale, and consumption of chandu (processed opium, and various aspects of the tin and rubber industry.
Many of the images, such as those of Carl Mydans that have been presented below, also offer a window into how life was like for both the common folk and the colonial elite and the contrast that is seen between the two is pretty stark.
A dark and overcrowded coolie-keng (coolie quarter)An itinerant food vendor making a sales stop at a tea shopCorridor of trade, a food vendor sharing a space with a five-foot-way library.Gambling on a five-foot-wayA kacang putih vendorThe marketplaceHaving a meal at a hawker stallAn opium pipe maker / repairerA raid on an opium denA jaga (guard) on a charpoy (rope bed), once a common sight along out five-foot-waysMat and basket weavers working along a five-foot-wayA gathering of hawkers at Boat Quay — the origins of Boat Quay Food CentreA barefooted child hawker’s assistant clearing dishes along a busy five-foot-way A charcoal stove shopA market stallUnloading rubber bales. Rubber was a mainstay of the Malayan and Singapore economyBath time along the Singapore RiverFresh produceTwakows at Boat QuayA bullock cart along South Bridge RoadThe ever busy wharvesLive chickens bound for the marketWood for charcoal?A happy street vendorA bullock cartBasket weaver’s stall at the marketA Chinese medicine shopAt a hole-in-the-wall shopA satay vendorA busy marketplaceA man on a charpoy smoking a hookah by the riverMother and young children along a five-foot-wayA woman along North Boat QuayA rickshaw along South Bridge Road. he introduction of the trishaw during the Japanese Occupation would lead to the eventual ban on the use of rickshaws on Singapore’s streets after the war.A coolie “walking the plank”Another coolie by the riverFood vendors along a busy five-foot-wayToddy jars?A familyA harvest of coconutsA satay vendor on the moveCoolies unloading a gun at the wharvesA Teochew kueh vendorWaterside diningA wider view of the “kitchen appliance” shop dealing in charcoaL stovesA coffin maker’s shop / dwellingWining and dining at the Raffles Hotel ballroomAnd the band played on … at what looks like the Cathay’s roof café and ballroom
Seemingly uninteresting and rather unexciting, the cluster of buildings that were used by the Police Coast Guard (PCG) to house their headquarters from 1970 to 2006, now hide an interesting secret. Repurposed as the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI), the buildings have not only found a new life, but have been repurposed with a minimum of intervention and have retained much of the fabric of its past.
NYSI at Kallang, occupies a space that was used as a flying boat reception and maintenance facility and later by the PCG as its headquarters.
The former base, which was carved out of the former Kallang Airport’s flying boat reception and maintenance facilities (its ramp/slipway is still there, except it is part of the National Cadet Corp (Sea) facility next to NYSI), was turned into a base for what was then the Marine Police in 1970 at the cost of S$1 million. Having been based at the congested Singapore River by what is now the Asian Civilisations Museum, a new base with a maintenance facility was much needed to permit enable a swifter repair turnaround time for its boats, improve response and also accommodate the Marine Police’s expanding fleet.
A piece from its days as the flying boat facility.
Amongst the structures that were put up during the development of the Kallang Marine Poilce HQ, was a two storey building that served as its nerve centre, which is the same building that NYSI has operated out of since November 2015. The building and an annex, which once housed offices, interrogation rooms, an armoury and even a lock-up, is now home to gyms, sports laboratories, accommodation, recovery rooms counselling rooms, and even chill out spaces. While that may have been expected, what is unexpected is the manner in which the building has been redone in a way that not only allows it to keep many of its reminders of its days as a Marine Police base, but also with little need for light and ventilation other than that which occurs naturally. This rather intelligent, sustainable, no-frills and rather affordable approach is a breath of fresh air and should really be a model for many of our developments in which old spaces and building are repurposed. Most projects, quite unfortunately, have gone down the path of being flamboyant and gimmicky.
Decently exposed.
The Marine Police, morphed into the Police Coast Guard in 1993 and vacated the base in 2006 due to the intended closing up of Marina Bay through the construction of the Marina Barrage. It is now based in Pulau Brani.
A walk around NYSI Kallang
Chin-up bars – a reminder of the past.
Inside the old electrical distribution box.
The former arms clearing station.
Recalling the armoury.
Exposing the dividing line between the main building and an annex.
A breath of fresh air, the non-air-conditioned gym.
Notice the manhole in the gym flooring (previously a wet space).
A performance lab.
Heaters to simulate hot dry conditions.
An “Endless Pool” for swimmers.
Another reminder of the past.
Maximising natural ventilation.
Dorms – a curtain separates the male and female sections.
Deprived of the long beach that it took its name from, and with its one-time star attraction Haw Par Villa having been set on a course for hell, there seems little to draw the visitor to Pasir Panjang — that is except for the vegetable wholesale centre that has become synonymous with it, Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. The huge centre, which is spread over a 15.2 ha site that was reclaimed from the sea, comes alive in the dark of night and draws vegetable, fruits and dried goods traders to it, along with others in search of a bargain.
Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre is Singapore’s main vegetable, fruit and dried goods distribution centre.
Developed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and opened in 1983, Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre was built to consolidate vegetable, fruits and dried goods wholesalers from the urban centre who were being displaced by urban redevelopment and the river clean-up effort, the centre was initially populated by 90 wholesalers from Clyde Terrace and Maxwell Road markets, plus over 350 from the Upper Circular Road / Carpenter Street and the Tew Chew Street / Chin Hin Street area. The centre features four sections with 9 out of its 26 blocks dedicated to fruits, another 8 blocks in its vegetable section, 4 blocks housing cold rooms and another 5 blocks for dried goods. With several hundred cold and chilled stores, it is quite literally a cool place to chill out at!
Tew Chew Street, which was one of the wholesale centres around Singapore. It was one of the places where imported vegetables from Cameron Highlands found buyers until 1983/84.
An opportunity not just to chill out, but also learn more about the centre and some of the people whose nocturnal existence puts fresh fruits and vegetables on the shelves now presents itself with the My Community Festival 2022. Among its offerings is a tour of Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre that is led by guide Ms Pamela Loh, who takes participants on an interesting walk through cold stores, a fruit distributor and through the especially large vegetable section — a hive of activity at the midnight hour six days a week, whether it is the seventh month or not. Besides an “insider” view of the wholesale centre, the opportunity to meet and learn about the lives of some of the people who run businesses at the centre, is a wonderful bonus.
Ms Pamela Loh leading a group at the cold room section.
Organised by My Community, My Community Festival runs from 5 to 21 August 2022. On offer is a host of unique experiences including this tour to Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. There are also after dark tours to seafood wholesale centres at Jurong and Senoko Fishery Ports. For more information on the festival, please visit https://mycommunityfestival.sg/.
Chilling out at the cold room section where temperatures are maintained at 4 degrees C for vegetables.
The inside of a cold room.
At the fruits section, where a treat awaits …
Huge and juicy chilled US cherries being offered for sale at KSY, a fruit distributor – a must buy!
Mrs Fong, who runs a vegetable wholesale stall with her husband.
Fresh winter bamboo shoots!
Giant cauliflower.
Giant pandan leaves.
The centre’s vegetable section comes alive at night.
Believe it or not, the northern coast of Singapore once played host to a large fleet of fishing vessels. The fleet’s port of call was at old Kangkar Villlage down the Serangoon River, located right at the end of Upper Serangoon Road. The fleet was moved to Punggol Fishery Port when that was set up in the 1980s to move the fleet and consolidate the fish wholesalers of Kangkar and also Bedok. At the point of its move in 1984, Kangkar accommodated a fleet of 90 fishing boats and 16 fish wholesalers. Another move was made in 1997 to Senoko Fishery Port, which will itself close in 2023, after which all fish wholesale activity will be consolidated at Jurong Fishery Port. The move, which in tiny Singapore terms seems to a place a world away, will bring to a close the northern coast’s longtime connection with the fishing and the fish wholesale business.
The entrance to the port.
The floor of the wholesale market at Senoko Fishery Port.
The link that it has with old Kangkar does mean that Senoko has become home to a tightly-knit community of fish wholesalers who are of Teochew origin. Several of Senoko’s businesses have their roots in Kangkar’s fishing fleet operators whose boats would spent 3 to 4 days fishing in the waters close to Horsburgh Lighthouse (on the island of Pedra Branca). Over the years, close ties have been forged between the businesses which span several generations and what that does mean is that in Senoko there is a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. The closure of Senoko will thus not only bring a huge dose of sadness to its business operators but surely bring to the end that sense of community and that “kampung spirit” that is quite clearly evident in Senoko.
While the atmosphere in Senoko, which supplies a small portion (some 4% in 2020) of Singapore’s chilled seafood imports, certainly does come anywhere close to Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market — with which it has often been compared to, visiting it is a must due to its impending closure. As with Tsukiji, visits have to be made at an ungodly hour, in the wee hours of the morning. That is when its offerings, which are now imported mainly from Malaysia and other parts of Asia, come in and when the regular buyers come to obtain their supplies. There may also an opportunity to purchase seafood at wholesale prices, although one has to be prepared to buy in larger quantities with some exceptions, and be armed with an ice-box. While the port may be accessible to the public (you will need you NRIC and it is opened from 2 to 6 am except for Monday mornings), getting to Senoko may proof difficult. There is however an opportunity that presents itself for a guided visit during the My Community Festival. Organised by My Community, the annual festival runs from 5 to 21 August 2022 and offers programmes that provide a host of unique experiences — including visits to both Jurong and Senoko Fishery Ports and also Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre (for vegetables).
Lian Yak Fish Merchant, is the oldest of the businesses. It started business way back in 1955 and operated a fleet of fishing vessels out of Kangkar Village.
Together with 9 other bloggers and thanks to Tigerair Philippines and the Philippine Department of Tourism, I found myself on a dream trip to Boracay in July 2013. Read about the fantastic experience I had at Boracay Island Escapade or on my blog.
Courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), I had the opportunity to have a 4 day adventure in Hong Kong with 9 other bloggers. To read our collective Hong Kong Travel Blog entries, please click on the icon below:
The Long and Winding Road 