Singapore in the 1960's

Interesting set of photos of Singapore in the Sixties.

Singapore's Biggest Dig

Singapore's biggest archaeological excavation is taking place at Empress Place, in a 1000 sq m area. The dig has so far unearthed 400 kg of artifacts and deposits and will end on April 9.
This is great to see; keeping Singapore's material heritage safe for further generations and study.  The whole Empress Place site is rich in history.  Not just during the British tenure but well before, when Iskandar Shah ruled, some 600 years ago.
The National Heritage Board records that'the The site is more than 1,000 sq m in size — about the equivalent of 10 four-room HDB flats.'

Singapore Then And Now - Photographs That Celebrate 50 Years

The Straits Times has been publishing some interesting 'then and now' slider images recently.  These show common Singapore landmarks as they were, and as they are now.

They include the following:

The MPH Building
See the full size slider photos here.

The Cathay Cinema
See the full size slider photos here.

Clarke Quay
See the full size slider photos here.

Capitol Theatre in 1983 and today.
See full size slider here.

I am pleased that a number of these heritage buildings are still standing, as many of them were lost forever in the drive for modernisation and thanks to the stress of a tropical climate on such structures.

The newspaper will be adding new slider images each Thursday in 2015 as part of the celebrations this year of Singapore's 50th Anniversary.

The Other Singapore - A Tale of Shipbuilding and Baby Food

Those of you who thought there was only one place in the world called 'Singapore' may be surprised to learn that there are in fact two.

More precisely, there were two, one of which is now buried in sand dunes. The other Singapore was established in the mid-1800's by timber interests and situated on the Kalamazoo River, downstream from Saugatuck, near the shore of Lake Michigan. Its first house was built in 1837.  The area had been originally inhabited by Ottawa Indians.

Unlike its South East Asian cousin, the US version didn't produce nutmeg but was renowned for its sawmills, planing mills, ship builidng, barrel factories and other wood products. When Chicago was devastated by the Great Fire of 1871, much of the replacement timber came from Singapore and its neighboring  timber (lumber) communities.

Once the white pine trees were all clear-felled and no longer available, and its protective windbreaks lost, the American Singapore was abandoned and gradually buried by drifting sand dunes.  It now only exists in legend as one of the state's 'lost cities'.

In an excellent April 2010 article, James Schmiechen describes the town thus:

"Singapore existed for about a half century, from about 1837 to the early 1880's. It began, as one pioneer descendant called it, as "an oasis in the woods" - a very early lumber/immigration port and shipbuilding town that tells of how an environmental disaster resulted from the clear cutting of nearby forests and the blowing sands that eventually buried the town. It was, in short, an early American 'disaster city'. Its first mill was constructed in 1835, being surrounded on the north and west by wooded virgin forest and on dunes rising to a height of about 50 feet. Like most of the area settlements, it started as a lumber milling camp and tried desperately to become a town but in reality its handy proximity to Lake Michigan turned out to be a disadvantage".

He also sheds  light on the immigrants who arrived by boat and made up the population of Singapore:

"Singapore was a sort of Michigan "Ellis Island" port of entry for immigrants from all over America, Canada, and Europe. Dozens of Saugatuck area families trace their Michigan origins to Singapore - many of them tradesmen (e.g. bricklayers, carpenters, sailors, engineers) who stayed on in the settlement for a time before moving on to opportunities (particularly land acquisition) in other settlements. Around 1850 the boarding house held families from Ireland, Holland, Norway, Germany, and Canada. Daniel Gerber, the founder of the Michigan family that invented processed baby food arrived in Michigan by way of Singapore in 1863. Early Dutch settlers of the nearby settlement that became Holland, Michigan came to Michigan by way of Singapore".

Singapore also had its own bank and these were often known as "wildcat banks" because of the localised worth of the currency they printed (see examples below) and volatile nature of their businesses.

The moral of the story, if there is one, is that prosperity can be a fleeting thing if you abuse your natural resources and don't plan for a sustainable future.  

The Singapore of Michigan didn't heed this advice and is now lost in the sands of time.  The prosperous Asian Singapore that we know today has a solid focus on renewable and human resources and continues to thrive.

Reference:
The Historic Significance of the Old Singapore Site Today by James Schmiechen - April 2010.
Singapore Michigan Bank Notes
Owner sheds historic Singapore sawmill, steam -  The Allegan County News

Not A Bridge Too Far

...at least not when it comes to local Singaporean knowledge about some of their historic bridges.  Several of these are being documented as part of the ongoing cultural and heritage push to document structures and customs before they disappear or are torn down.

Cavenagh Bridge, Anderson Bridge, Elgin Bridge, Read Bridge and Ord Bridge are all featured in the video below.

Urban Links

I am delighted to see that the urban planners of Singapore are going to the trouble of linking together the heritage sites, museums and walkways, as explained in the video above.

As one who regularly enjoyed these places I remember only too well trying to hug whatever shade was available when strolling in the tropical sun.

For the most part the signage to these buildings and heritage sites is very good. However there are some parts that are not shown so well on the map and unless you are a 'local' are difficult to navigate - the shortest route between two points of interest in such a climate is usually the best.

Imagine how unpleasant it must have been to work on the Singapore River in times gone by. This photo from the reign of George VI shows how congested it used to be. No urban walkways and very few green spaces.

The Singapore River - in the reign of George VI (1937-1952)

Related articles

• S$50m facelift planned for Civic District could see fewer roads

Flying the Way it Used to Be

From Brisbane to Singapore 1937
Refueling at Daly Waters in the Northern Territory

In this day of A380's and Changi's terminals it is easy to forget how far travelling by air has advanced in a very short space of time.

This image shows a refueling stop in  Australia's Northern Territory.  In 1937 when this photograph was taken aircraft has to stop several times on long flights to refuel.  It was only two years earlier, on 7 April that Qantas operated its first overseas passenger flight from Brisbane to Singapore.  It was a  four-day trip in those days and the aircraft (partially pictured at right) was a four-engine DH86.

Demand for the service was such that two years after this journey was captured on film the DH86 was replaced by Short C Class Empire flying boats, which also operated out of Sydney.

1937 was clearly a watershed year in Singapore aviation as the Wearne Brothers launched the first commercial air service between Singapore and Malaya that year using a de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft called (quite appropriately) the Governor Raffles. It flew from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

It was also the year that Amelia Earhart departed from Lae in Papua New Guinea en-route to Howland Island. She never made it.

No Frequent Flyer points in those days and only the well-to-do could afford air travel. Qantas has also become an airline consigned to Singapore's history as it recently stopped flying there, preferring instead to go through Dubai.

Related articles

• Amelia Earhart's Navigator: The Life and Loss of Fred Noonan
• De Havilland Dragon Rapide
• Qantas base leaves Singapore for Dubai

Singapore Heritage Festival Promises A Rocking Good Time

I never tire of visiting the Singapore Museums when I visit there, or during the time that I lived in the country.  As this video from the National Heritage Board shows, they are both numerous and diverse.



Today the Museum is staging an outreach exhibition in Jurong; a a collage-based art workshop with the NHB also supporting Our Museum @ Taman Jurong with a curator’s talk and a display on the project.

Another favourite for history buffs is the YesterdaySG History Channel, which I regularly consult on YouTube and from which the above video is taken.

I note that my old haunt' Centrepoint is getting into Singapore HeritageFest 2012 'groove' by staging performances and displays.  A 'Rocking Good Times' stage has replaced the usual jewelry and domestic appliance promotions on the ground floor which should make for fun viewing from the upper levels surrounding the atrium.

Centrepoint Display
Photo NHB

The full programme of HeritageFest events can be downloaded as a PDF here. My only regret is that I am too far away to enjoy all that is on offer this year.  It makes a pleasant change from the incessant media coverage of the London Olympics.

Related articles

• Take Your Kids on a Heritage Walk in Kampong Gelam

The Cycle of Decay

One tends not to associate concrete, that most solid of building blocks, with decay.  It is after all inorganic, unlike nature which encroaches upon it.

My trips to Asia in the 1980's brought home to me that concrete was no different from wood or any organic element; each was subject to the cycle of erosion and decay, it is just a question of time.

A first trip to Europe a decade was equally fascinating as layers of civilisation were stacked one upon the other, each using as its base the remnants of what had come before.

One enduring image I have kept with me are the remains of a mansion gate in Singapore's Oxley Road (incidentally the section address is 2 Lloyd Road as it is on a corner), named after Dr Thomas Oxley,the colony's surgeon from 1827 and just a little further up the incline past Lee Kwan Yew's home.

Gate Post - Oxley Road near the corner of Lloyd Road
Roger Smith

I walked past this post regularly during our trips back to Singapore to see family; past the Gurkhas guarding the former PM's home. These treks took place from 1986 to 2006, after which time we were living in Singapore ourselves.

Each time I walked past it the post looked a little more decrepit and overgrown in its constant battle with creepers and vines of varying thicknesses. Singapore being a tropical country has a heavy rainfall and warm sunshine all year round which means that buildings weather rapidly. Rain, wind, solar radiation including ultra-violet light and atmospheric pollution all take their toll.

It turns our that these gates and and empty section are all that remains of the grand house, Villa Austerlitz. Singapore's National Archives has some very good images of the house at it was and the former owners.

One 1913 photograph clearly shows the same post at left of the picture. The National Archives are a wonderful resource and the staff there do a tremendous job in recording and preserving documents and images associated with Singapore's history. One can even send a historic post card of early Singapore to a friend using their resources.

Villa Austerlitz with the entrance post at left
Source: Singapore National Archives

It is the textural qualities of decay that makes it so appealing through the lens - layers peeled back like an onion to reveal something of interest underneath. This street poster from a visit to Malacca is another such example.

Posters - Malacca
Roger Smith

A Morning Walk In Fort Canning Park

Click on the flip book to see the larger portfolio and then click again.

I spent the first part of the morning shooting images of the nearby Fort Canning Park. This will be my final photo essay in Singapore before we leave.

Fort Canning Hill or Bukit Larangan (Malay for Forbidden Hill) as it was originally is a very interesting place.  It was called Government Hill and from 1819 was the site Raffles chose for his bungalow when he resided in Singapore. In 1859 it was renamed Fort Canning after Viscount George Canning, Governor of India.

Early images of Fort Canning (below) shows what a commanding position it had.  Not many people appreciate that early Singapore had such elevated heights.  Most have long since been flattened for reclamation but thankfully Fort Canning has remained largely intact.

An early view of Fort Canning Hill

A view of the Singapore River from Fort Canning Hill, 1860

The Fort itself was built in the 1860's and was obsolete by World War Two even though it served as General Percival's Battle Box.  After a conference with his senior officers in this fortress he made the fateful decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil And Packing

There is an all pervasive smell of cardboard cartons around our condo, mixed with the distinctiove odour of plastic bubble wrap gently simmering in the tropical sun.

This hopefully will be our final day of packing (which we are personally undertaking) and the removal company arrives on Friday to pack out my PC and take away the consignment.

Tomorrow I unplug this PC and resort to using my laptop.  Hopefully the transition will be relatively painless but it will mean fewer blog posts until the last week of June when we are in our temporary Singapore digs, at Fort Canning Lodge.

While we are staying there I hope to take a wander on the Fort Canning hill to visit the Battlebox complex (pictured) which was the HQ for the Malaya High Command.

It is some 9 metres underground.  The former British Far East Command Centre in the Second World War years was built in 1926 and is now being converted into a hotel.

Dawson Road Now And Then

Strathmore Avenue / Dawson Road Now .................................... Roger Smith 2010

Dawson Road as it used to be - pre 1942

We walk down Strathmore Avenue to Dawson Road, then onwards to our NTUC supermarket at Dawsons Place

Dawson Road used to an area of Atap houses inhabited by hundreds of Hokkien and Teochew who grew vegetables and fruit, as well as raising pigs and chickens.

Later the same area was the site of the Buller camp run by the British military.

In 1942 an Indian POW, John Baptist Crasta, described Buller Camp as being on the tip of a small hill -  a quiet place admist trees.  It was evacuated ahead of the advancing Japanese on February 12th of that year.

On June 12th this same solder moved back to Buller camp under the orders of the Japanese.  The camp became known for its anti INA (Indian National Army) attitude. The image is of INA prisoners in Singapore.

Buller Camp was disdestablished in 1953