Jonathan Cooper's talk - Beyond the trenches, wire and hell fire

On a Friday evening on 26 Apr 2013, I had the pleasure to attend a talk by Jonathan Cooper, whom I shall henceforth address as Jon Cooper. This talk, Beyond the trenches, wire and hell fire, focused on the Adam Park estate which was the site of an intense phase of the battle for Singapore in the year 1942. Subsequently, Adam Park also served as a POW camp during the Second World War.

During the talk, Jon Cooper fascinated the members of the audience by taking us into stories in the past. He spoke of the building of the Shinto Shrine, the Adam Park Project, the Sime Road Camp and Bukit Brown.

During the talk, Jon Cooper showed us maps of missing soldiers whose bodies have not been recovered yet even though it has been more than 70 years since the battle for Singapore. From a glimpse of the map, some of them were last seen or reported to have been found dead at locations which appear to be present-day Adam Road, Bukit Brown Cemetery and perhaps near Sime Road. The positions of the killed and missing soldiers from the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment were based on the six-figure map grid references found in the recently discovered Bureau of Records and Enquiry (BRE) archives.  I was pretty intrigued by the existence of the Bureau of Records and Enquiry.Will the remains of these missing soldiers be found eventually?

Image: Mok Ly Yng.

After the talk, one of my friends, Mok, got in touch with Jon Cooper regarding the information of the missing soldiers. The information from the records suggests that the last known positions of a few of the missing soldiers from the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment are in the positions whereby a part of the proposed highway cutting across the Bukit Brown Cemetery would be built. Based on the records (Ref: WO 361/2125), the names of some of these soldiers whose bodies have yet been recovered are:

• Corporal David Angus Adcock (22), Fate: Missing. 
• Private Harry Thomas Cattermole (24), Fate: Missing. 
• Private P Sawyer (no age), Fate: Died at Singapore. 
• Lance Corporal Cecil George Meadows (26),  Fate: Killed. 

With Mok's help, courtesy of Jon Cooper, I learnt that the information of war dead could be found from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and database. The information regarding the nominal roll of 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment from 1 Jan 1942 - 31 Dec 1943 could be found under Reference WO 361/2125 of The National Archives. I felt curious why the bodies half of the known "killed in action" soldiers were recovered but the other half have yet been recovered even 70 years later. What had actually happened to the soldiers whose bodies have yet been recovered? I was reminded of how impersonal war can be. May peace prevail.

The intersection of Sime Road and Adam Road.
I was reminded how much history exists at this intersection.

This intersection was referred to as the "Hellfire Corner" due to the amount of Japanese artillery fire this intersection attracted.

During the talk, Jon Cooper also mentioned about previous residents of the Adam Park and how he had found out more about them with the help of the digitalised newsprint library offered by the National Library Board.

Jon Cooper spoke about his hopes to identify the exact location of what had used to be the Adam Park Chapel and more about the Adam Park Project. Anyone who is interested to support or volunteer for the Adam Park Project can find more information on it below:

The Adam Park Project

https://www.facebook.com/AdamParkProject

University of Glasgow: Singapore WWII Project

Overall, it was an enriching talk. Many thanks to Jon Cooper and the organisers for the talk at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

***

Beyond the Trenches, Wire and Hell Fire

Speaker: Jonathan Cooper

Date: 26 Apr 2013 (Fri)

Time: 7.00 p.m.

Ngee Ann Auditorium, ACM Empress Place

The Tiong Bahru Pre-war Air Raid Shelter tour

Last year, I had wanted to visit the pre-war air raid shelter at Tiong Bahru. However, the responses to visit the air raid shelter was so overwhelming that I did not manage to get a space to visit it back then. This year, I felt thankful to finally visit the pre-war air raid shelter at Tiong Bahru on 14 Apr 2013.

The pre-war air raid shelter is situated at Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace. This building was built in 1939 and included a 1500 square-metres bomb shelter. Tracing back to history, it was in 1939 when the British Empire went to war when Great Britain declared war against Nazi Germany. That led to various parts of the British Empire being equipped with facilities such as bomb shelters.

To get to the pre-war air raid shelter at Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace, one would have to passed by Hua Bee Restaurant. This restaurant which is situated at Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace, unit #01-19, is well-known for its coffee with butter toast and the Mee Pok. This seems to be a place for the nostalgic folks. Please take note that Hua Bee Restaurant is closed on Sundays and I do keep my fingers crossed that this restaurant continues to serve the community even in this rapidly changing society.

Hua Bee Restaurant.

Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace.

After passing by Hua Bee Restaurant, one will come to a road that would lead to the carpark of Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace. In essence, the road that would lead to the carpark sits in between Hua Bee Restaurant and Flock cafe which is at unit #01-25.

Flock cafe and the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail marker.

Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace and the carpark compound.

As one enters the the carpark compound, look out for the heritage trail marker of the Air Raid Shelter or the following structure that we see in the photograph below. That will lead visitors into to the pre-war air raid shelter. 

Special thanks to the staff at the Town Council, the shelter was pretty well cleaned up for the pre-war air raid shelter tour. I learnt that the shelter at Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace could hold more than 1000 persons. Before the start of the tour, all the participants were reminded that the shelter may have a mouldy smell and there is a possibility of spotting cockroaches in the shelter. Thankfully, we only saw dead cockroaches lying on a selected few areas of the shelter during our tour. Somehow, I felt blessed to visit the shelter during peaceful times.

I wondered what would life be if one had to use the shelter for extended periods of time? Thankfully, according to what I have briefly read from the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail brochure, it was reported by Peter Chan, a descendant of one of the volunteer air raid precaution marshal in Tiong Bahru that there had only been a single dry-run of evacuation to the shelter before the onset of the war. The shelter was actually hardly used during the war period.

Catching the sight of bricks made by Alexandra Brickworks at the shelter added delight to my visit. My goodness, the bricks obviously have been in existence longer than I have been. They have been made to last for a long time.

Although the tour was only close to half-an-hour in duration, it was a worthwhile visit. The visit to the pre-war air raid shelter was not included in the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail. I felt thankful to my decision to sign up for the air raid shelter tour even though I had no idea what to expect. While there is no air-conditioner and there is a possibility of seeing pests, it was awe-inspiring to experience the significance of this pre-war air raid shelter simply by witnessing its sheer size.

Bi-Monthly Air-Raid Shelter Tour
There will be bi-monthly air-raid shelter tour on the first Saturday of alternate months starting June 2013, starting at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.. The gathering place would be at Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace, Hua Bee Coffeeshop.

For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/10GCoii

Nearest MRT station: Tiong Bahru
***

Also see:

Heartland Getaway 2 - Tiong Bahru Episode (Pt 5) (on Hua Bee Restaurant)
Alexandra Brickworks

Heritage on the Hill, 27 Apr 2013

One afternoon, I visited the Fort Canning Park to join the programme, Heritage on the Hill. This tour brings visitors to appreciate how Fort Canning Hill has changed through the centuries.

The meeting point for the tour was the courtyard of the Fort Canning Centre. Do you know that the Fort Canning Centre was originally constructed to serve as a British army barracks?

Fort Gate. Fort Canning Centre.

The next stop was Fort Gate. If you had participated in tour, you would see excitement on everyone's eyes. Our tour guide had a special key that could unlock a gate which would allow us to walk up to the second level of the fort gate.

Our enthusiastic tour guide shared with us the history of the Fort Canning Hill. This hill was known as Bukit Larangan (which means "Forbidden Hill" in Malay language) prior to the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. We learnt that the current name of the hill, i.e. Fort Canning Hill, was named after Viscount Charles John Canning who was then Governor-General and the first Viceroy of India. As I do not know much about him so I read a wikipedia entry to learn more about him after the tour. Viscount Charles John Canning seemed to be a diligent gentleman.

What has left the deepest impression throughout this tour was the beauty of the trees! Our tour guide lovingly shared with us insights to tree appreciation. I learnt about epiphyte. Unlike a parasite which derives its sustenance from another plant, ephiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically. I like the tour guide's analogy of seeing the ephiphytic plants that grow on each of the trees as plants that adorn and further beautifies each tree. 

I do remember the tour guide's sharing about the lighthouse (a replica of the original), the story of William Farquhar and more. However, what continued to stay in my mind was the beauty of the trees. Through the guide's highlighting of several heritage trees and many other trees, I could feel strongly the importance of trees. During the tour, I admired the beauty of the Flame of the Forest which is one of the heritage trees in the park. I also saw a magnificent Malayan Banyan tree and many other trees.

Flame of the Forest.

When the tour group was standing next to an Indian gooseberry tree (also known as the "Melaka tree"), other than learning that the fruit of the Indian gooseberry tree was high in Vitamin C, we also learnt about a popular legend of how Malacca has gotten its name. Malacca was named after a tree.

Through the tour guide's generous sharing about the features of the fig and the pollinations of fig trees by the wasps, I was further reminded of how intricate and complex Nature is. Seemingly small creature like a wasp could have such a vital role to play in the life-cycle of another living being, i.e. the fig.

I left the tour with more insights about the heritage of Fort Canning Hill. More importantly, it reminded me of the importance of trees. When the tour guide reminded us how interconnected we are to the trees, I could not help but recall an article that I have read via Facebook quite a while ago. The title of the article was "When Trees Die, People Die". So I shall end this post with words of gratitude to the trees in our planet Earth.

Thank you dear trees
For your beauty
For your timely shade that you have lent us
For the numerous gifts you have so generously offered us
Each breathing moment, shall we remind ourselves with gratitude
It was you trees,
Who have received the waste gas of carbon dioxide
And gave us the life-generating oxygen in return.

Ceiba pentandra. A "Kapok" tree.

Heritage on the Hill
27 Apr 2013, 4.00 p.m. - 5.30 p.m.
Meeting point: Courtyard in front of Fort Canning Centre
Please wear comfortable walking attire.

***

More about Fort Canning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Canning

http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_8_2004-12-10.html
http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/docs/diy_guide/Colonial_History_Walking_Trail_at_Fort_Canning_Park.pdf

Nature Tours and Walks organised by National Parks

For more information on tours and walks, please click here.

If you find this tour interesting, please find more information on the free guided walks of Fort Canning Park by clicking here (see "Guided Walks").

Adventures on The Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail

Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre.

14 Apr 2013 marked the launch of the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail. I felt thankful that I could get myself registered for one of the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail guided tours that day. Before the start of the tour, I read through the first few pages of the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail brochure. It gave me a better appreciation of the history of Tiong Bahru.

The Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail brochure.

The gathering point of the tour was at the Tiong Bahru Community Centre. I learnt that the original Tiong Bahru Community Centre at Eu Chin Street in 1951 was a converted stand-alone air-raid shelter. It thought it was a ingenious way of making good use of the air-raid shelters.

The Tiong Bahru Community Centre.
67A Eu Chin Street.

The first stop of our tour was Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre. The current two-story building was reopened in 2006. I had the pleasure to visit the Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre before the start of the tour. As I listened to the volunteer guide about how hawkers used to sell their food or produce at the Seng Poh Road Market which used to occupy the site of the current Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre, I was reminded of how much Singapore has changed over the past five decades.

Tiong Bahru Food Centre.

One of the stalls at Tiong Bahru Market.

During the tour, the volunteer guide shared that the name "Tiong Bahru" combined the words: "Tiong" meaning "to die" in the Hokkien dialect, and "Bahru" meaning "new" in Malay. I suppose this is an apt example that reflect Singapore as a multicultural society?

Participants who prefer to go on a self-guided heritage tour of Tiong Bahru will find the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail brochure a wonderful resource that will lend insights to the etymological roots of the name "Tiong Bahru".

No birdcage was seen.

At the next stop, we learnt that on a small plot of land where the Nostalgia Hotel now stands, there used to be a very popular pet bird shop. Across the road, where the Link Hotel now stands, there used to be a coffee-shop named Wah Heng, where customers are allowed to hang their birdcages which they enjoy their drinks at the coffee-shop. What a unique recreation activity that people of my generation has yet to experience. During the tour, we saw a metal structure that would allow bird owners to hang their birdcages on. However, except during special events such as bird-singing competitions, the metal structure was generally empty as the pet bird shop and the coffee-shop no longer exist.

Blk 55, the first block of Singapore Improvement Trust flats in Tiong Bahru.

The Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail included a visit to the graves of Tan Tock Seng, Mrs Tan Kim Ching and Wuing Neo. I had passed by the hillock facing Outram Road and Tan Boon Liat building several times, and I did not realize that it was the resting place of one of Singapore's early pioneers! What a discovery I have made that day!

At a distance, across the road, is the grave of Tan Tock Seng.

Grave of Mrs Tan Kim Ching.

The tour also brought us to the site of the former Institute of Health and the former site of the Coroner's Court. We also learnt about the Outram Prison and the Outram Park Complex. Till now, I could not figure out why the Outram Park Complex was demolished.

Tiong Bahru Qi Tian Gong Temple.

One of the stops of the tour was the Tiong Bahru Qi Tian Gong temple. This temple is dedicated to the Monkey King. I am intrigued at how a character from a 16th century classic fable, Journey to the West, could earn the worship of the devotees.

Notice the architectural style.

My favourite part of the tour was when the focus shifted to the architecture of the buildings in Tiong Bahru. I learnt that the pre-war flats were built based on a modified form of a style known as Streamline Modern, which was a late development of the Art Deco movement. Buildings of the Streamline Moderne style can be recognized by their simple and functional lines, flat roofs, curved shapes and rounded corners.

Blk 49 Kim Pong Road. The road was named after Low Kim Pong.

While the tour group admire the beauty of the architecture of the buildings in Tiong Bahru, our volunteer guide generously shared with us the stories of some of the notable personalities whose names were remembered through the street names of the Tiong Bahru estate.

Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace.

One of our last stops of the tour was Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace which was affectionately known as the "horse-shoe" block. This block is the only five-storey Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) blocks in Tiong Bahru and was the highest in Singapore when it was completed in 1940. At this very block, there is a pre-war air-raid shelter that can be accessed from the carpark compound. I learnt that the air-raid shelter can hold more than 1000 persons.

Blk 78 Moh Guan Terrace and the carpark compound.

Overall, I have enjoyed my adventures on the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail. Joining the trail gave me the perfect excuse to walk for about two hours and I thought that this was an interesting way to exercise and to learn something new.

Seng Poh Garden and the Dancing Girl Sculpture.

Monthly Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail Guided Tour
There will be monthly Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail every first Saturday of the month starting May 2013, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The gathering point will be at the Tiong Bahru Community Centre. The tours will be conducted in English.

There will a nominal fee of $2 for this guided tour and the proceeds will go to the Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru Citizens' Consultative Committee Community Development and Welfare Fund (CCC-CDWF) to assist the needy residents.

For more information and to register for the Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail guided tour, please visit http://bit.ly/10GCoii