Appreciating Bukit Brown: Remember Our Ancestors Day 9 Oct and 16 Oct 2011

Event: Remember your ancestors' day cum DIY Tour
Dates: 9 Oct 2011 (Sun) and 16 Oct (Sun) 2011, 
Time: From 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Meeting point: In front of Bukit Brown Cemetery Gates at Lorong Halwa, off Kheam Hock Road


Bus services available: 52, 74, 93, 157, 165, 852, 855. 
Directions to the cemetery Gate: Alight at bus-stop, #41149, opposite Singapore Island Country Club (SICC), Adam Road. Walk towards Sime Road, walk along Kheam Hock Road until you see Lor Halwa.
(For very detailed directions to get there: please check out Leone Fabre's post.)

Do you have an interest in Bukit Brown Cemetery because you have an ancestor who is buried there?


On 9 and 16 Oct 2011, find your way to Bukit Brown Cemetery to search for your ancestors' grave. The search is ever more pressing with the Land Transport Authority's plans build a new dual four-lane road that will cut through through parts of Bukit Brown from early 2013 and with the Urban Redevelopment Authority gazetting Bukit Brown Cemetery as a site for development Straits Times, 30 May 2011).

What does a descendant who have an ancestor buried in Bukit Brown need to do to start the search?

The organizers have outlined the following steps to take (source: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142006435895789):

1) First find out your ancestor name that you think could be buried in Bukit Brown. As the burial records are in English the names will have to be in English

2) Find out the date of death.

3) Your ancestors’ families may have published the obituary notice in the English newspapers which include the date of burial and burial place. You can check out using the newspapers archives : http://newspapers.nl.sg/

4) Once you have the details of the names and date of death, go down to the National Archives of Singapore at 1 Canning Rise and ask for the burial register for that particular year. The burial records are in English and are kept in burial sequence from the date of burial from 1922 up to the year 1960 and follow the Western calendar. (Please visit http://www.a2o.com.sg  for the online burial registers of Bukit Brown Cemetery.) 

5) You can find out the burial plot number from the burial register. The last known address of the deceased is also available. Please note that Bukit Brown cemetery is divided into Blocks and Sections. So you should obtain the Block and Section and the grave number.

With the grave plot number, attend the “Bukit Brown - Remember your ancestors’ day" event on 9 Oct and 16 Oct from 8.30 am to 1 pm whereby there will be guides there to help you look for your ancestors.

Please wear comfortable walking shoes and attire. It helps to bring a walking stick if you should think this would be helpful.

Many thanks to Raymond Goh, Charles Goh, Rosalind M Tan, Charlotte Chu and volunteers for making the event possible. The Facebook event page for this event is https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142006435895789.