Old maps are often able to offer us a peek into an area’s past. One area that is especially fascinating is the area around the Ulu Pandan forest, which was the subject of news in relation to the removal of a land boundary marker belonging to the huge Tan Kim Seng estate.
The area, now dominated by major thoroughfares such as Clementi Road and Ulu Pandan Road, as well as the huge Ulu Pandan canal, has seen much change in the time between Tan Kim Seng’s days to the present day. The area north of Ulu Pandan Road, was where the Ulu Pandan Rubber Company’s estate was established around 1910. Owned by Choa Giang Thye, it counted the likes of Mr Lee Choon Guan, Mr Tigran Sarkies (of Raffles Hotel fame) and Mr Tan Kheam Hock as its investors. The 1900s also saw villages in the area being established. These included one in the are of the Ulu Pandan forest known as Tua Kang Lye, which accommodated a large number of settlers from the Anxi area of Fujian province. A temple in the area, Tan Kong Tian – where one of two remaining fixed temple Chinese opera stages left on Singapore’s main island is found – is associated with the former village.
In the 1930s, the railway deviation turned the train tracks through the area to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (the section opened in 1932). Later in the decade, two huge 15″ “monster” guns of the Buona Vista Battery were installed for coastal defence (similar to those of the Johore Battery) in the area straddling Ulu Pandan Road close to its junction with Reformatory Road (what is Clementi Road today). Incidentally, the name Reformatory Road came from the reformatory that was established in the early 1900s in the area where SIM/SUSS is today. The reformatory became the Singapore / Gimson Boys Home in 1947 and the road was renamed following this late in 1947.
The post-war period saw much more change. Camps were established for Ceylonese troops, Gurkhas and others in the area and names such as Colombo Camp, Ulu Pandan Camp began making an appearance. Ulu Pandan Camp would become the home of the future 1SIR in 1957 and another, established in the 1960s, Temasek Camp, that of 2SIR. Temasek Camp, was at the centre of an incident sparked by the separation of Singapore and Malaysia following the return of 2SIR troops from Sabah in August 1965. Camp Temasek was then still occupied by a Malaysian Armed Forces unit that was still based in Singapore and Farrer Park was used as a temporary home for 2SIR with tents pitched on the sports fields..
One of the important developments the area would see is in the area of the canal. It was originally a marshy area, which, as the name Ulu Pandan does suggest, was the source of Sungei Pandan or Pandan River. There seems to have been some speculation online as to it having been the source of the Singapore River. This connection with the SIngapore River through Alexandra canal was however, only made in the 1950s, when the canal was constructed for use as a diversion canal to carry storm water away from the city and to Sungei Pandan as part of a flood alleviation scheme.
As an expansion to the scheme, further work was also done to the canal to allow it to also serve as a diversion canal for the Bukit Timah canal in the 1960s and 1970s. This connection was made through a network of canals and tunnels constructed through the (old) Holland Road area in and around the rail corridor and under the area of Ulu Pandan Camp.
The 1960s would also see the construction of the Jurong Railway Line as part of the development of Jurong Industrial Estate, turning the line through part of what could be thought of as the Clementi Forest (the future Clementi Nature Corridor) and Maju Forest. Remnants of the tracks and a rebuilt tunnel, can be found in the area today.
