Heritage Trail @ Fort Canning Park

Singapore has many historical and social memories that Singaporeans may not be even aware of. The National Heritage Board (https://www.nhb.gov.sg/) plans to preserve and celebrate the shared heritage of Singapore's diverse communities by managing 

national museums, heritage institutions, and setting policies relating to heritage sites, national monument and national collections. The National Heritage Board tries to connect the past, present and future generation Singaporeans through curating heritage programmes and presenting exhibitions. Interested, I've decided to go on one of National Heritage Board's heritage walking trail to find out the deep heritage of Singapore. 

The Sketch of the Royal Palace

Together with a friend of mine, we set out to Fort Canning Park, once known as Bukit Larangan or "Forbidden Hill". I chose Fort Canning Park as it is rich in Singapore history and is deeply involved with how Singapore was formed back in the 1900s. I was also once brought here by my secondary school as a school expedition. It was called the forbidden hill as a royal family once lived here and peasants weren't allowed on the hill. It was then renamed to Government Hill as Singapore's colonial leaders made their residences there in 1822. Around 1860, the hill was then turned into a fort bearing till the 1970s, hence getting it's name, Fort Canning. Fort Canning was once used as a military base by the British, the Japanese (during WWII), and the Royal Armed Forces. (References from Marcus Ng, National Heritage Board, 2015)

                            Arriving at Fort Canning Park

Fort Canning Park

Map of Fort Canning Park

When I first stepped in to Fort Canning Park, my friend and I took a photo of the park map so as to not lose our way. We memorised the map and the attractions we wanted to see before we set out to visit them. We planned our route and decided to visit several few places in Fort Canning.

There are many historical places to be seen at Fort Canning, however my friend and I decided to visit only a few. We visited places like the underground bunker, the Fort Cannings Art Centre, the Gothic Gate, the ancient reminisce and the Fort Gate.

Bricks that were excavated from the hill

From reference of Battle Box, the Fort Canning Hill has a deep history that extends all the way to the 14th Century where the history of Singapore intertwines with the history of Fort Canning. From the billboards located at the entrance, I learnt about Fort Canning's past, where there were five ancient malay kings that ruled at the top of Fort Canning Hill. Sang Nila Utama, was the first king to arrive in Singapore saw a lion on Fort Canning Hill, which then made Sang Nila rename the island to Singapura, the Lion City. The Fort Canning Hill plays an important role in Singapore's rich history as many military activities took place in the underground bunker at Fort Canning during WWII. Fort Canning is so rich in Singapore's history that many ancient artifacts can be excavated at the hill, these items are so ancient it goes back to the 14th Century of Singapore.

Fort Cannings Art Centre & Gothic Gate

Fort Canning Art Centre

The Fort Cannings Art Centre was originally constructed in 1962 as a British Army Barracks, this stately building was used by the Singapore armed forces before being converted into squash courts and offices in the 1970s. Now, the building is used as an event space and houses a few up-market restaurants.

Gothic Gate

When we arrived on Fort Canning, we managed to make our way to the Gothic Gate. The Gothic Gate, is linked with the Fort Canning Art Centre which is connected with one another by the Fort Canning Green. We stumbled upon the Gate and the Art Centre and decided to take a few photos. Upon closer inspection of the place, we found that the walls surrounding the Fort Canning Green has headstones with names inscribed on the conjoining wall of the Gothic Gate. We also stumbled upon a few gravestones but decided not to take any photos out of due respect.

Headstone inscribed with names

I did my research and found that the Fort Canning Green used to be an old Christian Cemetery until 1865. The Gothic Gate, constructed in 1846, was the entrance to the Christian Cemetery. Famous men and women who gave their lives to the young colony has their names inscribed on the headstones along the brick walls. Why would they build a cemetery here? I think that they put the names of the people here to honour them for the sacrifices they have made.

Now, the Fort Canning Green is used as a popular venue for music events, high-spirited outdoor concerts, movies or dance performances.

Ancient Reminisce

The Old 9-Pound Cannon

We continued our journey north into Fort Canning and stumbled upon one of the Fort's cannons. We decided to inspect the cannon and how it's mechanics work. We found that the cannons were very well preserved as if it has never been damaged before!

I did my research and found that the 9-pound cannon dates back to the 19th century and had became obsolete as weapons of war even before Fort Canning was built. Thus, it was never used as weapons to defend Fort Canning. Instead, they were used as decorations or only for ceremonial purposes.

Archaeological Dig and Exhibition Area

As we continued our journey, we stumbled upon the Archaeological Dig Site and decided to take a look. Apparently, the Archaeological Dig site is an original excavation site featuring 14th century artefacts. Archeological research on this site began in 1984 by archaeologist Dr John N. Miksic. Although the excavation lasted only ten days, the data obtained led to the conclusion that a late 13th and 14th century Malay settlement did exist on the hill once. Thousands of artefacts from the 14th century have since been uncovered.

There we saw pieces of broken porcelain and many ancient chinese coins at the display area. Many of the items dug up are pots and ceramic bowls, many other evidence as suggest that the area was used by palace craftsmen manufacturing glass and gold items. 

Fort Gate

Remains of the Fort

Fort Gate

Going further into the north of Fort Canning Park, we stumbled upon the remains of the fort. The Fort Wall stands in the middle of the park with part of the fort intact. My friend and I decided to take photos of it and inspect the gate and its design. Upon closer inspection of the place, you can find that the wall and the gate has been preserved pretty well despite the deep history embedded on the hill.

With reference from the National Park Singapore's Colonial History Walking Trail, the gate of Fort Canning and its adjoining wall are all that remain of a fortress that was built on this hill between 1861 and 1962. The hill was previous known as Government Hill, but when the hill was converted into a fort, and the Fort Gate was built, it was then renamed 'Fort Canning Hill', after Viscount Charles John Canning, Governor-General and the first Viceroy (regal officer) of India.

Underground Bunker

Entrance to the Battlebox

Soon we then arrived at our last destination, the underground bunker. The underground bunker, constructed in the late 1930, was the largest underground military operations complex in Singapore. It was part of the British Far East Command Headquarters during World War II. It is approximately 9-metres underground, about 3 storeys high, this was also the site where Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya, made the crucial decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. (Reference from Melody Zaccheus, Straits Times, 2016)

Tickets to the Battlebox

Upon arriving at the underground bunker, we noticed that we had to buy the tour package in order to enter the underground bunker. Hence, we decided to head to the visitors centre and got 2 $18 tour packages into the underground bunker.

Entrance to the Bunker

As we walked down the steps to the underground bunker, we were told to keep a lookout for the steel doors that kept the bunker sealed shut. The steel doors served a purpose of keeping the bunker airtight and to protect the men from potential poison gas attacks.

When we got into the underground bunker, we were led into the first room, the Fort Canning room which used to be one of the three air filtration plants in the bunker. The filtration plant helps to purify the air in case of a potential poison gas. However, the room has been converted to reflect fort canning hill's history in the 14th century.

The remains of the air filtration plant

In the room, we were given a brief history of Fort Canning and how it correlates to the history Singapore. I was very surprised by how Fort Canning had so much to do with how Singapore was formed. The bunker was where the British decided to surrender Singapore to the Japanese! During the war, the bunker consisted of 29 rooms, but in the present day, it has only 27 rooms as some of the rooms have been merged or split. During the war the bunker was very crowded, there were at least 300-500 men working in the underground bunker. The bunker also has two entrances/exits, one on each side of the bunker. We were also told that when the British built the bunker, they wanted to ensure that the generals and the staff could work under the worst possible circumstances. For example, the toilet which had only 3 cubicles had to be shared with 500 men. After listening to how the men survived in the underground bunker during the war, I feel thankful that we do not have to live like that now. I was reminded as how fortunate I am being privileged with modern technology like air conditioners.

The Bunker's corridor

Afterwhich, we were led into another room, and in between walking through the rooms I noticed how well preserved the bunker was. Everything was intact, including the original metal doors. In the present day, the bunker is air conditioned, I could imagine how stuffy it would have been back then as there were so many men working underground with poor air ventilation. We were also told that back in the day it was so stuffy and hot to the point that the men had to cut part of the metal door to ensure there was better air circulation in the bunker.

A part of the door has been cut

Plotting Room

We were then led into the fortress plotting room which had this big table in the middle of the room with the map of Malaya. The table was very happening, it had many wooden blocks which had numbers of different colours on it and the wax figures who were surrounding it had a very tensed look on their faces. The tour guide then explained to us the purpose the room served, information of enemy aircraft will be picked up from the radar stations and the visual observers at the front of the room, then the information will be relayed to the officers who mend the table. They will then plot the information on the table with the wooden blocks seen in the photo. The tour guide then started explaining how the information was plotted and how the information helped the anti-aircraft gun sites and the air defences protect Singapura.

Most of the information plotted showed that there were many hostile aircraft surrounding Malaya. This could explain why the people around the plotting board looks very tensed and distressed. With these information, I could only assume that this reenactment was dated only a few weeks before Singapore was captured under the Japanese. I feel that this room holds significant historical value as it really represents the emotions felt during the period of the Japanese invasion, no textbook or words can represent Singapore history better than this room.

Orderlies Room

Soon after, we were brought into other rooms such like, the Fortress Command Room. We were then given detailed descriptions of the wax figures and displays in the room. The guide shared with us many historical stories and it really helped me learn about what happened in the past. She talked about how the Japanese had outsmarted the allied forces which eventually caused the invasion of Singapore.

We were then led to see how communications were passed between the bunker and the other military stations in Singapore.  First, we were brought to see the Orderlies room, where clerks were in-charge of all the administrative work around the bunker. Since the men were handling confidential information, the steel doors were normally shut, the bunker also had thick walls which added on to the humidity of the room. Kudos to men working down here!

Telephone Room

Right next to the Orderlies Room, one wall away is the Telephone exchange room. The men working in that room got hold of information from the outside world even before anyone else in this bunker. This telephone exchanges connected the battlebox to the civilian and military switchboards around Malaya and Singapore. However, during the war the bombing and shelling caused the phone lines to be cut, causing the communications with the outside world to be impossible.

Cipher Office

Moving on, we were then led to the Cipher Office. We were told that this was where the men had their reports and messages coded and decoded as it was very important for them during the war. They had all the evidence destroyed after a few days and the codes were regularly changed. In the Cipher Office, burnt markings could be seen on the wooden floors. I could assume that this was a recreation of what might have happened back in those days where the men burnt evidences of reports and messages to keep everything a secret from their enemies.

The tour guide then told us that the equipment seen in the Cipher Room are replicas and not the original equipment as most of the equipment has been looted by the villagers during the war. Although they were not the real equipment, the replicas made everything in the bunker very realistic. Well, why would they make themselves busy by going around creating replicas for that room? I think that they decided to replicate what it was like during the time of war as they wanted to keep the atmosphere similar to what it was like back then. They wanted to keep history preserved and alive for the future generations to come, From what the tour guide has told us so far, I can infer that during the war, the villagers were in a state of panic and desperation to the point that they started to loot items from the underground bunker.

We were then brought into the Signal Office, or as the men called it, the Post Office as this was the room where they sent or received radio messages. The signal office looks exactly like the Telephone Room, it has the exactly the same layout. It was quite an interesting experience to see what it was like back in the day during the war. I must say that I was very intrigued by all these historical equipment and the story told by the guide. After we were shown around the Signal Office, we were led to the room beside it, the Signal Control Room. The Signal Control Room was setup so that they could communicate with their main military command centre in India and Australia.

Japanese Writing on the walls of the Signal
Command Centre

In the Signal Command Centre, we could observe Japanese writing on the back of the wall. The Japanese writings were preserved by a plastic panel in front of it to prevent any damages to it. Why would they preserve these graffitis? I think that they decided to preserve the writings as a picture speaks a thousand words. This graffiti by the Japanese speaks a rich history of Singapore and just by looking at it sends shivers down my spine as it is one of the evidences that the Japanese occupation did happen. I think that it also serves the purpose of reminding Singaporeans the saddening history that led to the birth of this nation. The guide explained that during the war when the Japanese took over Singapore, they used the bunker as a place to spy on the communications between the British and their military base. There were some graffiti on the wall that hinted the Sook Ching Massacre, the massacre that led to the mass killing of Chinese men. In the photo I took, the writings were roughly translated, "Seletar Reservoir, Air Force Location Unclear, A division which may be commanded by Count-Marshal-Terauchi" Seeing this, I could only assume that they were spying on the conversation between this commander and someone else. They were taking information and using it to their advantage. Looking at this graffiti gave me goose bumps as this was as close to history that I could get, it was also a very saddening part of history as many innocent lives were lost during that period of time. 

The Engine Room

Parts of the Engine

Following the tour, we were then led to the engine room. The guide explained that the purpose of the room was to generate power for the bunker in case of the main supply fault. The bunker also has a gigantic fuel tank that supplied the generators. However, during the war many items were looted and that included the engines in this room. Hence, the room was only left with a few parts of the engine. I could imagine how humid it was back in those days when these engines were running. The engines would have been producing so much heat which would have added onto the humidity of the bunker, it would've felt like a human-sized oven!

Path to the Cat Ladder/Emergency Escape

Cat ladder

The bunker had 2 main exits, one on each side of the bunker. However, when they built they bunker, they thought of an emergency escape route which is the Cat Ladder. It's a ladder that leads all the way to the surface in case it was not possible to exit from the main bunker doors. The ladder is built in a staggered manner so that it could fit many people at once and for safety purposes. At the top of the cat ladder, there was a skylight structure built which allowed light to come in. We then found out that it was actually built in recent years and that back then during the war it was just a metal hatch that covered the top of the cat ladder.

The Skylight Structure from Outside

As we were coming to an end of the tour, we were led to the most important and significant room in the whole bunker. It was the room that has made significant impact on Singapore's history and has changed it greatly.

The Surrender Conference Room

Our last room was the Surrender Conference room, or during the war it was known as the Commander Anti-Aircraft Defence room, where the planning of the defence of airfields were carried out. However, by 5th February 1942 all RAF aircraft had left which left this room empty, which was why Arthur E. Percival decided to have his final conference here. The guide then told us the history in the room. It was 15th February 1942, 0930 hrs where General Percival started his final conference of the room. Together with him was his eleven other senior generals and they started the conference on the water supply situation in the city. They were updated that only one day of water supply left as most of the reservoirs in the north had been taken over by the Japanese. They were also updated that they were left with only two days of ammunition supply left, and for their fuel they were only left with what was in their vehicle tanks. They were in so many supply shortages that they decided that the only way to move forward was to surrender to the Japanese. Why did they decide to preserve this room? I think that they decided to preserve this room as it held significant historical value to Singapore's history. It was where the heavy decision of surrendering Singapore was made, which makes the value of this room significantly very high.

Listening to this story, it made me think that we must be very privileged to be living in Singapore now than when in WWII. Without the history of the surrender of Singapore, we would not have a modern and progressed economy like now.

Entrance/Exit of the Bunker

With that, we ended our tour and was brought back to where we started our historical journey in the bunker. It was a very meaningful tour in the bunker as I was shown a whole new world. I hadn't known how deep the history of the bunker was with Singapore's history.

Conclusion

When I went on the trail, I noticed that there were not a lot of people at Fort Canning Park. The majority of people at Fort Canning Park are tourist from other countries who are interested in finding out the heritage of Singapore. Why do Singaporeans not want to find out about their heritage? From my perspective, I think that Singaporeans are interested in finding out the history of their homeland. However, because of the hectic lifestyle of Singaporeans they eventually forget to nurture the rich history of Singapore. Going on this tour, I realised that we should all be thankful for all the events that has happened as it has led us to a today. It has bestowed upon us with a better and relaxed lifestyle than back during the war.

See you soon, Fort Canning!

After going on this heritage trail, it really opened up my eyes to the wide array of heritage surrounding me. Especially the underground bunker, I was seriously taken aback by how much history had happened right in that bunker and how it had so much to do with the Japanese invasion. I had no idea that Fort Canning Park held so much history until I went on this tour. As a Singaporean citizen, I strongly believe that it is my duty to remember the rich history of Singapore and how it came to be. I am really glad I had done this expedition on Fort Canning as I plan to keep this rich history of Fort Canning alive. Without this trail, the deep history of Fort Canning and of Singapore would had been forgotten among Singaporeans. I am also glad that there are organisations, like Singapore History Consultants PTE LTD, that are helping to keep Singapore's history alive. I would strongly recommend all fellow Singaporeans to go on these heritage trails and remember the history of Singapore to keep the Singapore spirit alive.

References
A Guide to Singapore’s Colonial History Walking Trail at Fort Canning Park. Available: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/~/media/nparks-real-content/learning/learning-journeys/guided-walks/diy-guided-walks/revisiting-history/diy-trail-guide--singapores-colonial-history.pdf?la=en. Last accessed 20 June 2017.

Marcus Ng. (2015). Jubilee Walk. Available: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/~/media/nhb/files/places/trails/jubilee-walk/nhb_jubileewalk_booklet.pdf?la=en . Last accessed 21 June 2017.

Melody Zaccheus. (2016). Fall of Singapore retold at World War II bunker. Available: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/fall-of-singapore-retold-at-world-war-ii-bunker. Last accessed 20 June 2017.

The Battlebox Story. Available: http://www.battlebox.com.sg/. Last accessed 20 June 2017.