Monday, February 1, 2010

Prior to the heritage trail, I knew little about Queenstown. Since I was born, I have always stayed in the west area and I had no friends or relatives who stayed in Queenstown. Hence, other than visiting Queenstown shopping centre to restring my badminton racket, I knew nothing about this place. Perhaps, due to the impression that Queenstown was just an old town in Singapore, I was never interested to find out more about it. However, with the opportunity to explore Queenstown during my heritage trail, it changed my perception of the area.

Thanks to upgrading works over the years, the town has maintained her charm and certainly looks “younger” than her years. Queenstown enjoys the honor of being one of the most desirable estates in Singapore. Through my heritage trail, I did realized that there was a vast amount of amenities and places to worship that were made available for the residents such as Sri Muneeswaran Temple and Blessed Sacrament Church. Queenstown is definitely not only a serene oasis with a rich heritage, but also full of life and vibrancy with a unique blends of residence, businesses, educational institutions and other members who stayed within the community.

Two of my teammates, Bazlee and Dhinesh had lived in the area for years. It must have been a sentimental journey: visiting the places that they had hung out often during their school day. It is worthy to mention Queenstown Secondary school as it was the place that brought most fond memories to the two. It was interesting to have both Dhinesh and Bazlee in providing our group with their version of “oral histories” on Queenstown: those days of how they would visit the Commonwealth Avenue food centre after their school, and how they would visit the polyclinic to get medical certificates to skip school. All these stories had convinced me that Queenstown is a place full of vibrancy to those who come in touch with it, definitely not just an old town which it seems to be.

Personally, of so many places that we have visited in Queenstown, one that interests me the most is Shuang Long Shan Wu Shu Ancestral Hall. In the past, whenever I took the train to town, I would notice the tombstones as I looked out the window towards Commonwealth MRT station. However, I was uncertain about it as I could not believe that a small cemetery was located right in the middle of the estate. It was only through the heritage trail that I learnt that it was the Shuang Long Shan Wu Shu Ancestral Hall. I had shared this finding with my other friends who have stayed in the area for years and they were equally amazed about it.

While we need to move with the time, we must continue to appreciate and not forget the past. At the same time, we have to treasure what we have in the present. I have learnt a lot on Queenstown and I hope that through our blog, people can also learn about it. Being the first satellite town, surely, Queenstown has a special place in the history of Singapore.

Dhinesh’s reflection

Before embarking on this journey of the heritage trail, I have always had the assumption that history was whatever that was being stated in recognized and acknowledged books, academic papers or even online resources. Never did I fully understand that history goes beyond than just words till getting the opportunity to be part of the heritage trail. Even before the start of the trail, our group designated each individual to do a research such as finding the background or origin of a few particular locations. In this way, we would have a better understanding or at least an idea of the landmark. The experiences gained from the trail have influenced my perception of Singapore’s history and cultural heritage in several ways. For instance, through the informal interviews or even the casual interactions with the people from the particular origin, I was able to gain further insights into how life was during the stipulated time frame and the events that took place which caused changes over time. To my pleasant surprise, I came to know that despite living near the Queenstown area for quite some time, there were a few aspects regarding the history of its heritage that was yet to be experienced. As we all know that history is not just about stating facts but it is to cross-reference the information we have with other reliable sources. That was why it was essential and vital for us to conduct oral history through conversations with the people and compare it with the information we managed to find online and in books.

To a large extent, I could agree that the conservation and commercial reuse of historical sites in Singapore is successful in preserving her historical heritage. This is evident from looking at the structure of these sites. For instance, Queenstown Secondary School is still maintaining its previous location which is at Strathmore Avenue. Despite the mass re-structuring of the school‘s facilities in order to keep up with advance technological improvements, the school still preserves its history and culture with the aid of the QUEST Museum. This museum contains all the materials that mark their past achievements and events through photographs, handbooks, school magazines and etc. From this, we can see that the cultural heritage of the place is preserved so that the history will be passed down to the subsequent generations. Another example would be the Sri Muneeswaran Temple. The reason why it is undergoing major renovation is usually misunderstood by many. Most believe or assume that by undergoing such renovation, the history or originality of the place is lost. This is not true as the aim of such works being carried out is to maintain a strong foundation of the structure so that it permits easy accessibility to the place and thus, people will be able to have better and detailed information of the heritage. Since Singapore is a multi-racial and cultural society; temples, churches and mosques are places of worship which also symbolizes our beliefs, custom and practices and thus, they have been preserved well, right from the beginning.

In a nut shell, I personally feel that being involved in the heritage trail process, I was able to see the importance of the need to preserve such places and its culture as it creates a sense of belonging to people and most importantly, it acts as a platform that helps us to connect the past to the present.

Timothy's Reflection

Before the trail, I knew nothing about Queenstown, besides the famous Queenstown Shopping Centre, which I frequented whenever I am looking for a new pair of street soccer boots. To kick off our heritage trail, I read online and asked friends who reside or resided there in order to learn more about Queenstown, in particular, its historic relevance to Singapore. The fact that Queenstown was the location many of Singapore's 'firsts' was a 'first'-time knowledge for me.

During the trail, I experienced first-hand, the real 'historic' elements of Queenstown. As a history student, I shuddered at the thought of seeing and feeling exactly what the previous generations of Singaporeans must have saw and felt. This shudders turned into chills when we went to the Shuang Long Shan Wu Shu Ancestral Hall, and saw the resting places of the dead, for it was at that very place that I truly realized the meaning behind the often said and cliched statements that of how our forefathers suffered and built modern Singapore.

As I paid my respects to them, I could not help but feel a tinge of anger when the caretaker of the ancestral hall told us how the government took huge swaths of their land away for development and how they might even continue to take what was left of the ancestral hall. I could not help but wonder if it was worthed sacrificing tradition, culture and history simply for the economic benefits. This question continued to echo in my head throughout our journey through the once populous and popular landmarks in Queenstown. On a brighter note, I also uncovered a good hawker centre that sells excellent 'Hokkien Mee', one of my favourite dishes ;)

Following the trail, I could not help but to read up more about the various sites that we visited. I have learned a lot about a crucial heartland and core of Singapore, when I had initially dismissed the Queenstown heritage trail as a waste of time. Whenever I thought of Singapore' history, my mind would always wonder to the much discussed or glorified and 'more important' moments of our history, be Singapore's founding, World War 2, merger and seperation, etc. But after the trail, I have come to realize that every thing and every part of Singapore, played a role in its history and we would be foolish to simply commemorate or preserve select parts of our history, and ignore the 'unsung heroes' of Singapore's history, that undoubtedly played a major role in making Singapore Singaporean today.

Initially when my team received this notice to head to Queenstown, we were all very disappointed because we knew that Queenstown was a desolate, run down, declining estate. We had very little prior knowledge about this early HDB estate, and we all knew that we had to dig deep for information if our blog was to be successful. We also had a hard time in deciding the theme of the blog; the central question was to create something interesting about a seemingly boring HDB estate, yet provide informative data for the reader.

This was solved when Timothy thought of using the Bollywood concept. He suggested that Dhinesh be the central character of our project. His initial idea was for Dhinesh to play the role of a Bollywood star scouting for a potential film location. Someone else then suggested we do a mockup of Dhinesh's childhood. The first title I suggested for this 'movie' was 'The Formative Years'. It sounded to pedantic and hence I changed it to 'Childhood'.

Kheng Loon was the head coordinator of the project. He assigned the research of Queenstown Town centre to me. The research was slightly difficult, because there was really very limited information available in the libraries, or even the internet. A lot of information came from publications of statutory boards. The problem of working with these sources was that the information published was what readers acquainted with history already know. On my part I had to pore through archived newspaper reports online to get extra information on certain buildings. I am also fortunate enough to have my father to help. He was an inhabitant of Queenstown for 31 years and was a good source of oral history. Unfortunately I could not take a video of our interview process because he was unwilling to be filmed.

Pardon me for sounding too sentimental but on the whole it was a heart wrenching experience. It was painful because I spent my early childhood there, and to see the town undergo inner city decline was akin to the erosion of my memory. The research process had a therapeutic effect . On one hand I got to know the history of my childhood haunts better. I wouldn't have bothered knowing the history of these buildings if not for this project. On the other hand the project compelled me to do my best in preserving what was left of Queenstown. Queenstown was slated for urban redevelopment. Many of the buildings we researched on our project may be demolished, upgraded or modified in the near future. On my part I hope that, through the blog, the memories of old Queenstown may be kept for some time.

Kian Long’s Reflection
The trip to Queenstown was absolutely fruitful. Our group was definitely amazed by the rich heritage that Queenstown had. From the first HDBs that were built to the Shuang Long Shan Wu Shu Ancestral Hall that was preserved for burials of the Hakka Clan since 1887. Our blog was presented in a way of fun-filled activities embarked by our star, Roshan Khan in search of his Queenstown memories for his film named “Childhood”. Our group came out with this idea during the initial preparation for the heritage trail and thought it will be awesome that our blog was not just a blog of heritage trail but rather it could have followed an interesting storyline. The final product is a proud work of ours.

Personally, I do not know that Queenstown possessed such a long history back. Since young, we were educated of the rich culture and history of places like Fort Canning Park, Kampong Glam, Little India, and others. However, after going through this heritage trail I realised Singapore does have a rich cultural heritage and history that the young generations are not aware of. This could be one of the activities that I can implement when I am posted to a school. Heartlands are becoming centres of heritage as Singapore progress on and the younger generations must be educated in these rich heritage.

Singapore is very successful in conserving and preserving the important features of most sites. The places of worship still stand where they were and some are undergoing renovations and maintenances. One good example will be the Sri Muneeswaran Temple which was closed down temporarily for renovations and maintenances. However, there were also places like the Archipelago Brewery Company which was relocated but the exterior design was preserved and a shopping centre named Anchor point took over.

Overall, the experience in making this blog and heritage trail was amazing. Our group was absolutely cooperative during this project work where all of us did our own research on assigned sites. Anthony took charge and produced the video that featured our “star”, Roshan Khan which was acted by our very own Bollywood classmate, Dhinesh. Khengloon led the group well and coordinated the blog making and Bazlee provided transport during the trail. The experience was indeed unique and a fulfilling one.

Jonathan’s Reflection

The heritage trail is no doubt an enriching learning experience for me. Away from the usual classroom and lecture theatres, I get to know history in a more interactive and engaging way. It is indeed an interesting way to learn as compared to looking at photographs and videos; I get the 'smell' of the historical places when I was there.

The trail would not have been possible without digging up some of the background information about the places. We would simply be lost and clueless when making our way there and trying to figure out why was it in this way and not the other. We have to constantly question ourselves why the building was built here, why was it built, who were the ones involved, the events that took place during this time etc... All these are part and parcel of historical information and facts waiting for us to discover. It is like a major jigsaw puzzle waiting to be pieced out by us. Every building and place we went has a story to tell, as history students, we try to discover it, which makes learning history and this heritage trail an exciting one. Furthermore, during our trail, we managed to get first hand information when we interviewed the people that grew up in those places or have been through the event personally. Their personal accounts provide new insights which may sometimes differ from textbooks, and here's another juicy part of history for us to dig out.

The heritage also provided an avenue for my fellow classmates and me to bond better. We explored, we rested, we ate good food, we took both funny and educational videos, and most importantly, all of us learned more about Queenstown and one another. Learning definitely has never been as fun. Furthermore, we did our heritage trail based on a fictional storyline in which Queenstown is the hometown of a Bollywood superstar and he was coming back to visit. This spiced up our project, and all of us were enthusiastic to do it. Unlike the usual school assignments that are tedious, boring and taxing, I did not feel the pressure and stress when we were doing our heritage trail; the absence of the serious school environment, together with the laughter and jokes we made throughout the trail make it an enjoying and memorable excursion that I would love to do it again.

Bazlee's Reflections

Precursory to the heritage trail all I knew of Queenstown was that it was where my former school was. I knew little of the history that lies within the walls that surrounded me during my teenage years. After school, I would usually hang out within the Queenstown area, namely the shopping centre, library and occasionally the polyclinic for a mc or two. They were fond memories but memories without much depth nonetheless, until this heritage trail.

Before starting on our heritage trail my group was lukewarm about getting Queenstown as our location. However, I was rather excited about getting my “old haunt” as I could show the guys around and was familiar with the place. Dinesh who was also from the same secondary school shared my views. With that, we trawled the web, libraries and even residents and contacts that we knew were fond of Queenstown for information. All of this, while deciding the theme and the way we were going to disseminate our information. Our group, was not contented to simply just type out the information, we wanted the blog and history to be interesting so that the average person can be intrigued enough to carry on reading and in the process learn more about Singapore’s history. In a Eureka moment, Tim came up with the idea of Dinesh being a Bollywood star to capitalize on our group’s strong links to Queenstown. Thus, we decided to integrate Dinesh’s life story, pepper it with a bit of fiction and make it an interesting story to tell the history of Queenstown on our blog. For my part, I was tasked to report on the Lee Kong Chian Garden School and the Queenstown Baptist Church. I also played the role of navigator and transporter and with my mum’s reliable Mitsubishi by my side the team was able to get from one place to the other with ease, but being there was 7 of us in the car, I can’t say that there was much comfort during the journey. Also, I realized that Queenstown Secondary had a museum, from my experience when I was a student, and made contact with the school to let us visit the place. The vice-principal was actually curious about our project and requested us to send him a report on our project so that he could share it with the students. The group was off to a good start, and as we explored more and more, we soon came to realized that there was so much more to buildings then meets the eye. Some of the sites we visited for example the polyclinic, was closed down but most of it still stood tall, preserved and even renovated such as the Sri Muneeswaran temple when we visited the site. To me, such preservation and reuse of long standing sites helps remind younger generation of their heritage. This was especially so, at the Huang Long Shan Wu Shu Ancestral Hall a cemetery which still stands today. There, we even managed to interview the caretaker who told us the history of the site and how they fought off government reclamation attempts to keep the place running so that younger generations can be reminded of their ancestral past.

By the end of the trail, I could see that all of us felt amazed at how much history there is in this quiet, quaint and almost sleepy neighbourhood known as Queenstown. All in all I must say that this group worked very well together throughout the entire trail and we had an enjoyable time exploring the history of this pioneer neighbourhood.

References

1) Calvin Low, 10-Stories: Queenstown Through The Year, (Singapore: Education and Outreach Division)

2) National Heritage Board, “Heritage Trail.sg”, http://heritagetrails.sg/content/244/Queenstown_Trail.html