Queenstown Heritage Trail: Dawson and Alexandra

If you are a history buff, you will like the Queenstown Heritage Trail. My Queenstown Heritage Trail recounts the story of Queenstown and visits the iconic landmarks which define the Queenstown skyline for the past 60 years. Forget about City Hall and the museums, as the Queenstown Heritage Trail takes a look into the life of the everyday Singaporean. As the first satellite estate, the trail also tells you about the evolution of Singapore’s famous public housing through personal stories of older residents.

Starting at Queenstown MRT station and covering a huge area from Tanglin to Portsdown road. We were invited to review the newest history trail of Dawson and Alexandra, and we were looking forward to find out what we could discover in the heartlands of Singapore.

There are 18 stops along the Alexandra and Dawson trail, but as we only have had about 3 hours, these are the few stops that we covered.

1. Former Forfar House

The Former Forfar house was once Singaporean’s tallest public residential building. Officially opened in 1956, the block comprised of 106 apartments at 4 shops. Interestingly, there was a Consumers Cooperative club located here, which was popular among the residents, as essential items like sugar, rice, and canned food were sold at 20-30 cents cheaper than market prices.

Being the highest public building then, it also holds a dark reputation, as being the venue for many to commit suicide. Hence, in the local hokkien dialect, it is also called 14 storey.

2. Princess House

Turn into Commonwealth Avenue from Strathmore Avenue. The 7th storey building to your left is the Princess House.

Princess house was opened in 1957 as the multi-purpose office building which housed the Social Welfare and Licensing departments in the western wing and offices to be rented out in the Eastern Wing. This building also serves as the headquarters for the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

Various foreign dignitaries such as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret and Edward Health (Ex Prime Minister of Australia), have visited Princess house to learn about Singapore’s housing programme.

Princess House was gazetted for conservation in 2007, and today it serves as a lasting reminder of Queenstown History.

 3. Hock Lee Bus Riots

The location of the infamous Bus Riots, which forms a turning point in Singapore’s History can be found at the junction of Dawson and Alexandra. The Hock Lee Bus Riots, which started at a bus deport location at the junction, was one of the major riots in Singapore during the 1950s.

It started as a peaceful demonstration on 23 April 1955 by disgruntled bus drivers became violent, when the Riot police attempted to break up the riots using water cannons and tear gas. Two police offices died as a result with hundreds of protesters injured.

 

 

4) World War Two Bunkers

Head off into a forested area at Kay Siang Road, and you will enter into a heavily forested area, which was first constructed in 1945 to house ammunition and then later Japanese prisoners-of-war. The area is surrounded by thick vegetation, and you will need not just good shoes, but lots of mosquito repellent to check out the area. As my 3 kids were with me, I did not manage to make it in, but the trail will make a great adventure for an “Out of the Box” adventure.

 

5) Tiong Ghee Temple 

As in many villages, the temple started out as an altar in a villager’s hut, after being torn down and rebuilt, it is now a temple atop Stirling road.Today the temple remains a gathering point for former Boh Beh Kang villagers, but it serves as a lasting reminder of Queenstown’s past.

6) The Butterfly Block

Block 168A Queensway is known as “the Butterfly Block”, as it is built with a unique curved shaped façade that resembles a butterfly,. Before the construction of the bloc, more HDB residential blocks were simple slab blocks and point blocks, The addition of the “Butterfly” is to add more variety and character in public housing estates. On this particular Media trail, we got to interview old residents of Queenstown, and here we got Mr. Paul Fernandez (who resides in the block) to remind us about life in Queenstown.

On the topic of character, the trail also allows one to witness how HDB blocks have developed since the early days. Check out the upcoming BTOs around the Alexandra area.

7) Queenstown Shopping Centre

Opened in 1974, to provide shopping and recreational options for residents in Queenstown. Today, this shopping mall has managed to stand the test of time, despite its age. It is a favorite haunt for sports shoes and equipment, and has an evergreen reputation, for providing a bargain in this area.

 7) Alexandra Hosptial

The Alexandra Hospital used to be the British Military hospital and it served as the principal hospital for Britain’s Far East Command during WW II. At that time, It was the best equipped medical institution in Singapore and Malaya. Before the Surrender of Singapore in February 1942, the hospital was the location a massacre, as the Japanese troops killed more than 200 hospital personnel and patients. The mysterious tunnel of Alexandra  hospital is also located here.

Overall, the trail is good at bringing visitors to explore the heartlands and life for the early Singaporean in our Nation State. Do bring good walking shoes and mosquito repellent if you are intending to explore the bunkers.

Members of the public can sign up for tours at www.myqueenstown.eventbrite.sg. The tours will be held on the last Saturday of each month, starting next month.