Kampong Siglap circa 1890s
Kampong Bugis, 1900
The Sultan of Johore, 1908
Telok Belanga, 1912
Photos courtesy of On a little street in Singapore
These were some of the coastal communities pushed inland to make way for development along the Singapore, Rochor and Kallang rivers in the early twentieth century. Note the poverty and squalor and why modernisation and westernisation were very attractive alternatives to the traditional 'kampong way of life'.
I have to verify whether my maternal grandfather was actually half Bugis and whether his father once emerged from one of these stilt hovels and walked along the narrow wooden walkways in his all-black outfit of tunic, pants, and headgear, with a weapon tucked under his waistband or sash.
Now, I've got to find pictures on the Javanese at the Orange Grove district in the 1920s.
