Bencoolen: The Forgotten British Outpost
10 min read
IN THE HEART of Singapore’s bustling Central Business District, Bencoolen Street hums with activity. Locals and tourists alike traverse…
Local History Matters Most Immediately
7 min read
IN THE GRAND theatre of social media—where cat videos reign supreme and discussions about anything often devolve into spirited…
The Story of Early Juru
9 min read
IN LATE APRIL 1845, James Richardson Logan, a Penang lawyer and ethnologist, visited Bukit Tengah and Juru. He noted that land bounded by the Prai and Juru rive...
Warships Sunk off Penang in World War I
7 min read
THROUGHOUT WORLD WAR I, Penang was indispensable to British war eforts as a hub supplying men, commodities and funds. Apart from being an important communicatio...
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From Hillview to Wellesley: The Evolution of a Pioneering Boys’ School
9 min read
JALAN SULTAN AZLAN SHAH, formerly known as Northam Road, hugs the contours of North Beach, extending towards Gurney Drive. With the panoramic views it offers of...
A Short History of Pulau Rimau
9 min read
WALKING ALONG THE Queen’s Waterfront promenade at Bayan Lepas, you see a large, heavily forested island nearby that once hosted a leper colony and, later, a pri...
When Penang Was an Axis Submarine Base
10 min read
ON THE MORNING of 27 April 1943, the Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser submarine I-29, codenamed Matsu, was sailing slowly through choppy waters up the M...
Penang Chinese Swimming Club: Birthplace of Olympians
8 min read
THE MELBOURNE SUMMER OLYMPICS of 1956, held in Victoria, was a game with many historic firsts. It was the first Olympics ever held in the southern hemisphere an...
The Benevolent Madam Tan Say Seang: Penang philanthropist par excellence
9 min read
ON SATURDAY, 14 December 1907, at 12.30pm, the sentry on duty at the police station in the rustic village of Tanjung Tokong “noticed that one of the buildings i...
Malaya’s Ceylonese Connection
6 min read
The relationship between Malaya and Ceylon was established long before East India Company days through trade in spices, tin, elephants and peacocks.When exact...
The Spout: The Little Victorian Hill Resort
7 min read
ONE FINE MORNING last July, I went with my intrepid friend, James Wong, to explore the hills behind the Vale of Tempe in Tanjung Bungah. As we reached the end o...
James Dollery Fettes of Penang Waterworks: A Life of Civil Engineering and Service (Part Two)
9 min read
DURING A MEETING on 30 April 1909, the President of the Penang Municipal Commission, James Wilson Hallifax, asked Leonard Moore Bell how long “the new engineer”...