SINGAPORE: Want to find out the story behind Singapore’s mosaic playgrounds or discover what Orchard Road was way before it became a shopping belt?
The National Heritage Board (NHB) has unveiled its line-up of events for 2018, and it includes a new exhibit on the history of local playgrounds and an Orchard Heritage Trail.
The former, titled The More We Get Together: Singapore’s Playgrounds 1930-2030, will be presented by the National Museum of Singapore in April.
Done in collaboration with the Housing and Development Board, it will feature archives and visuals to trace the development of Singapore’s playgrounds from its earliest known records through to the iconic dragon playground haunts of the 1970s to reimagined future versions.
“Much like museums, playgrounds are important civic spaces where lifelong memories are made,” said museum director Angelita Teo.
“Through this exhibition, we have collaborated with many partners to explore how playgrounds such as the iconic dragon playground in Toa Payoh have shaped Singapore’s collective memory, and how they continue to connect us all.”
Watermelon playground at Tampines Central Park in 1993. (Photo: Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection, National Archives of Singapore)
Meanwhile, the NHB will launch its 18th heritage trail in July, which will touch on the history surrounding Orchard Road and its environs from the 1920s up to the present.
The trail will stretch from the YMCA International House – which is incidentally 1 Orchard Road – to the Botanic Gardens.
Despite being known more for its shopping from the 1970s onwards, Orchard Road is rich in heritage, said Norsaleen Salleh, NHB deputy director for education and community outreach.
“It used to be full of hills and valleys, and was quite fertile,” she said, adding that it would eventually become known for its gambier and fruit plantations.
These, in turn, would encourage its growth as a residential area where different communities would converge – including the Peranakans of Emerald Hill, the diplomatic missions that built their embassies such as Thailand and Indonesia, and dhobis (or washermen) from whom Dhoby Ghaut would later be named.
Shoppers at Orchard Road. (Photo: Aqil Haziq Mahmud)
One of the main heritage-related highlights of the year would be the unveiling of Our SG Heritage Plan, Singapore’s first national masterplan for the heritage and museum sector.
Details will be announced during the Committee of Supply Debate in March, before its official launch during the annual Singapore Heritage Festival the following month.
Other events to catch over the course of the year are: The Asian Civilisations Museum’s exhibit on Cambodia’s ancient city of Angkor in April; the Indian Heritage Centre’s show on the Chetti Melaka in October; and a dog-themed Chinese New Year show at the Singapore Philatelic Museum next month.
Kampong Glam. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
There will also be two photography-related exhibitions: One on the popular Siamese fighting fish at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in June, and another on the Polaroid at the National Museum in November.
Finally, the Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) will be taking a closer look at the history of Kampong Glam as it has never been seen before – as a hub for Haj pilgrims.
The exhibit Pilgrims’ Stories From The Malay World To Makkah, which will be up in October, will look at the area’s history as a place where pilgrims from as far Java and Sumatra would congregate before sailing to Mecca, a practice that continued to as recent as the 1970s, said Jamal Mohamad, MHC’s programmes manager.
The exhibit will also coincide with its annual festival, which will focus on the Haj and also the different “cultural expressions” and “rituals of worship” from the Malay Archipelago.
