Chinese Cemetary Haunts The Avatar Trees of Bukit Brown Cemetary
by Meg Sine Bukit Brown is a place in Singapore that perhaps many residents of the Garden City do not know about. It’s a sprawling Chinese cemetery on forested land sandwiched between the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) and the Lornie Highway just south of MacRitchie Reservoir. This cemetery operated for half a century between 1922 and 1973. Today, many of the cemetery's ornate stone grave sites are being overtaken by dense vegetation but there are still plenty to see and explore. Here is a snapshot of the history of this unique place and how this deathly quiet landscape hides a secret that is beyond the graves… History of Bukit Brown Cemetery In the early 1900s the land of Bukit Brown was purchased by wealthy entrepreneurs from Xiamen, China, to become a residential area for the poor members of their Chinese clan. This land was located on a hillside named after George Henry Brown. Mr. Brown, who came to Singapore in 1840, opened a trading business and built a home on Mt. Pleasant Road adjacent to the hillside that came to bear his name. See Singapore Infopedia. Bukit Brown: Heritage Property or Critical Land Resource? A large section of this property was purchased by the municipal government in 1918 to serve the need for Chinese burial sites. Bukit Brown is the resting place for many prominent Singaporeans, including the ancestors of Lee Kuan Yew. In 1965, over 230 graves had to be exhumed and transferred to another cemetery due to the construction of the Lornie Highway. In the last 15 years, many redevelopment plans have been advanced by Singapore’s LTA (Land Transport Authority) to use this critical land resource for additional highway construction and housing estates. Bukit Brown Avatar Trees
How to Get to this Secret Place There are several access points to gain entry to Bukit Brown to wander the shaded, gravel roads and pathways on foot or mountain bike. The cemetery’s access road along Kheam Hock Road, on the right side, about halfway up the hill after the PIE underpass, is a good place to start. Walk about half a kilometer until the end of the gravel road. Along the way you will pass grave sites, some decorated with colorful Peranakan tiles, Gurkha guards, and remnants of a kampong inhabited by caretakers. Continue along a muddy path, ducking under vines and walking between tall vegetation on both sides of the path. An Alien Landscape Gravesites guarded by Gurhka statues 8
AWA Magazine May/June 2022
The path leads to an area where the shady forest opens to the drama of a big sky and massive trees with
