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Rojak Librarian

The Rojak Librarian is a blog that covers a range of topics related to Singapore's history, culture, and heritage. There are many articles on Bukit Brown, exploring the cemetery's past and present, the lives of the people buried there and the social and cultural significance of the site. I also cover about nature and Birdwatching in some of my articles.

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Maria Chan Ah Choo (St. Joseph's Catholic Church Cemetery)

St. Joseph Church Cemetery

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Pauline Lim Gek Lung (St. Joseph's Catholic Church Cemetery)

Died Young St. Joseph Church Cemetery

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Peter Goh (St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery)

accident St. Joseph Church Cemetery

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Miss Goh Kim Lian (Bukit Brown)

Block 3 Div D decorative tiles Died Young

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Teo Hock Leng (Bukit Brown)

Block 3 Div C Bukit Brown Died Young

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Mrs. Ang Kim Soon nee Koh Geok Kin (Bukit Brown)

Block 3 Div C Bukit Brown Died Young

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Paying respects to Tan Chwee Lam during Qing Ming (Kopi Sua)

kopi sua qingming

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Paying respects to Goh Chiew San during Qing Ming (Kopi Sua)

kopi sua qingming

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Revisiting 6 years old Thng Mooi Mooi for Qing Ming (Bukit Brown)

Block 3 Div 3 Bukit Brown Died Young

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Qing Ming at Tan Quee Lan cluster (2024)

Block 4 Div A Bukit Brown qingming

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Searching for Seet Soon Kyet of Jambi (Bukit Brown)

Bukit Brown qingming

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Passing down the Qing Ming tradition at Chia Hood Theam's tomb (2024)

Bukit Brown qingming

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Passing down the Qing Ming tradition at Tan Boo Liat's tomb (2024)

Bukit Brown Family - Tan Kim Ching Family - Tan Tock Seng qingming

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Labels

Bukit Brown948
Hill 3301
Hill 1181
Hill 4149
Block 3 Div D129
decorative tiles127
Died Young121
Block 4 Div A100
Hill 294
birdwatching83

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Rojak Librarian: Nature has a lot to teach us, if only we stop to pay attention.

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Resource Guide on Bukit Brown

History from the Hills (2013)

Newspaper mentions (2014)

Newspaper mentions (2017)

Tuesday Report (2018) 星期二特写 | 行脚。发现第4集：武吉布朗之旅

Newspaper mentions(2020)

Newspaper mentions(2022)

Grave Matters-The Greater Bukit Brown(2023)

The Stories Behind: Birdwatcher turned grave hunter reunites families with forgotten tombs of their ancestors(2022)

Rojak Librarian+ (other Rojak matters)

Archive

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Popular Post

Mrs. Ang Kim Soon nee Koh Geok Kin (Bukit Brown)

Mrs. Ang Kim Soon nee Koh Geok Kin tomb caught my eye because of an important word - Bukit Brown ! It is very rare for Bukit Brown to be mentioned on the headstone and this is what makes this simple tombstone located at Block 3 Division plot 135 very unique. Madam Koh Geok Kim, wife of Ang Kim Soon of the Malaya Tribune Press, Ltd., Singapore passed away at General Hospital at 11:30 pm on 3 May 1934. She leaves behind her husband, 2 sons and a daughter. The cortege left from No. 6 Onan Road for Bukit Brown Cemetery. (Malacca and Sarawak papers please copy). Fortunately from her tomb, we can see the names of 2 of her children; Ang Jin Bin and Ang Gee Bin. From the burial registrar, i gathered that Mrs. Ang Kim Soon nee Koh Geok Kim was 36 years old when she passed away. Another interesting nugget is her nickname. Madam Koh Geok Kin alias Burok. In another obituary notice from the newspaper archives, Koh Geok Kin name is spelt as Koh Geok Kim. Mrs. Ang Kim Soon nee Madam Koh Geok K

Wee Theam Tew and family

Wee Theam Tew was one of Singapore's leading Chinese pioneer in the legal practice. He comes from a family who have resided in Singapore for three generations. His grandfather, Mr Wee Theam Soo came from China and together with Mr Lim Boon Keng's father and Cheang Hong Lim's father, acquired the first opium farm in Singapore. Wee Theam Tew Dr. Lim Boon Keng and Gan Eng Seng connection Educated locally and a former student of Raffles Institution where he excelled in English and Chinese literature. It was also documented, Wee Theam Tew gave much encouragement and help to a student by the name of Lim Boon Keng. While at Raffles Institution, he met Wee Theam Tew, who owned a large collection of English books. The young Lim Boon Keng would often go over to Wee's house after school where he was given free run of the Wee family library. His regular visits to the Wee family home and his own voracious reading turned Dr. Lim Boon Keng into an outstanding student and Singa

Chew Boon Lay (Bukit Brown)

Chew Boon Lay (周文礼) (1852-1933) was born in a small village in Changchow, Amoy. He became an orphan in his late teens and decided to take up his uncle's invitation to come over to Siam (formerly Thailand). He laboured hard under this tyrant of an uncle who paid him nothing and made him work from dawn to dust. Chew Boon Lay and Madam Ong Cheng Neo Saved by heavenly intervention On a faithful evening, 3 years after being practically been a slave, a visitor was said to have stole a sum of money and this uncle put the entire blame on Chew Boon Lay and threatened to turn him in to the police. In desperation, Chew Boon Lay came up with an idea to win the money through a stake on a lottery. Borrowing 1 tical from his sympathetic aunt, he prayed before Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy and in a moment of delirium or what is said a miracle, he heard two characters been spoken to him. He won, paid his uncle and with whatever left over vowed never to work for his uncle again and went on to s

Peter Goh (St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery)

A Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC) pilot, 2nd Lt. Peter Goh was killed when his Strikemaster Jet crashed into a river near Jerantut, Pahang at 11:30 am, 5 June 1973.The body of the pilot, 2nd Lt. Peter Goh, whose 22nd birthday would have been on June 14, was extricated from the plane's cockpit by local divers and flown to Singapore. Lt. Goh had been a Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC) pilot for 3 years. Lt. Goh, third son in a family of six of quarry contractor, Mr. Goh Bah Chee (then 49 years old). He joined the army as a pilot in 1970 making Lieutenant Peter Goh one of the local early pioneer pilots of the new minted Air Defence Command, the precursor to Republic Singapore Air Force . In the papers, it was reported that 2LT Peter Goh will be buried with full military honors at Bidadari, but we found his tomb at St. Joseph's Catholic Church Cemetery at Bukit Timah. The New Nation paper confirmed this when they reported that Singapore Air Defence Command pilot, Seco

Sybil Medan Kathigasu (St. Michael's Catholic Church Ipoh Cemetery)

Sybil Medan Kathigasu ( 3 September 1899 - 12 June 1948) was born as Sybil Daly in Medan, Sumatra. She was the daughter of an Irish planter, Joseph Daly and Eurasian mother, Beatrie Mathilda Martin. While studying nursing and midwifery in Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, she met Dr. Arumugam Kanapathi Pillay, a Ceylonese. Faced with objections initially due to different religious background (she was Catholic and he, Hindu), he gain acceptance after becoming Catholic and taking the name Abdon Clement Kathigasu or Dr. A.C. Kathigasu. They married on 1919 7 January 191 in St. John's Church. Kuala Lumpur and eventually had 2 daughters and 1 adopted son. Sybil Kathigasu Together, they went into private practice with the clinic located at 141 Brewster Road, Ipoh but they moved to Papan (a town outside of Ipoh), when the Japanese invaded Malaya. They established a clinic at No. 74 Main Street. During the Japanese occupation they continue to operate their clinic but got into trouble when the

Kamala Circus - The Great Indian Circus visits Singapore

I heard about the Tai Thean Kew circus from my involvement with Bukit Brown and during one my tours on the Queenstown Heritage Trail , i was told of another Indian circus troupe that existed in the late 1950's and 1960's. Recently, while curating ideas for a Bukit Brown tour on Pioneers of Early Entertainment, i came across a travelling circus troupe by the name of Kamala Circus. Kamala Circus (source: NewspaperSG) Kamala Circus was reputed to be the largest travelling show in the Far East. It boasted over 100 Indian artist and featured acts such as the flying trapeze act, the "Globe of Death" motor cycle act by two young girls, a 30 foot leap by a motorcyclist and the "cat" act. It claims over 300 tons of equipment and animals which include 16 horses, 8 Ceylon baby elephants, an African lion and 2 lionesses, 2 tiger cubs and 3 Indian mountain goats. It came to Singapore in 1947 from India via Ceylon and performed for a month before touring around th

Paying respects to Tan Chwee Lam during Qing Ming (Kopi Sua)

We meet a nice gentleman at the end of the tar road at Kopi Sua. He smiled and spoke to me first, curious to find out we we doing here as we were exploring Kopi Sua. The gentleman was Mr. Tan Kian Seng and he was there with his family to pay respects to his father, Mr. Tan Chwee Lam who passed away in 1955. Mr. Tan Kian Seng is the youngest son of Mr. Tan Chwee Lam. They already finished their Qing Ming and was about to head back when i met them and initially i didn't want to disturb them from leaving. I was again very fortunate because his sons (Tan Chee Wee and Tan Zhi Aun) just like their father were friendly and kindly stayed on for a short while allowing me to chat with them. Their cousin, Tan Cheng Lan was also present in the group in demonstration of the family's filial piety. Just like some families, they are concerned that their parents are getting older and will have difficulty paying respects in the future. Their concerns are real of course and exhumation to relocat

Tan Swee Hoe and family (Batu Pahat)

Sometime back in August 2012, i wrote an article about Tan Swee Hoe who is buried in Bukit Brown. Tan Swee Hoe came to Singapore as a young boy and worked his way up, eventually becoming one of founders of Ho Hong Bank, and later a director of Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) after it merged with it. He was also for two terms, the president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Batu Pahat, shareholder of Ho Aik Steamships. Tan Swee Hoe was a member of the Council of State, Johore and received a title S.M.J (Setia Mahkota Johore) from the government of Johore in 1929 for his contributions. He owned several property in Singapore and Batu Pahat. Tan Swee Hoe In January 2014, i was fortunate to make a trip with like minded friends to Batu Pahat to visit one of the properties he owned as well as a temple he contributed too and finally the grave of his son. Tan Swee Hoe's mansion First on my wishlist was Tan Swee Hoe's mansion on 160 Jalan Kluang, Batu Pah

Bertram Yong Shee Jen (Choa Chu Kang Christian Cemetery)

I came across this obelisk shape tomb while exploring the Christian section of the Chao Chu Kang Cemetery. It carried the following words: In ever loving and proud memory of a very dear and fine son 2LT. BERTRAM YONG SHEE JEN (Singapore Air Defence Command) who died in the course of duty 6th January 1951 8th November 1971 "THY WILL BE DONE" On the back, engraved are the names of his family: 2LT. Bertram Yong Shee Jen, fourth son of Dr. & Mrs. Yong Kon Vui, brother of Victor Yong Shee Hueng, Leslie Yong Shee Keong, Yong Shee Bok and Jeanette Yong Second-Lieutnant Bertram Yong of Singapore Air Defence Command was 20 years old when his Hunter jet crashed into a hill in Central Wales during a training flight. His British instructor also died in the mishap. A student of Anglo-Chinese School, Barker Road, he excelled in the sports ( a national champion sprinter) and also became the first Singapore Air Defence Cadet to receive the best trainee award. The bo

Wee Thiam Kee and family (Bukit Brown)

Wee Thiam Kee, Wee Thiam Siew and Wee Thiam Leong were partners in the business of Cigars, Cigarettes and Tobacco Dealers under the firm name Ban Leong and Company at 229, Rochore Road. On July 1, 1930, Wee Thiam Kee left this partnership to form his own company under the company name Chop Hong Leong. His two brothers, Wee Thiam Siew and Wee Thiam Leong continued the partnership under the name of Ban Leong and Company. There is not much information about his career, but because he passed away intestate (i.e, without a will) in 1939, it lead to a probate suit which gave me more information about him, his wife and three secondary wives. His first wife was Madam Ang Boey Neo and secondary wives are Khoo Ah Kow, Tan Beng Choo and Koh Cheng Keow. Wee Thiam Kee Secondary wives legal widows In a court case that span several days, the defendant, Madam Ang Boey Neo (alias Ang Meow Neo) contended that the 3 women were just mistresses and not lawful widows. Wee Thiam Siew (broth

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