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Write-up by Margie Hall; photos by Margie Hall & Nora
The
sea and the sands of Sembawang Beach have probably changed little over the
years, and it is this natural beach of sand and sea that we want to save
from the proposed land reclamation. But the human building activity along
the land edge of the beach has certainly changed over the years. Photos
of yesteryear show grass growing naturally down to the sands, coconut trees
leaning out over the sands, - the tidy seawalls of today are nowhere in
sight. Various buildings and structures have been erected, some themselves
now gone.
The Seletar Pier stood at the end of Seletar Road - the road which
later (around 1938 it seems) became Sembawang Road. When Seletar Pier was
first built we do not know. Seletar Road was a mere track in the early 1920s
when military personnel came from Singapore town reviewing sites for the
Naval Base, and so it was more usual to travel by boat around the coastline
and disembark at Seletar Pier. When work started on the Naval Base in 1923/4
the working parties who commenced surveying and laying out the Naval Base
brought all their materials and stores by boat, and then moved them around
the area using a team of 20 bullock carts. Only at a later stage in the
building of the Naval Base, as the work of building roads progressed inland
from what is now the Sembawang Park Beach, did Seletar Road become the normal
way to reach Singapore town.
The photo taken in 1940 is the only full photo traced so
far of Seletar Pier, and that photo may have been taken not long before
it became wholly or partially unusable. A stray bomb is shown falling beside
Seletar Pier in a map of a Japanese bombing raid on the Naval Base Dockyard
on 20th January 1942. The bomb must have badly damaged the Pier. On maps
in the 1960s Seletar Pier is marked as derelict. It was eventually cleared
away sometime in the 1970s, or early 1980s. Perhaps somebody knows the exact
date.
Now the location of the Pier can still be ascertained by
the remaining approach to it, beyond the circle of the Sembawang Road End.
Benches are placed on it, where people can sit under the spreading Madras
Thorn tree and the Malayan Banyan Tree. Steep steps lead down onto the Beach.
Beaulieu House, originally the seaside house of a David family, who
were in the mining business, was probably built around 1910, in the same
era of the building of other seaside houses around Singapore at places like
Katong or Pasir Panjang. No building plans have been located yet - maybe
someone has more information on the House that they can post on this webpage.
Like other seaside houses, Beaulieu House was built to face the sea. Although
the House is not threatened by the proposed land reclamation, it will lose
its character as "a house on the sea" if the sea is moved away from it.
The House was acquired by the colonial government when the Naval Base was
planned. When work on the Naval Base commenced in 1923/24, it housed the
senior engineers and surveyors. When the Naval Base was up and running,
Beaulieu House was used as a residence for senior officers. In fact it was
actually used from 1940 - 1942 as a residence by the most senior Naval Officer
in Singapore and the Far East, Admiral Layton, Commander-in Chief, China
Station. He was very hospitable and like to invite people to tennis
parties at the House, see 1941 photo. This photo was obtained from
the collection of the Rev. Lovell Pocock, the Naval Base Chaplain, 1940-42,
who was one of the people who used to play there. Presumably Admiral Layton
really loved the sea view and sea air at Beaulieu House, since he could
have chosen to live in grandeur in a much larger house either in Singapore
Town or at what is now Admiralty House in Sembawang. (Note that Seletar
Pier can be seen in the background of the tennis photo.)
Postwar, Beaulieu House was normally the residence of a Senior Fleet Officer
like the Chief of Staff, who would monitor ships passing in and out of the
Naval Base, and stand on the jetty to take the salute from
the crew. The photo from 1965 shows the Commander in Chief, Far East Fleet,
taking the salute from HMS Ark Royal, one of Britain's major aircraft carriers
of the time. After the Naval Base closed in 1971 Beaulieu House may have
had various uses before it became a seafood restaurant in Sembawang Park.
Rumours of a tunnel leading from Beaulieu House are sometimes voiced but
are definitely not correct.
Sembawang Jetty The history of the jetty is
interesting. Its construction in front of Beaulieu House, with the stone
walkway leading to it, was started by the British in the final phases of
Naval Base construction. They never had time to complete it, however, before
the Japanese Invasion of Singapore in February 1942, thus it was actually
completed by the Japanese! This jetty is threatened by the proposed land
reclamation and it seems a real shame to lose a unique piece of history
that involves unintentional co-operation of two warring countries, now at
peace.
Boat Slipway The old disused slipway, half
way along the Sembawang Park Beach, presumably dates back to the Naval Base
time. It has no present day uses, but serves as a reminder of the past.
Fishing
boats and related activity would have been seen further along the beach
in front of Kampong Wak Hassan and all along to the Sungei Simpang river
mouth. We have only one photo (circa 1965) that illustrates that beach activity
so far, but hope to collect some more and to find out more about that aspect
of times past on Sembawang Beach. |