Then and Now – Collyer Quay

Happy New Year all readers.

In today’s Straits Times, there is an article about the annual sea sports events that used to be held in the waters off the Collyer Quay on New Year's Day fifty years ago. If you want to see video footages of these activities, you can watch the documentary, Lost Images which was shown on Okto Channel twice. They are part of the vast collection of the films and photographs left behind by the late Dr Ivan Polunin who passed away recently

Yes; indeed Singapore’s waterfront has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Take a look at the two sets of Then and Now photographs below for example. The “Then” photos were taken by Antoine Lahitte in 1951. The “Now” photos were taken by me two weeks ago probably from the very same spot.

* My apologies for mispelling the name, Antoine Lahitte in the photos.

Old Photos of Singapore River

Last month I received another generous offer from a reader in Britain to share his collection of old photos of Singapore with us.

“During 1965 to 1967 I was fortunate to live in Singapore (I was fifteen when I arrived and seventeen when I left) my father being in the RAF was stationed there. During this time he was stationed at RAF Seletar but worked at JATCC (Joint Air Traffic Control Centre) at Paya Lebar Airport. On arriving in Singapore we lived at The New Country Hotel (which I think no longer exists) before moving to 5 Eden Grove, Singapore 19 for the rest of our stay. As far as I know the house still exists and is now a nursery.

During our time in Singapore my father took many slides which I am now scanning and transferring to my computer. Looking at images on the Internet, Singapore has changed beyond all recognition and with this in mind I would like to send you some images as I come across them that I think you might find interesting as after my day these images will no doubt be thrown away.”

Geoffrey Pain

On behalf of readers of Good Morning Yesterday, I thank you Geoffrey. Below are three of Geoffrey’s photos of the Singapore River.

While I am at it, I might as well show you some photos of the Singapore River from even further back in time; this time courtesy of Jacques Lahitte. You may recall that Jacques’ photos were taken by his father Antoine who visited Singapore sometime in 1951 or 52.

Related posts:

1) Old Buildings Quiz # 11
2) http://goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com/2010/06/then-and-now-marine-police-station.html

Then and Now – Marine Police Station @ Empress Place

As many of you correctly pointed out, the building featured in my previous Old Buildings Quiz is the Marine Police Station located next to the Cavenagh Bridge at Empress Place. Above is a scan from the 1963 street directory showing its exact location. Interestingly, my 1981 street directory shows a food centre on this same site.

I have also done a ‘Second Shot’ so you can compare the Jacques' photo with a present day shot from the very same spot that Jacques' father must have stood in 1952. I am wondering, where was I when that shot was taken back in the year that I arrived on this earth; in my mother's womb? KK hospital? or back in my kampong home.? And yes Icemoon; it was taken from across the river. And I even try to imitate your 'precision photography by capturing a bit of the concrete at the lower right corner of my photo.

The photo below is also from Jacques Lahitte. You can clearly see the Marine Police Station.


You can also see the Marine Police Station in this 1954 photo from the National Archives of Singapore collection.

Finally, thanks to Peter Chan you can see the empty land where this building was demolished to make way for the construction of the North-South MRT line as described by Peter here.

Old Buildings Quiz No. 11

I just received this photo from Jacques Lahitte who wrote:

”I am a French living in Poland. I have an old album of pictures taken in 1951-1952 in Singapore by my father who was a sailor in the French Navy and who spent one month in Singapore during maintenance operations of the French carrier aircrafts**, Arromanches, during a campaign in the former French colony Indochine.

It is very interesting to see how this town changed and how she was. I located lots of places shown in these pictures with the help of Internet. I send you this one to see if you can identify this place.

I'll present on the net all the pictures of this album. I think it will be better to share with people of Singapore old views of their town.”

Thank you very much Jacques. I look forward to sharing more of your photos with readers here at Good Morning Yesterday.

PS - Not sure if Jacques was referring to this aircraft carrier.