A Short History of Yishun Park

A Short History of Yishun Park

What has SeenThisSceneThat come up with this time, on the topic of Yishun Park's history? Well, the simple answer is that this prominent sign was staring at me on my visit to the park, located next the SAFRA Country Club. The profound answer is this: with the recent financial turmoil and recession fears, I thought that perhaps I could learn a thing or two about frugal living from people of the past in Singapore who led difficult hardworking lives.

Photograph: Make a short visit to Yishun Park for its history.

Quote from information board, located at Yishun Park, Singapore:

“Located at the heart of Yishun Housing Estate, this park was the site of a former rubber plantation. In the 1920s, this was also the site of Chye Kay village, the inhabitants of which were mainly rubber tappers. Besides tapping rubber, most of these frugal hardworking people also reared poultry and grew fruit trees for home consumption.

The site was rich in natural vegetation and Nparks capitalized on this, by retaining most of the natural vegetation in the central part of the park, to provide the much needed contrast to the manicured and landscaped areas of the surrounding HDB housing estates.

We can still see some rubber trees and fruit trees in this area, a stark reminder of the frugal and hardworking people of Chye Kay village who once lived here. All that we need is a little imagination to go back in time and visualise the life led by the people of this small Chinese village. This area would also provide a refuge for people who would like to spend some time with nature."

Photograph via Picture Archives Singapore: Workers at a rubber plantation