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= Pearl's Hill & Outram, Singapore =

Selected Image of Outram & Pearl’s Hill & their significance to the developing nation
The significance of Ou3tram district and Pearl’s Hill for the growth and development of Singapore have been understated and overshadowed by other popular figures, buildings and locations in Singapore. An example of such popularised places is the Victoria Theatre, The Merlion, Raffles Hotel, The Istana and many more. However none of the mention popularised places or buildings have any functional and physical support or contribution to the development needs in terms of public services or infrastructure. The Outram area has been and currently is one of such locations in Singapore where key institutions and infrastructure are mostly concentrated and where critical infrastructure is located. These have been the case throughout Singapore’s history as far back as in the mid-1800s. In this essay report the significances of both Outram and Pearl’s Hill will be uncovered and explored to provide comparison to today’s condition of the same location. Key infrastructure have been identified and categorised based on type Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Education & Housing and Infrastructure. The chosen image above (Image 1) shows Telok Ayer Street on the foreground and Outram & Pearl’s Hill in the background (1956). This image was chosen as it clearly shows the developing nation and the supporting infrastructure and institutions in the background.

Introduction
Pearl’s Hill is located within the Outram District; it was previously called Mount Stamford, after Sir Stamford Raffles. It was then renamed to Pearl’s Hill after the Captain of the Indiana, a ship of the British colonial expeditionary fleet. The hill was originally occupied by Gambier plantations until the hill was bought over by Captain James Pearl (Chris.T) Pearl’s Hill is one of the many hills found within central Singapore, one of the most notable being Government Hill also known as Fort Canning Hill today. There are three prominent hills within the Outram vicinity of which are named Outram Hill, York Hill and Pearl’s Hill. The Outram area has been an ideal location throughout history where different types of institutions such as health, police, schools, reservoir and housing are located (Cornelius-Takahama, V). This is predominantly because of its location along the outskirts of Singapore’s city center which originates from the Singapore River itself. Pearl’s Hill used to be higher than Fort Canning Hill, thus British colonial engineers decided to “cut” the top of Pearl’s Hill therefore lowering its peak to ensure that their enemies would not be able to use the hill as an attacking position against the newly built Fort Canning (Chris.T). Map 2 Outram & Pearl’s Hill Area (1960) https://ohm.onemap.sg/#/index/main

SGH
In 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore he was accompanied by troops as well as a single man medical team Thomas Prendergast, he was responsible for the healthcare needs of the British contingent. By 1821 the British since erected a makeshift military hospital also known as a “General Hospital” within the cantonment for the troops. This military hospital also known as the “general hospital” was only treating soldiers until 1822 when it started treating sailors and locals. Image 2 Sketch construction plans of "Bowyer Block" and Site Plan (1827) taken from, “The 1926 general hospital, Singapore”. There was a sudden need for a proper hospital to meet the increasing local population and therefore the construction of the “General Hospital” was instructed. The healthcare institution included basic healthcare facilities as well as a medical college.

During world war two the general hospital was occupied by the Japanese and used to meet their own medical needs for the army and navy of the Japanese forces. Singapore general hospital was known as Chuo Byoin (“Central Hospital” in Japanese) during Japanese occupation. Image 3 Camouflaged Singapore General Hospital during WWII https://sgfilmhunter.wordpress.com/tag/bowyer-block/page/2/ Image 4 Bowyer block and new developments in the background (1970) https://roots.sg/Content/Places/national-monuments/bowyer-block The photo above shows the conserved heritage building “bowyer block”, it is one of the three blocks which was named after three doctors; Dr John H. Bowyer, Dr Cuthbert Stanley, and Dr Victor Norris who lost their life as they are closely related to SGH and provided their service during the world war. These blocks were named after the doctors in honour for their service and their sacrifices. SGH began expansion to meet the healthcare needs of the growing population of Singaporeans, and SGH became one of the four main acute hospitals in Singapore. Today developments have been taking place to further expand the hospital for increased capacity and as well as to provide specialised care within specialist centres such as “Singapore National Eye Center”, “National Heart Center” and other specialist center within the SGH campus.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Image 5 Painting of Pearl's Hill and the Chinese Pauper Hospital (1854) http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblioasia/2017/01/04/from-pauper-to-philanthropist-the-tan-tock-seng-story/#sthash.inQ8rthT.PF6gSkoL.dpbs

In 1846 the first Tan Tock Seng Hospital was constructed on Pearl’s Hill, it was then known as “Chinese Pauper Hospital”. The reason behind why Mr Tan Tock Seng constructed another hospital within close proximity of SGH is to meet the needs of healthcare for the poor who could not afford healthcare provided at the “General Hospital” which was technically a military hospital for the British contingent. The hospital was later moved to the Balestier and then to its current location along Moulmien road in 1909. Mr Tan Tock Seng later passed away in 1850 at the age of 52, he was buried at an undisclosed location but his remains were being moved to the current site on Outram Hill.

Outram Prison
The second and one of the oldest prisons in Singapore was actually the Outram Prison and not the popularised Changi Prison as most thought. Outram prison started as a civil jail in 1830 at the foot of Pearl’s Hill; it was located there because of the close proximity to Sepoy Lines as it was thought to provide protection and security for the prison. The convict’s and civil jail was combined and later rebuilt and known as Outram Prison. The prison stood for 86 years and later demolished in 1968 to make way for further redevelopment of the area to provide housing

CID Headquarters & Police Operational Headquarters
Both buildings were respectively known as upper barracks and lower barracks, the buildings were constructed in the 1930s and was occupied by the Straits Settlement Police who was a Sikh contingent. After Singapore’s independence, the barracks was used by the ministry of interior and defence, today’s Mindef. Both buildings were then occupied by the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Radio Command.in the 1970s. It was finally abandoned in 1996 and ever since occupied by tenants of the Arts and Sculpture industry.

Outram Housing Development & Pearl’s Bank Housing
After the demolished of Outram Prison, the site was used for redevelopment to provide for the increase in housing demand caused by the population boom in the late 90s. The housing complex comprises of commercial podium block comparable to today’s Rochor Center. Image 6 Image of redevelopment of Outram Prison site into residential housing development taken from THE HUNTER. Accessed February 24, 2017. https://sgfilmhunter.wordpress.com/tag/outram-park-complex/.

Conclusion
Outram Park and Pearl’s Hill have gone through plenty of development as well as redevelopment throughout Singapore’s history. It was in the forefront of Singapore’s growth and development from a fishing village to a metropolis today, however its contribution and participation was not well recognised. Examples of infrastructure and institutions that supports Singapore’s growth and development were seen in the past and today, many of which has been intensively developed to meet today’s population demands. For example, SGH have been expended and specialist centres are being introduced within its campus to provide the best healthcare available for Singaporeans. CID headquarters and the police radio division have all been abandoned and most of the police elements are now occupying the new Cantonment Police Complex which houses many police departments and division. These are clear example on how Outram Park remains to be an important district and its contribution can be clearly identified by the local population.