Changi Chapel highlights: Recognise these from your textbooks?

A place where history lives on

How many of these artefacts from the Changi Chapel and Museum do you recognise from your history textbooks? published: June 2, 2021

The revamped Changi Chapel and Museum now houses 114 artefacts, including 82 new ones.

One-third of them are community-contributed donations or loans from families of prisoners-of-war and internees.

Diary of civilian internee, Mr Arthur Westrop This 400-page diary was contributed by Mr Westrop's family. Mr Westrop wrote each entry as a letter to his wife, who had evacuated to Africa.

Kodak Baby Brownie Camera

A gift from his wife, this camera was hidden away by Sergeant John Ritchie Johnston in Changi Prison during the war.

HMS Bulan Chronometer This chronometer, from around 1918, came from the HMS Bulan, a cargo ship that evacuated people from Singapore before the Occupation.

Morse Code device

You've probably seen this iconic artefact in your history textbooks. Disguised as a matchbox, this Morse Code device was made by the prisoners to transmit messages.

The Changi Murals The original murals were discovered in an unused storeroom in a barracks in Changi in the 1950s. These are replicas.

MR ISKANDER MYDIN, CURATORIAL FELLOW AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE

“It’s not about the bling-bling of the objects but about the stories that they tell. Each one contains many emotions.” READ THE ARTICLE READ THE ARTICLE

A place where history lives on

The revamped Changi Chapel and Museum now houses 114 artefacts, including 82 new ones.

Kodak Baby Brownie Camera

Morse Code device

MR ISKANDER MYDIN, CURATORIAL FELLOW AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE

REPORTING BY CLEMENT YONG PHOTOS BY DESMOND FOO, CHONG JUN LIANG, CHANGI CHAPEL AND MUSEUM

REPORTING BY CLEMENT YONG

PHOTOS BY DESMOND FOO, CHONG JUN LIANG, CHANGI CHAPEL AND MUSEUM