New outdoor display at Bukit Brown Cemetery to open by August

SINGAPORE – By August, dozens of Bukit Brown Cemetery gravestones marking graves that were exhumed to make way for Lornie Highway will stand in the cemetery once again, as part of a new outdoor installation situated by the highway.

Called Sounds Of The Earth, the outdoor memorial installation features about 80 unclaimed artefacts – mainly gravestones – that were collected from December 2013 when about 4,000 graves in the cemetery were exhumed for the highway’s construction.

The installation, which celebrates the heritage of the cemetery and the legacy of those interred there, aims to prompt visitors to consider the impact of development in Singapore. It is part of a project, Voices Of Bukit Brown, by the Singapore Heritage Society (SHS) and community group All Things Bukit Brown (ATBB).

The two-phase project – which includes the installation in its first phase, as well as more educational opportunities and advocacy work in the second phase – is supported by the National Heritage Board (NHB).

SHS vice-president Natalie Pang said the installation is a significant milestone in the advocacy efforts for Bukit Brown Cemetery – a site earmarked for housing in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s long-term plan, unveiled in 2022.

In 2011, the Land Transport Authority announced that parts of the cemetery would be redeveloped – a decision that drew public opposition from groups such as SHS and ATBB, which cited the cemetery’s natural and cultural heritage value as reasons for retaining it.

While the highway was eventually completed in 2019 – a total of 4,153 graves were exhumed in the process – advocacy work has continued since the 2011 announcement, with ATBB conducting public tours over the years, for instance.

Affected graves were also documented by a team led by anthropologist Hui Yew-Foong.

Dr Pang said that since the time of documentation and exhumation, advocates for the site have always wondered, “What’s next?”, especially with regard to artefacts from unclaimed graves, and how these could be used to share the cemetery’s heritage.

Over three participatory design workshops, relatives of those interred at Bukit Brown, former residents of a kampung in the area, as well as recreational users, heritage and nature lovers, and experts, gathered to discuss the possibility of developing a museum or memorial garden.

Dr Pang said that while some expressed concerns on the use of gravestones and tomb parts, workshop participants recognised that the unclaimed items “still were important objects from Singapore’s history” and could play a role in educating future generations.

“The unanimous decision from those sessions was that something should be created from these artefacts,” she said, adding that former SHS executive committee member Kok Heng Leun’s advice was sought for the design.

Visual artist Chen Sai Hua Kuan was subsequently commissioned to design the ellipse-shaped installation, which measures 14m by 11.5m. It will leverage the gravestones to reflect sounds from around the area and the voices of visitors when they stand in the centre of the installation.

Mr Kok said that in addition to sounds from the highway and from the cemetery’s greenery, visitors’ voices will give the artefacts “a life of their own”. The juxtaposition of sounds, reflected by the gravestones that made way for development, “reminds us that we, the living, are responsible to the ecosystem we live in”, he said.

Officially opened in 1922, Bukit Brown Cemetery held about 100,000 graves when it was closed in 1973. It has been described as a social and cultural repository of early Singapore – especially of the country’s Chinese immigrants.

Ms Catherine Lim, co-founder of ATBB, noted that several prominent personalities were buried in the cemetery’s Hill 4 – where the installation will be located – such as philanthropist Tan Tock Seng’s eldest son Tan Kim Ching, opium merchant Cheang Hong Lim, the Lim Chong Pang family, as well as World War II hero Wong Chin Yoke.

She said the installation will be incorporated as the final stop for ATBB’s guided walks of the cemetery “so that participants can take a moment to reflect on how we all stand on the shoulders of the pioneers, and appreciate the Chinese saying yin shui si yuan (remember the source of the water when you drink it)”.

SHS president Fauzy Ismail said NHB provided initial funding to kick off the project – it went towards hiring manpower and other associated costs for the installation.

He added that with the increase in construction costs owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the price tag for the installation is now about $250,000, well over the team’s initial budget.

In light of this, the team will be running an online fund-raising campaign, he said, which will contribute towards the maintenance of the installation, as well as future research and education efforts for Bukit Brown Cemetery.

NHB director of heritage policy and research Melissa Tan said Voices Of Bukit Brown, a multi-stakeholder project, is a good example of how NHB is supporting more ground-up heritage initiatives and encouraging the community to create unique experiences – these were among the goals of the board’s two five-year plans for the heritage sector, Our SG Heritage Plan 1 and 2.0.

“We hope that more community groups will be inspired to take ownership of showcasing Singapore’s heritage and contribute to a more vibrant local heritage scene,” she said.

Those keen to donate to the project can visit

www.giving.sg/donate/campaign/bbvoices24