The Descendants’ Stories – A Guided Walk at Bukit Brown (English)

Sunday 24  August’14 :   9 am – 11.30am

Meeting Place: Bukit Brown Gates at end of Lorong Halwa.

For those who have written in asking about when the next upcoming tours will be:

Please check this blog bukitbrown.com under events every week for  upcoming guided walks. Blog posts should be up by Wednesday.  Guided walks are dependent on volunteers schedules but we try our best to organise guided walks every weekend.

The fastest way to find out about upcoming guided walks is to join the Heritage Singapore Bukit Brown facebook group here . The guided walks are generated as event pages from this FB group and are always pinned on top of the page. Please note if you are using a mobile device to access the FB page, you have to click on the pinned posts to get details.

Thank you everyone who wrote in, our apologies, we are unable to respond  individually.

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To those who have registered and received confirmation, please meet by 9am. Just as you  pass enter the Bukit Brown gates,  on your left would be the LTA site office. This would be the gathering point of Sunday’s guided walk.  See you!

This guided walk is  now full.

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All Things Bukit Brown* is pleased to curate a new guided walk in conjunction with the exhibition “Bukit Brown: Documenting New Horizons of Knowledge”

About the Walk:  News that a highway was to be built across Bukit Brown in 2011 led some descendants who had lost touch with their ancestral tombs to embark on a quest to find them. Some of those who were successful shared their stories of reconnecting with their ancestors and family oral history with the volunteers on the ground, called Brownies.

In this tour, Brownies will share stories recounted to them by descendants they have met and who have become friends. But the highlight of this guided walk is the descendants, who will share their stories first hand at the tombs of their ancestors.

Noreen Chan is the descendant of a long line of influential and wealthy “compradors” – the business relationship managers of the old banking regime. At the tomb of Chia Hood Theam, Noreen will recount stories of her maternal great-great grandfather’s frugality and contributions to women’s education from family oral traditions and historical records.

In Tiong Bahru, Singapore’s earliest housing estate, is a street named after Lim Liak (Leack). Lim Soon Hoe, a descendant of the 6^th generation, will unravel the history of Lim Leack’s contributions to the mining industry in the region and his personal search for the family’s private burial grounds in a place today translated as “New Cemetery”.

The Brownies will reveal who is the inspiration behind Emily of the award- winning play “Emily of Emerald Hill” and share how a descendant “re-fengshui’ed” her great grandfather’s tomb upon discovery in 2012.

The guided walk will end at the largest family tomb cluster in Singapore, the “Ong Sam Leong” tomb cluster featured in the exhibition poster – the jewel in the crown of Bukit Brown due to its sheer size.

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Disclaimer: By agreeing to take walking tours  of Bukit Brown Cemetery, I understand and accept that I must be physically fit and able to do so.To the extent permissible by law, I agree to assume any and all risk of injury or bodily harm to myself and persons in my care (including child or ward) Please read if you are attending our guided walks for the first time, useful info on safety : Getting There/游览信息

*All Things Bukit Brown is the banner for a group of volunteers called “Brownies” who conduct regular weekend guided walks and do independent research on the heritage, habitat and history of Bukit Brown. To date, they have guided almost 12,000 people since they started their guided walks at the beginning of 2012.

Chia Hood Theam in a car driven by his son Chia Keng Tye (photo CHT Family Archives)

The Patriarch Chia Hood Theam (photo Family Archives)

Chia Hood Theam’s grave at the time of his funeral. Today the grave and its surrounds look very different (photo CHT Family Archives)