A member of the facebook group Heritage Singapore – Bukit Brown Cemetery recently posted a series of maps and articles which pointed to coolies living in Bukit Brown in 3 blocks, near Block or Hill 3. The coolies would most likely have worked on the maintenance of the tombstones and the cemetery.

1958 map showing the “cooly lines” of 3 blocks, at the yellow section just above the number 6 on the right line (Map Source: URA)

According to the posts

“Both the 1958 town map & NAS’ BBC map show 3 blocks of “Coolie Lines” (ie. indentured labourer housing) along the tarmac road at Block 3 (at the demarcation between Div A & B ), a short distance before the “eco-bridge” that overlooks the stream.

http://www.nas.gov.sg/docs/Bukit_Brown_Map-1.jpg
http://www.ura.gov.sg/dc/mp58/dcdmp58tm169.htm

The said “coolie lines” could’ve already existed when BBC (estd. Jan 1922) was still the private burial ground of Seh Ong clan. In Oct 1928, the structures were reported to be “in a very dilapidated condition, and it is proposed to rebuild them”. In Aug 1929, Lian Hup Co. won the tender ($6,200) to erect the proposed new “Coolie Lines”.

As it was common to have resident indentured coolies living in cemeteries, might some of the paupers’ or unknown/ unmarked graves at BBC belong to these resident coolies ?For instance, when ~237 WWII-era tombs at BBC were exhumed in 1965 for the realignment of Lornie Rd, the exhumation list included 2 plots whose residential addresses were stated as “coolie lines”. For the “Unknown” plot, the burial date was 05 Jul 1942, & the address was “5 Coolie Lines SHB” (in this case, the Cantonese coolie lines of S’pore Harbour Board).”

Extract from Infopedia on Coolies : Chinese coolies formed the early backbone of Singapore’s labour force, engaged mainly in hard physical labour. They were mainly impoverished Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore in the later half of the 19th century, seeking their fortune but serving instead as indentured, unskilled labourers. Coolies were employed in almost every sector of work including construction work, plantation work, in ports and mines and as rickshaw pullers.

The Archived Newspaper Reports:

* SG Free Press (23 Oct 1928) – Proposal to rebuild dilapidated coolies lines at BBC: http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx…

* SG Free Press (28 Aug 1929) – Lian Hup Co. awarded tender to rebuild coolie lines at BBC: http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx…

* ST (26 Mar 1965) – PWD Exhumation Notice for BBC (Lornie Rd alignment): http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx…