Episode Details

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Social historian Stephen Dobbs takes us back to the old Singapore River prior to the cleanup. He traces the social history of the river which was his PhD study in the early 1990s – the endemic pollution which stained its waters and made marine life impossible, the causes of the pollution and the river’s vital role in the entrepot trade of Singapore.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/UBEsiwawVl4

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/FYFXGWMU1AE

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/NfTtBicx2us

00:00 Introduction

03:17 A Putrid River

07:21 The River Transformed

13:13 Colonial Failings

19:29 The Dredges

25:10 Reasons for Pollution

32:42 Nothing Alive in the Waters

36:03 Artery of Trade

40:50 The River in Maps

The Singapore River: A Social History, 1819-2002

https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/the-singapore-river

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to lkshis@gmail.com if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

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