Strolling under the piping hot sun...
This Victorian cast iron fountain was built on 19th May 1882. It was commissioned by the Municipal Council in honour of Tan Kim Seng.
Tan Kim Seng was born in Malacca and came to Singapore as a trader where he rose to become a well respected leader in the early Chinese community. He was a philanthropist and supported causes including education which saw the creation of the Chinese Free School in Amoy Street. He was also the second Asian to become a Justice of Peace.
The fountain was built in his honour as one of his major contributions to the early town of Singapore was his support to provide a system of piped water to the town. However his generous donation of $13000 as we have researched later was squandered away by the government engineer who tried to pipe water uphill.
It was after his death that the plans were realised and out of appreciated and shame for their mistakes, the colonial government erected the fountain in his name in Fullerton Square, which was later shifted to Battery Road in 1905 and finally to the Esplanade Park in 1925.
When we visited this site, the design of the fountain vaguely reminded me of those huge public fountains I saw in Europe and at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican City. Very Victorian and very European which is funny as it is built in honour of a Chinese trader. So our question was why not a Chinese design fountain?
Thus through the fountain we realised that early colonial government did not really have the welfare of the town and people in mind, such to the extent that the early colonial government had to rely on external donation and help to set up such a basic necessity such as a system for clean water.
I originally thought that it was James MacRitchie who set up the first water system. But now I know that the pioneer for giving Singapore water was Tan Kim Seng.
One look at Amelia's face, and you can tell the fountain was too sizzling hot to be sat upon!
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