Early History of Jurong

Jurong is an area in the southwest of Singapore. Comprising of housing estates such as Jurong West and Jurong East as well as the innovation, business and industrial estates of Jurong Lake District and the Jurong Innovation District among others, it was a very different place before its development in the 1960s. Largely undeveloped, it was an area of swamps, jungles and plantations with numerous river, steams and tributaries.

Jurong in Early Maps of Singapore

, the areas we know today as Jurong West and Boon Lay were once Peng Kang, while Jurong itself was a samller slice of land between Peng Keng and Bukit Timah. be found in early colonial maps of Singapore, often associated that we know today is largely associated demarcated as a large area today, it was vastly different back then.

https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/maps_building_plans/record-details/f8915e88-115c-11e3-83d5-0050568939ad

Captain James Franklin and Lieutenant Philip Jackson’s 1828 map of Singapore (shown above), which is one of the earliest maps that properly captured the outline of Singapore Island, details a number of natural features associated with Jurong including the Jurong and Pandan rivers, as well as the former islands that made up Jurong Island today such as Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Seraya and Pulau Sakra. In the Tuas area, Tanjong (or promontory) Rawa and Tanjong Gull (Tanjong Gul) were also indicated in the map.

https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/maps_building_plans/record-details/322a6eb2-035e-11e9-9481-001a4a5ba61b

These natural features of Jurong including Jurong and Pandan rivers were also indicated in this 1855 hydrographic survey of the Straits of Singapore (shown above). Drawn by Captain Samuel Congalton and Government Surveyor John Turnbull Thomson, this map is one of the first detailed hydrographic surveys of the Straits to be conducted by a locally based surveyor.

https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/maps_building_plans/record-details/fba0dd42-115c-11e3-83d5-0050568939ad

While early 19th century maps of Singapore captured the natural features of Jurong , those that were produced in the later half as well as the early 20th century indicated that the boundary of Jurong is only a fraction of the locale we know today. For instance, in this 1885 map of the island of Singapore, Jurong is bounded by Pandan in the south, West Bukit Timah in the north, Upper Tanglin in the east, and Peng Kang in the west.

Peng Kang

Peng Kang covers the areas we know today as Jurong West and Boon Lay.

First appear in maps

Gambier planations

Chew Boon Lay Estate

Today

Early Communities and Kampongs in Jurong

Orang Laut

Perry litograph

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