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National Library Board
Story Maps

Buildings and Villages of the Former Sembawang Naval Base

28 May 2025

Learn about the history of Sembawang in this story map

Aerial view of the former Sembawang Naval Base with text "Buildings & Villages of the Former Sembawang Naval Base".

Embark on a journey into Sembawang's fascinating past, focusing on the former Sembawang Naval Base. Beyond its strategic military importance, this area was a vibrant community. Imagine grand colonial homes coexisting with humble kampongs and lively commercial streets. Through this story map’s historical buildings and places, you will explore the lives of naval personnel, dockyard workers, rubber tappers, and villagers who shaped this unique community, while witnessing Sembawang's transformation from a quiet rubber estate into a bustling town.

View the story map in full screen (opens in new tab) or on your mobile device by scanning the QR code below.

A QR code with the text GO.gov.sg in the center.
Notes

  1. This story map does not show a comprehensive coverage of the buildings, landmarks and villages of Sembawang.

  2. The base map used in this story map is the Singapore Land Authority's OneMap (opens in new tab).

  3. This story map used related Infopedia articles and other NLB digitised resources in NL Online (opens in new tab), BiblioAsia (opens in new tab), and Roots (opens in new tab) as references. It also consulted the following books: Yishun Sembawang: A Heritage Trail (opens in new tab) (2010), Black and White: Our Homemade Heritage (opens in new tab) (2017), Of Hearts and Minds: The story of Sembawang Shipyard (opens in new tab) (1998), and Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (opens in new tab) (1988).

Image Credit

Photo from Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore (opens in new tab)