Singapore Botanic Gardens

'' palm The first "Botanical and Experimental Garden" in Singapore was established in 1822 on Government Hill by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore and a keen naturalist. It was not until 3 decades later that the present Singapore Botanic Gardens began in 1859, when the Singapore Agri-horticultural Society was granted 32 hectares of land in Tanglin by the colonial government, which had obtained it from the merchant Hoo Ah Kay, better known as Whampoa, in exchange for land at Boat Quay. 1859–1876 The new gardens started off functioning primarily as a “pleasure park” for the society's members. Lawrence Niven was hired as superintendent and landscape designer to turn what were essentially overgrown plantations and a tangle of virgin rainforest into a public park. He and his team worked on developing the Gardens to reflect the styles of the English Landscape Garden Movement. The layout of the Gardens as it is today is largely based on Niven's design. In 1866 the Gardens expanded in the Northwest direction by about 12 hectares. The excavation of Swan Lake took place in 1866. In 1868, the Burkill Hall was completed. The Singapore Agri-horticultural Society ran out of funds, which led to the colonial government taking over the management of the gardens in 1874. In 1875, the Raffles Library Committee selected a horticulturist, Henry James Murton, to serve as the first Superintendent of Gardens, while a zoology expert, William Krohn, was hired as the superintendent of the Zoological Garden to build up a collection of animals within the gardens, establishing the first zoo in Singapore. By 1877, the developed parts of the gardens were dotted with enclosures housing a collection of about 150 animals. 1877–1942 The first rubber seedlings came to the gardens from Kew Gardens in 1877. A naturalist, Henry Nicholas Ridley, or Mad Ridley as he was known, became the director of the gardens in 1888 and spearheaded rubber cultivation. Successful in his experiments with rubber planting, Ridley convinced planters across Malaya to adopt his methods. The results were astounding; Malaya became the world's number one producer and exporter of natural rubber. In 1879, the Palm Valley was established on the site of the former Economic Garden. Nathaniel Cantley, who replaced Murton as the second Superintendent of Gardens in 1880, oversaw the building installation of Ridley Hall in 1882. Other installations included the Plant House, an arboretum in the former Economic Garden, and plant nurseries. Due to the high upkeep of the zoo at the gardens, in 1903, the colonial government decided to sell all the animals and birds and shut it down. More building installations at the garden included E.J.H Corner House in 1910 and Holttum Hall in 1921. This was also the period when Singapore's national flower, the orchid Hybrid Vanda Miss Joaquim, was founded, which was part of the achievement of the pioneering of orchid hybridisation by Professor Eric Holttum, director of the Gardens from 1925 to 1949. His techniques led to Singapore being one of the world's top centres of commercial orchid growing. Presently, it has the largest collection of tropical plant specimens. , known as the Bandstand, in the Singapore Botanic Gardens in the 1930s 1942–1945 During the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, Hidezo Tanakadate (田中館秀三), a professor of geology from Tohoku Imperial University, learned of the possibility that the Gardens and Museum might be looted due to the occupation, and negotiated directly with general Tomoyuki Yamashita to gain control of the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Raffles Museum. At the beginning of the occupation, he ensured that no looting occurred in the Gardens and the Museum. Both institutions continued to function as scientific institutions. Holttum and Edred John Henry Corner were interned in the Gardens and instructed to continue their horticultural work. The Japanese government and army were unwilling to fund the institutions, however, and Tanakadate had to pay for maintenance and staff salaries from his own pocket. The Gardens was also renamed as Shōnan Botanic Gardens (). Tanaka returned to Japan in July 1943, and Dr. , a retired professor of botany from the Kyoto Imperial University and secretary-general of the Imperial Japanese Army's Malayan military administration department's general affairs department, was appointed director to the Gardens and Museum, posts he held until the end of the war. 1945–1986 After the war ended, the Gardens was handed back to the control of the British in September 1945, and Koriba was made a prisoner of war. Corner negotiated for Koriba's release with the British command, citing his contributions to protecting the Gardens, but he chose to remain in custody alongside his countrymen until his release in January 1946. Murray Ross Henderson, curator of the Herbarium before the war, succeeded Holttum as director from 1949 to 1954. Eventually the Gardens played an important role during the "greening Singapore" campaign and Garden City campaign during the early independence years. 1986–present The Singapore Botanic Gardens was put under the charge of the National Parks Board. The Gardens was revitalised with new and improved public amenities, research facilities and training facilities (1990–2005). Here, the focus is on Garden City Vision, Horticulture, Taxonomic + Biodiversity Research, Recreation and Education. A "Tyersall extension" to the Gardens was announced in 2009. A total of 18 hectares of land was added in expanding the Gardens by almost four times its original size in 1859. Known as the Gardens' Learning Forest when it was fully completed in 2018, the extensions included a Forest Conservation Interpretive Centre and a Natural History Art Gallery, housed in colonial buildings more than a century old. The Learning Forest showcases the best of tropical trees that grow under local conditions and strengthen the Botanic Gardens' position as a premier institute for research, conservation and education. Visitors are able to appreciate this unique collection of trees and plants through various thematic walks within the Learning Forest featuring giant trees, trees with interesting forms and barks of various textures, a conservation collection of rare fruit and nut species and a bamboo garden. Also included is a flood protection scheme for the main shopping district of Orchard Road and its surroundings and a water detention pond with capacity to hold excess storm-water of about 15 Olympic-size pools. ==Attractions==