official opening of Dairy Farm Nature
Park
Are you a fan of the great outdoors? Or perhaps you are searching for a new local attraction to check out. Turn your attention to the new Dairy Farm Nature Park, which has just sprung up in western Singapore as a complementary recreational venue to the adjoining Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. This 63-hectare nature park was officially opened on 5 September by the Minister for National Development Minister, Mr Mah Bow Tan.
The History of Dairy Farm
A contemporary of Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace is the other "father" behind the theory of evolution. In 1858, Wallace hit upon the idea of evolution by natural selection, and promptly sent his theory off to Darwin. It was the same theory Darwin had dabbled with for decades, but he had yet to publish it. Wallace’s letter spurred him into action and two months later, Darwin presented a paper on the subject, acknowledging Wallace’s contribution in it. Read about natural selection by Darwin here.
The Dairy Farm area was among the forests cleared in the 1800s to make way for settlements and gambier and pepper plantations. Its surrounding secondary forest remained rich in flora and fauna. When renowned English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace stopped over in Singapore in 1854, during his journeys to the Malay Archipelago, he collected about 700 species of beetles in the vicinity of the Dairy Farm site.
traditional cow-milking
costume chats with
Minister Mah about the
history of the Dairy Farm
Area
Dairy Farm Road got its name in the 1930s, when Fred Heron, then Managing Director of Cold Storage, established the world’s first tropical dairy farm on a 60-acre patch of jungle land. The dairy farm ceased operations in the 1970s, and the area was then used for vegetable farming and subsequently for other horticulture-related operations. In 2002, the Dairy Farm Quarry area was identified as a nature park under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Parks & Waterbodies Plan.
The development of Dairy Farm Nature Park is part of a strategy to conserve the area’s biodiversity, which is documented under the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). Today, the Dairy Farm Nature Park, together with Hindhede Nature Park, serves as a ‘buffer zone’ for Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR). Both parks help to divert visitorship from the Nature Reserve to minimise human impact to the reserve area, while providing interesting recreational and educational options for all visitors.
endangered bird that has now made a
home at the Singapore Quarry
At the nature park’s official opening, Minister Mah first toured the Singapore Quarry, now transformed into a scenic and tranquil wetland with a viewing platform for visitors to appreciate the freshwater flora and fauna. The Quarry is already home to many rare dragonflies and birds, including the Little Grebe, a critically endangered bird that was previously found only in Lorong Halus.
Educational Centre and Exhibits
The Wallace Education Centre, another feature of the new park, was unveiled at the park launch as well. Restored from a former cowshed, the WEC now houses an interpretative centre where visitors can learn about the changing landscapes of Dairy Farm and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve through various exhibits. It also houses the Wallace Environmental Learning Lab (WELL), a holistic programme for students to discover Singapore’s natural heritage through interesting hands-on activities. WELL was established by NParks and Raffles Girls’ Secondary School and sponsored by Glaxo SmithKline.
Students demonstrating their completed WELL experiment to Minister Mah
During Minister Mah’s walkthrough, students from various schools demonstrated the results of their completed WELL activities. The WELL, which was designed by a group of students and a lecturer from the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture, is NParks’ first venue where teachers and schools can self-conduct educational programmes in parks. Commented Minister Mah, “I hope that these programmes will nurture an appreciation and love for nature in our young, and inspire them to take greater ownership in conserving Singapore’s biodiversity.”
Bird expert Subaraj points out various birds to Minister Mah during the tour of the Singapore Quarry
To make the Dairy Farm Nature Park even more ‘green’, many of its features were designed to be environmentally friendly. Recycled materials were used for buildings and benches, while the hiking trails were made from bitumen milled off from roads and expressways.
Indeed, the WEC is designed to maximize the use of natural sunlight, and solar panels have also been installed on its roof to generate electricity to run the centre. This is the first park to have been built with the intent of achieving BCA/NParks Green Mark for New Parks certification.
For those nature lovers out there, do remember to check out this new nature park right in the heart of this green and shimmering island.