Archaeological study to be carried out at Adam Park, a WWII battlefield and prisoner of war camp

SINGAPORE – More than a decade after a “mystery” metal box was unearthed during an archaeological study in Adam Park, it may finally be taken out of the ground for good, offering historians yet another clue about the World War II battlefield’s story.

“It wouldn’t move and we were running out of time, so we just left it there and reburied it,” said Ms Simone Lee, a volunteer with the study, which took place in November 2013. “There must be a story about how it ended up there, and we love stories. A serial number, a maker’s mark – anything that can give us clues will be interesting.”

A fresh study at Adam Park, a 12.8ha estate that includes 19 conserved bungalows from the colonial era, is set to take place before the state property is used for serviced apartments.

Previous studies – largely carried out under an initiative called The Adam Park Project, which was managed by battlefield archaeologist Jon Cooper – included 21 metal detector surveys that unearthed more than 1,000 artefacts.

Not everything found during the surveys could be recovered, including the metal box buried in the lawn of 3 Adam Park, which Ms Lee said was at least 55cm tall but not fully dislodged from the soil.

A hole on the side of the box allowed for a phone to be inserted to capture a photograph, and Ms Lee said that, based on what could be seen, Dr Cooper suspects that it was an ammunition box.

“I definitely hope to see what’s inside and confirm its origins,” she added. “Every now and then I still think about the box.”

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) in February launched a tender for a developer to take over the site and operate the bungalows as serviced apartments for 30 years.

The appointed developer will have to appoint an archaeologist to investigate any sites where development works are to be carried out. The study could involve desk-based research, field surveys and – where necessary – test pits or excavations.

The upcoming study will supplement research done on and at the site over a seven-year period from late 2009, under The Adam Park Project.

Adam Park comprises bungalows originally built close to a century ago to house officers from the Municipal Council and Singapore Improvement Trust and their families.

The site was among the last that the British held during the Battle for Singapore in 1942, and was defended by soldiers from the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment in the days leading to the British surrender. It later housed 1,000 British and 2,000 Australian troops as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Japanese Occupation.

Asked about the need for further studies at the site, Dr Cooper said: “When we left the site some 10 years ago now, there were still areas of the gardens to survey and locations where we had to leave items in the ground because we had neither the time nor resources to excavate them.”

He added that other excavations in Singapore, such as one done at Alexandra Hospital in 2021, prove that “the disposal of equipment by troops and civilians after the ceasefire left a lot of items in the ground across the battlefields”.

Among the artefacts previously found at Adam Park were a 1940 South African shilling that likely belonged to a Cambridgeshire soldier, a military-issue syringe and a Cambridgeshire hat badge.

In a joint statement to The Straits Times on May 8, the SLA and National Heritage Board said the extent and methodology of the upcoming study will be determined by the appointed archaeologist, based on the specific development proposals put forth by the successful developer and site conditions.

The agencies said that the study’s duration will depend on the archaeologist’s preliminary findings.

They added that findings from the study can inform plans for heritage interpretation and commemoration at the site.

For now, SLA’s tender, which closes on Aug 4, requires the selected developer to put bungalows 7 and 11 to public use.

The latter was used as a chapel during Adam Park’s days as a POW camp, and contains a Christian mural painted by Captain Eric Andrews, the camp interpreter and padre.

It was rediscovered after painstaking work by Dr Cooper to pinpoint the chapel, which had been documented in a 1946 book, Churches Of The Captivity In Malaya.

Restoration guidelines by the Urban Redevelopment Authority require the mural to be “retained and expressed”, while the SLA’s recommendation is for 11 Adam Park to be used as the serviced apartments’ clubhouse, with the mural “to be accessible and left uncovered for viewing by visitors and members of the public”.

The mural, at present, is largely concealed by paint.

Noting that 11 Adam Park is the only other POW chapel site in Singapore apart from Changi Air Base – a restricted site – heritage author and blogger Jerome Lim said the repurposing of the estate, “in a manner that provides public access, will give us in Singapore a unique opportunity to recall the stories of sacrifice and reflect on them in a more meaningful manner”.

He added that such access is also valuable to overseas visitors, especially people with ties to those who fought in Singapore and who were POWs.

A replica of the Changi murals can be viewed at Changi Chapel and Museum.

Another wartime marking that will have to be retained is located in the outhouse of 5 Adam Park.

The marking – a calendar on a wall that was likely etched by a POW – is unlikely to be the only one left in Adam Park, said Dr Cooper. “It is inevitable that if one cobber decided to scribe a calendar on the wall, as they found at No. 5, then, inevitably, other POWs would have done the same in other buildings,” he said.

“Undoubtedly, there is more graffiti to be uncovered in the rooms, outhouses and attics, and we just need to ensure these walls are not removed in any developer’s plans for the internal structures of the houses.”

Mr Lim said the war remnants on the properties’ walls “provide poignant visual reminders of the sacrifice and resilience in the face of adversity of the thousands of young men held in the estate as POWs”.

Volunteer Ms Lee, who has guided heritage tours in Adam Park on a voluntary basis, added that these marks show that each of the bungalows has a story to tell – something that the public can visualise better at the site.

Dr Cooper said preserving the size, shape and location of the buildings left standing helps visitors to understand the relationship between each property and the effect that had on tactics, as well as explain why the estate was not taken by the Japanese – as interlocking fire from machine guns helped the Cambridgeshires to put up a strong defence.

He added: “Every house needs protecting as they are a part of a wider landscape of battle. Preserving battle sites is not achieved by preserving a monument or a single house. It’s about preserving landscape and relationships between sites.”