The North-Eastern Islands is a planning area and a group of islands located within the North-East Region of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The cluster is made up of three islands, namely

Pulau Tekong Pulau may refer to: *Pulau virus (PuV), a novel strain of Nelson Bay orthoreovirus species *Pulau River, a river of West Papua and Papua New Guinea See also *List of islands of Malaysia – "Pulau" means "island" in the Malay language *Pulao (di ...

, Pulau Tekong Kechil and

Pulau Ubin Pulau Ubin, also simply known as Ubin, is an island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. The granite quarry used to be supported by a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about 38 villagers ...

. Pulau Tekong and Pulau Tekong Kechil was formerly home to 10 villages while Pulau Ubin was home to a number of granite quarries. At present, Pulau Tekong houses the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...

Basic Military Training Centre while Pulau Ubin is one of the last areas in Singapore that has been preserved from urban development, concrete buildings and tarmac roads. The North-Eastern Islands planning area shares maritime boundaries with

Changi Changi () is a planning area located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah in the East Region of Singapore. Sharing borders with Pasir Ris and Tampines to the west, Changi Bay to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east and the Sera ...

Pasir Ris Pasir Ris is a planning area and residential town located in the East Region of Singapore. It is bordered by Tampines and Paya Lebar to the south, Sengkang to the southwest and Changi to the east. The planning area also shares riverine bound ...

and

Punggol Punggol, alternatively spelled as Ponggol, is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, new town situated on the Tanjong Punggol peninsula in the North-East Region, Singapore, North-East Region of Singapore. The to ...

. The entire planning area is situated on the

Straits of Johor The Johore Strait (also known as the Tebrau Strait, Straits of Johor, Selat Johor, Selat Tebrau, and Tebrau Reach) is an international strait in Southeast Asia, between Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. Geography The strait separates the Ma ...

History

Tekong Islands

The islands were first inhabited by the Malays in the 1850s and by 1957, the population of the islands reached its peak at 4,169 residents, with 10 '' kampongs (villages)'' with predominantly

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

residents. The islanders were all resettled onto the mainland by the 1980s due to Singapore's urbanisation and land reclamation works were carried out by the government to merge Pulau Tekong Kechil with the larger Pulau Tekong.

Pulau Ubin

In the 1880s, a number of Malays led by Endut Senin, from the

Kallang River The Kallang River (, ms, Sungei Kallang) is the longest river in Singapore, flowing for 10 kilometers. from the Lower Peirce Reservoir (originally named "Kallang River Reservoir") to the Kallang Basin. It originates in the planning ...

were said to have moved to the island that began the thriving Malay community on the island. During the 1950s and 1970s, there were 2,000 residents living on the island and the island had its own schools. With a student population that once numbered 400, enrolment fell as Singapore developed and many islanders resettled onto the mainland. The school closed in 1985, and was demolished on 2 April 2000. There was also a private Malay school around 1956 at Kampung Melayu, which closed in the late 1970s. Since the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

founding of Singapore, the island has been known for its granite. The numerous granite quarries on the island supply the local

construction industry Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and come ...

. The granite

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...

s are particularly spectacular from the sea because their grooves and fluted sides create

furrow A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

s and

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

s on each granite rock slab. These features are captured in

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...

's 1850 painting — ''Grooved stones on Pulo Ubin near Singapore''. In the 1970s as the granite quarries closed down and jobs dwindled, residents began leaving.Chua Ee Kiam (2000). ''Pulau Ubin – Ours to Treasure''. p. 39. Simply Green, Singapore.

References

{{Islands of Singapore North-East Region, Singapore