Saint John's Island
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Saint John's Island ( ), also known as St John's, is an island in the
Straits of Singapore The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...
located 6.5 km off the southern coast of
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
. With an area of , it is the largest of the Marine Park islands which also include the
Sisters' Islands Sisters' Islands are two of the Southern Islands in Singapore and are located to the south of the Pulau Ujong, main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore. It can be reached via a boat ride from Marina South Pier or West Coast Pier. B ...
and
Pulau Tekukor Pulau Tekukor is a small island in the Singapore Strait, located off the southern coast of Singapore Island, and is included in the Southern Islands planning area. The island, with an area of approximately , has a relatively high diversity of p ...
. St John's was colonised by the British along with mainland Singapore in the 19th century and was the site of a colonial quarantine centre. In the 20th century, the island served as a detention centre, drug rehabilitation centre and refugee settlement. Singapore gained independence under the
Government of Singapore The government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore, Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to consist of the President of Singapore, President and the Executive. Executive authority of Singapore is vested in the Presi ...
in the mid-20th century and maintained sovereignty over St John's. In the present day, the island has doubled as grounds for recreational facilities and
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
research and development facilities. The island is part of the Jurong Rock Formation and contains both tropical rainforest and coastal habitats, and is one of the wetlands of Singapore. It is populated by several nationally critically endangered species of plants and animals. Currently, the island has no permanent inhabitants.


Etymology

St John's Island was originally named (also known as ), which combines two Malay words, and ; means either 'barking,' 'one' or 'roe'; means 'deer'. According to a member of the Stamford Raffles British delegation,
John Crawfurd John Crawfurd (13 August 1783 – 11 May 1868) was a British physician, colonial administrator, diplomat and writer who served as the second and last resident of Singapore. Early life He was born on Islay, in Argyll, Scotland, the son of Sam ...
, they had misinterpreted the island's local name as 'St John' during their attempt to establish a port in the neighboring island of Singapore in 1819. St John's Island and the neighbouring Lazarus Island were once collectively known by the shared Malay name and English name 'St John's'. In maps like the 1892 British Admiralty chart of Singapore Harbor, St John's and Lazarus Island were distinguished as West and East St John's, or St John's no. 2 and no. 1 respectively. In other maps like 1872 ''British Possessions In The Indian Seas'', St John's was named 'Sikajang Island' and Lazarus Island was labelled 'St John's Island'. Eventually, St John's Island's Malay name became , with the term meaning flag in Malay, which is attributed to a flagstaff that existed on the island from 1823 to 1833. East St John's was later officially renamed 'Lazarus Island', also known as 'Convalescent Island' after a
beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The name beriberi was possibly borrowed in the 18th century from the Sinhalese phrase (bæri bæri, “I canno ...
hospital was built there in 1899. Lazarus Island is now known as in Malay, with meaning 'palm leaves'. The original Chinese name of St John's is (), meaning Mount Qizhang, which refers to a hill at the centre of the island. It is a transliteration of . Its Chinese name was later officially replaced with a translation of its English name, 'St John's Island' (Chinese: 圣约翰岛; pinyin: Shèngyuēhàndǎo).


History


Early colonial history

On 28 January 1819, a delegation led by colonial official
Sir Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British colonial official who served as the governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. Raffles ...
anchored off St John's, a day before they arrived at mainland Singapore to establish a British trading port. After the port was established that year, a signal station was constructed on St John's Island, along with a signal flagstaff. The signal station informed passing ships in the Straits of Singapore of the new port. It was also tasked to operate the flagstaff to report ship sightings to the signal post on Government Hill in mainland Singapore. By 1830, the facilities on St John's Island, including the flagstaff, were reported by the officer in charge of public works to be in a dilapidated state.Military Secretary.
Letter to the Governor.
12 March 1830. ''A68: Singapore Consultations''. p. 109. Raffles Museum and Library. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
They were not repaired because the government did not plan to continue the St John's signal station. The flagstaff on St John's was moved to Mount Faber in 1833. Visitors to the island in subsequent years such as naturalist George Bennett and Dr Robert Little found it to be virtually abandoned, with only one Malay inhabitant.


Quarantine centre

As the number of immigrants to Singapore increased from the late 19th century onwards, the risk of epidemics heightened, leading to the establishment of a Quarantine Centre on St John's. Initially, the Quarantine Ordinance (No. 7 of 1868) was implemented to prohibit all infected ships from docking at port. However, in July 1873, a boat from Bangkok caused a cholera epidemic that lasted two months and resulted in 857 infections and 448 deaths, despite the orders of Governor Harry Ord to quarantine all ships from
Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. Consequently, Acting Master Attendant Henry Ellis proposed that a quarantine station be constructed on St John's Island. Governor Harry Ord officially approved the proposal in a speech at the Legislative Council on 21 March 1874. The St John's Island quarantine station opened in November 1874 and served not just immigrants to Singapore but also Muslims returning to Malaya after their pilgrimage to
Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
. Although Ellis had plans for a police ship, a hospital on St John's, a steam cutter, and a cemetery on Kusu Island to support the quarantine station, it consisted largely of attap huts when first completed. The month it opened, the station quarantined more than 1,000 Chinese passengers on the cholera-infected SS ''Milton'' which was travelling from
Swatow Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative a ...
to the British colonies
Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...
and
Province Wellesley A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provin ...
. In 1890, Muslims on the Queen Margaret who were returning after their
Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...
pilgrimage were quarantined on St John's. In 1894, the Hong Kong outbreak of bubonic plague prompted the Quarantine Station to prepare to receive bubonic plague victims. A plague hospital was constructed and ships were inspected, with one case of bubonic plague caught in March 1896. Aside from the addition of the plague hospital, more facilities were added when the station was further redeveloped. From 1903 onwards, more than 300,000 dollars was spent on the station's development. New facilities included muster sheds for passengers to disinfect and change clothes, and boiler houses for disinfecting belongings. Other facilities include a coroner's court; a police station, jail and Sikh police barracks; a post office; storehouses of loose sulphur for fumigating ships; a temple and a mosque; quarters for workers. Additionally, a burial ground for the quarantine station's deceased was sited on Lazarus Island. The improved facilities came in time to also serve as emergency accommodations in 1911 for the rising number of
beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The name beriberi was possibly borrowed in the 18th century from the Sinhalese phrase (bæri bæri, “I canno ...
victims in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In August 1911, the overflow patients and beriberi victims in
Tan Tock Seng Hospital Tan Tock Seng Hospital (abbreviation: TTSH) is a tertiary referral hospital in Singapore, located in Novena. Named after Tan Tock Seng, the hospital has 45 clinical and allied health departments, 16 specialist centres and is powered by more ...
were quarantined on St John's as one of the beriberi patients had been infected by a cholera outbreak. In the early 20th century, the quarantine centre was further equipped and had become one of the largest quarantine operations in the British Empire. By 1924, the St John's Island quarantine station had a maximum capacity of 6,000 people. Between 1903 and 1923, the station inspected approximately 8 million people and quarantined 300,000. A model of the quarantine station was featured at the Malaya Pavilion at the
British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government decide ...
held in
Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
in April 1924. By 1930, the quarantine station was capable of vaccination and was equipped with a dispensary, telephone wires, and disinfection buildings with
Izal Izal may refer to: * Izal or Iaal, a village in Lebanon * Izal or Itzalle Itzalle or Izal (, ) is one of the villages that forms the municipality of Gal ..., a municipality in the Salazar Valley, Spain * Izal, a disinfectant and range of products ...
solution spray. Despite the quarantine laws and the island's treatment facilities, not all passengers were quarantined nor received the same level of care due to classism. Unlike
steerage Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North Amer ...
class passengers, cabin class (first and second-class) passengers were not required to undergo quarantine. Health examinations for sailors were also less demanding. By contrast, Chinese
coolie Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian people, Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th cent ...
s were allegedly provided insufficient food, no bedding and used as
forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...
. Complaints were made to no avail. The St John's quarantine station officially closed on 14 January 1976 because the popularisation of air travel had drastically reduced the number of arrivals by boat.


Detention centre

St John's Island served as a
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...
. In August 1914, right after World War I began, most German men in Singapore were interned on St John's Island and Tanglin Barracks while women and children were detained in
Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
. Enemy combatants were also imprisoned on the island, including the crew of and the Greek collier , which was captured by the Germans. By 1916, a total of 296 enemy nationals had been transferred from St John's to Australia . During World War II (1939–1945), enemy foreign nationals—some of whom were fleeing
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
—were interned at St John's Island in 1940. Of these, the Germans who were to be removed from the war were interned in
Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
. As for the rest, some were deported to neutral grounds like
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. Others were transported to Australia, including German-Jewish and his family. Separately, the Japanese subsequently allied with the Germans and invaded Malaya. Shortly after, the Japanese women and children in Singapore were also interned on St John's Island from late 1941 to 1942 before being shipped to Calcutta. When the
Japanese occupation of Malaya Malaya, then under British administration,, was gradually occupied by Japanese forces between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 15 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allie ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
began, Allied prisoners of war were detained on St John's. The
Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...
(1948–1960) sparked by the
Communist Party of Malaya The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore fro ...
caused St John's to resume operating as a detention centre for political prisoners. In 1947, the Communist Party of Malaya initiated a guerilla war against the British colonial government in hopes that it would be more effective in turning the
Federation of Malaya Malaya, officially the Federation of Malaya, was a country in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1963. It succeeded the Malayan Union and, before that, British Malaya. It comprised eleven states – nine Malay states and two of the Straits Settleme ...
and the
Crown Colony of Singapore The Colony of Singapore was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom that encompassed what is modern-day Singapore from 1946 to 1959. During this period, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Labuan were also administered from Singap ...
communist. Fatal attacks committed in the Federation of Malaya in June 1948 as part of this war culminated in the British colonial government declaring a state of emergency, thus enacting the Essential Regulations Proclamation on 24 June. This granted the government the authority to arrest and detain anyone without trial. Expecting an influx of political prisoners, St John's Island was officially announced as the site of the new detention centre on 3 July 1948 and became a protected area from 10 September onward. St John's housed not only communists but also political suspects and detainees of other political leanings, from both Malaya and Singapore, who sought to overthrow the colonial government. St John's received its first batch of detainees on 20 September 1948, comprising 200 political prisoners from Johore Bahru. Travellers via ship suspected of communist inclinations were also detained at St John's under the Emergency Travel Restrictions Regulations until they were cleared of suspicion. Within two years, more than 600 were detained under the Emergency Regulations, most of whom were held on St John's. Singaporean political prisoners detained on St John's Island were university students, teachers, newspaper editors, several future politicians of Singapore, and others. Among the detainees were
Devan Nair Chengara Veetil Devan Nair (5 August 1923 – 6 December 2005), also known as C. V. Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, was a Singaporean politician and union leader who served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resign ...
,
Fong Swee Suan Fong Swee Suan (方水双 Fāng Shuǐshuāng; 27 October 1931 – 4 February 2017) was a trade unionist, founding member of the People's Action Party (PAP) and a Barisan Sosialis leader. Early life and education Fong was born in Senggarang, Johor ...
and
Lim Chin Siong Lim Chin Siong (; 28 February 1933 – 5 February 1996) was a Singaporean politician and union leader active in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the founders of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed the ...
, all
People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...
(PAP) members. They were released in 1959 after Singapore was granted full internal self-government and the PAP won the
1959 Singapore general election The 1959 Singaporean general election was held on 30 May 1959 to elect all 51 seats to the Legislative Assembly of Singapore. It was the first general election after Singapore was granted full internal self-government from Britain, excluding m ...
. The state's fear of communism did not abide, resulting in St John's being used as a detention centre for most of the detainees arrested during the anti-communist
Operation Coldstore Operation Coldstore was the code name for a covert anti-communist security operation that took place in Singapore on 2 February 1963, which was then an internally self-governing state within the British Empire. It led to the arrest of 113 peop ...
. On 2 February 1963, the Internal Security Council of the Singapore Government executed Operation Coldstore, which detained those charged as political extremists under the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance. Arrestees were detained without trial, some for being a "suspected communist" or for associating with them. The state justifies Operation Coldstore as a response to communist threats. Prior to the move to St John's, the detainees were held in
Outram Prison Outram Prison, also known as Pearl's Hill Prison or Civil Jail, was a prison at Pearl's Hill, Outram, Singapore, Outram, Singapore. Originally occupied and known as the Civil Jail, Outram Prison was opened in 1882 and served as the main prison co ...
. On 6 February, it was announced that 99 of the 113 Operation Coldstore detainees were to be moved to the island. The rest were citizens of the Federation of Malaya, who were to be expatriated. The operation has been a contentious subject of criticism, such as from ex-detainee Poh Soo Kai and historian Thum Ping Tjin who claim that Operation Coldstore was a pretext for the PAP to crush political opposition.


Drug rehabilitation centres

From 1945 onwards, the British sought to curb
opium addiction Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is ...
in Singapore and this led to the establishment of St John's Opium Treatment Centre. Opium was prevalent in Singapore with more than 16,000 addicts recorded after World War II. By 1945, the British Administration of Malaya sought to curb its effects and banned opium in its colonies in October. The following year, the Opium and Chandu Proclamation further restricted drug activity by banning opium smoking and the possession of opium-smoking devices. Despite these regulations, there were still more than 1,400 opium dens in 1949. In the 1950s, the government tackled drug activity more aggressively through legal means, vice operations, and the establishment of an Opium Treatment Centre on St John's. They revised the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance of 1951 in 1953 to increase their authority to prosecute opium-related crimes, and initiated vice operations, such as the major opium crackdown of 1952. The Opium Treatment Centre was established under an amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance in 1954, marking the colonial government's first attempt to rehabilitate addicts. Formerly, addicts were simply imprisoned. Institutions have previously attempted to rehabilitate addicts, but only a fraction of patients were permanently cured. The centre opened in February 1955 and was managed by the Prisons Department. The opium treatment programme had three phases: withdrawal, rehabilitation and follow-up. Gradual withdrawal from opium typically lasted two to four weeks in the prison hospital. The subsequent rehabilitation phase would last six months to a year at the Opium Treatment Centre on St John's Island, during which patients were taught new skills such as carpentry to aid future reintegration into society. The experimental opium rehabilitation programme was noteworthy for medical institutions and was later claimed to cure the majority of those admitted; however, its criteria of admittance were controversial. During the centre's opening, the Commissioner of Prisons Major Sochon claimed that the United Nations Organisation had taken note. It was also claimed by the Singapore Free Press that only six of about 400 addicts treated within two years of its opening had relapsed. By 1966, more than 4,000 opium addicts had been rehabilitated at the centre. However, the apparent success of the centre must be prefaced by their denial of treatment to long-time addicts whom they evaluated to be incurable. By the 1970s, opium addiction had greatly declined, although the extent to which this success can be attributed to the treatment centre is unknown. Despite the decline in opium addiction specifically, the number of arrests due to drug offences, in general, had increased between 1971 and 1973. In response to the increasing number of drug offenses in Singapore, in 1973, the government converted the Opium Treatment Centre to a Drug Rehabilitation Centre for treating all types of drug addicts, especially young adults. This rehabilitation centre was shut down in 1975 as the island was to be redeveloped by the
Sentosa Development Corporation Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore), Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore. Purpose Islands The S ...
into a resort centre.


Temporary settlement for refugees

St John's Island was also a temporary settlement for refugees in the 20th century. In 1955, the quarantine station housed residents of Lazarus Island, after a rare high tide destroyed their homes. In the mid-1970s, the rehabilitating drug addicts were temporarily moved out when eighty-four Vietnam War (1955–1975) refugees were settled on the island. The final batch of Vietnamese refugees departed for a permanent host country in late 1975. In 1998, there was a rise in arrests of illegal immigrants and overstayers after the
1997 Asian Financial Crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...
, and the government was anticipating a mass of Indonesian refugees after the
May 1998 riots of Indonesia The May 1998 Indonesia riots (), also known colloquially as the 1998 tragedy () or simply the 98 event (), were incidents of Riot, mass violence and civil unrest in Indonesia, many of which targeted the country's ethnic Chinese population. The ...
. From January to July 1998, there was an increase of almost 2000 illegal immigrants and 1000 overstayers arrested compared to the whole of last year.Ninth Parliament of Singapore. (4 September 1998)
"Immigration (Amendment) Bill"
Part III of the First Session. ''Parliamentary Debates, Singapore: Official Report'', vol. 69'','' column 930.
However, this may be due to more police raids and patrols targeting illegal immigrants. By June, there were fears that the mainland prisons' capacity would be insufficient. Thus, the government began constructing a temporary Prison Detention Centre on St John's Island to house potential spill over illegal immigrants and drug addicts. However, the expected influx of Indonesian refugees did not occur, and the temporary detention centre stands abandoned.


Holiday camp and aquaculture research centres

In the mid-1970s, the Sentosa Development Corporation planned to redevelop Singapore's offshore islands into resort centres. However, proposals to redevelop St John's as a holiday island with restaurants, golf courses and an integrated resort-casino fell through. Instead, the 3 million dollar budget was spent on developing a holiday camp on the island with sports and games facilities. A three-day outdoor activities camp for schools was established on the island in 1975. St John's Island is currently the site of several aquaculture research and development facilities. The Marine Aquaculture Centre (MAC) is a
hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ''ex situ'' conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled ...
completed in June 2003, and the National Marine Laboratory was established in 2002. In April 2018, traces of
asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...
was found in construction debris around the island's campsite, lagoon and holiday bungalow areas. The two long-term residents on the island were evacuated and were assessed to be healthy. Access to the island was restricted while the contaminated debris was being removed.


Geography

St John's Island has a land area of and is located in the Strait of Singapore, about 6.5 km from the southern coast of mainland Singapore. Its location is at longitude 1°1308.30N and latitude 103°5053.88E. All the
Southern Islands The Southern Islands is a planning area consisting of a collection of islets located within the Central Region of Singapore, once home to the native Malay islanders and indigenous Orang Laut sea nomad tribes before they were relocated to the ma ...
, including St John's, are formed by the
Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
rocks of the
Jurong Formation The Jurong formation is a sedimentary rock formation that covers the south-west portion of the island of Singapore. The formation was laid down in the late Triassic to early or middle Jurassic geologic periods. It consists of dolomite, limestone, m ...
. St John's Island's original area of was expanded by through land reclamation in the 1970s. In 2006, Lazarus Island and Seringat Island were merged and then connected to St John's via a causeway. St John's coastline comprises sandy beaches, quarry rocks to prevent erosion, lagoons, cliffs, and mangrove swamps. Like Singapore, St John's has an
equatorial climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...
with rainfall throughout the year, especially during the first half of the Northeast
Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
. In 2020, restricted access to the protected lagoon, Bendera Bay, was opened to the public via programmes.


Biodiversity

The island's tropical forest and marine habitats are home to crustaceans and cetaceans in the Singapore Strait and land animals. The island is also surrounded by coral reefs. The nationally critically endangered Asian Drongo Cuckoo can be found on the island, as well as nesting grounds of the critically endangered
Hawksbill Turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution that is largely ...
. St John's Island is covered by natural vegetation (32.0%), the majority of which is managed coastal vegetation (60.6%). More than 258 species of
vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue ( ...
have been recorded on the island, including several nationally critically endangered species such as the ''Podocarpus'' ''Polystachyus R Br'' (Sea Teak) and the ''Xylocarpus rumphii'' (Meliaceae). The Sentosa Development Regulations (1997) were implemented to protect the biodiversity of Singapore's offshore islands. Among other regulations, it prohibits killing or capturing any animal, bird, insect, or plant.


Demographics

From 1962 to 1963, there were more than 400 islanders.Chen, Aiwei 陈爱薇 (10 September 2021)
"The multiple historical identities of St. John's Island 圣约翰岛的多重历史身份
" ''Lianhe Zaobao 联合早报.''
Between 1976 and 1977, the residents of St John's Island, Lazarus Island and Seringat Island were relocated to the mainland, and the remaining four permanent islanders on St John's left in 2017. St John's Island English Primary School, the only school on the island, was shut down in 1976. St John's Island currently has no permanent residents.


Notes


References


Bibliography

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External links


St John's Island management
(Singapore Land Authority)
The Last People of St. John's Island
(documentary about former residents), by Our Grandfather Story {{Islands of Singapore Islands of Singapore Southern Islands