“Absolutely nobody from Singapore drinks Singapore Slings…”
Anthony Bourdain
Scottish born Willian Farquhar was only 20 years old when he was appointed the Chief Administrator of British occupied Malacca in 1795. He had been a low rank military officer in the British Expeditionary force that took Malacca from the Dutch, His nickname was the Rajah. It was Farquhar who proposed the settlement of neighbouring Singapore, becoming the first Resident and Commandant of Singapore. He in fact turned out to be more than a colonialist, as he became a committed naturalist, fascinated by the peninsula’s fauna and flora. Farquhar commissioned locally based Chinese artists to produce nearly 500 watercolours of the biodiversity that surrounded him. These were pivotal in documenting much that was eventually lost. These paintings are interesting in their blend of stylised oriental manner, with western scientific detail. An exhibition of these works is currently on at the SA Botanic Gardens Museum of Economic Botany. #worthavisit #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 