Stop Three - Cavenagh Bridge.

Cavenagh Bridge

At the Cavenagh Bridge

Cavenagh Bridge was previously known as the Edinburgh Bridge to commemorate the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh. The present day Cavenagh Bridge was built in 1868 to mark the year 1869, which was the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Straits Settlements. It was named after Lieutenant General William Orfeur Cavenagh, the last Governor of the Straits Settlements (1859 - 1867) under British-India control. Yet ironically, the bridge was unveiled without any ceremony. Today, Cavenagh Bridge remains the oldest and the only suspension bridge in Singapore.

Kucinta Cats over the left railings of the Cavenagh Bridge

The First Generation

Over the railings of the Cavenagh Bridge, we see a family of the Kucinta cats and the statues of a group of boys playfully jumping into the Singapore River close to the Fullerton Hotel.

Recognised as one of the smallest breeds of cats in the world, the Kucinta cat is also known as the Singapura Cat and is regarded as the mascot of the Singapore Tourism Board. However, their origins have been questioned.

The statues of the boys were sculpted in the year 2000 by Mr Chong Fah Cheong, portraying the first generation of citizens on our island being happy and relaxed. However, it is not possible that the lives of the 1st generation were so carefree. The many immigrants who came to Singapore were in search of a better life, away from the poverty and unstable conditions in their homeland. However, the situation in Singapore then was not much better. Times were bad; it was difficult to make ends meet and even young children had to go to work to supplement their families’ income. As such, the portrayal of our first generation as being so carefree could be a complete deceit - an inaccurate account of the struggles of life that our forefathers faced in the building of our nation. Furthermore, considering the poor hygiene of the Singapore River before the clean-up in the late 1970s, it could not be possible for the children from the first generation to have fun in the river. As such, the irony of the statues.