Redevelopment is a necessary evil, so it comes as no surprise to us when we found out that some long-standing trees were reduced to stumps in an area deep under construction.
The finding was revealed by heritage group My Queenstown which posted photos of the stumps on their Facebook page on Saturday.
According to the group, the trees were apparently around for the past five decades and were a staple for anyone who has ever gone down Margaret Drive on the way to the Queenstown Library or the hawker center along the road when it was still around back in the day.
The Queenstown area has been under intense redevelopment over the past decade, with old-school buildings torn down to make way for new housing located in the Queenstown and adjoining Dawson areas.
For example, a row of public housing flats lining next to the Queenstown MRT Station has now been transformed into the condominium Commonwealth Towers.
The My Queenstown project was set up by civic group My Community, which aims to capture historical moments of the past few decades before the old made way for the new.
The group focuses on several other places besides Queenstown, such as Tanglin, Holland Village, and Alexandra.
The news of the trees being hacked away was not well received by netizens, which lamented the loss of yet another piece of history along Queenstown.
Facebook user Intan Zulaiha Bakir said: “My old Queenstown is long gone. Lived there for 30 years. Now only the rich and affluent can live there.”
Another Facebook user, Yani Muhd, attached a black-and-white photo of the trees still standing back in the day and commented: “Those glorious shady trees were the highlight of my childhood in Queenstown. My only hope that it would remain has just been crushed”.
Li Li Chua had some choice words about the cones laid on top of those stumps bearing the logo of the public housing agency Housing Development Board: “Those tree stumps topped with HDB cones on them, a poignant reminder of their death, like tombstones laid on these trees… it’s too sad.”
RIP trees. We will miss you and the shade you brought under the hot sun.
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