Farrer Park

Farrer Park
Name transcription(s)
• Chinese	花拉公园
• Pinyin	Huālā gōngyuán
• Malay	Taman Farrer
• Tamil	ஃபேரர் பார்க்
Farrer Park in 2006
Country	Singapore

Farrer Park is a subzone of the Rochor planning area in the Central Region of Singapore, bounded by Serangoon Road, Rangoon Road, Race Course Road, Northumberland Road, Tekka Lane and Bukit Timah Road.

It is worth noting that the modern boundary of Farrer Park as stated above is based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's planning area boundaries which are established for urban planning purpose. The current "Farrer Park" is therefore different from the historic definition of Farrer Park, which is located to its immediate northwest, across Northumberland Road. Historically, the areas called "Farrer Park" are part of present-day Kallang planning area, such as the Farrer Park Fields.

Farrer Park and Farrer Road were named after R. J. Farrer (died 1956), who was Municipal Assessor and later President of the Municipal Commissioners in the 1920s. In 1952, there was an abortive attempt to change the name of Farrer Road in order to avoid confusion with Farrer Park, situated in a different location.

It was at Farrer Park that Singapore's first racecourse was built and where the island's aviation history began.[1]

The Serangoon Road Race Course was established at Farrer Park in December 1842 and was run by the Singapore Sporting Club. Horse races were held mostly on weekends and attracted a largely European audience. On non-race days, the Racecourse's large turf doubled as a golf course, grazing pasture and rifle range. Staffing the Racecourse were Baweanese settlers from Java in Indonesia. A sizeable Indian community also lived in the Farrer Park area; they were workers and owners of the cattle farms, rattan processing houses and pineapple factories in the vicinity. It was these cattle farms which gave the area its Malay name of Kandang Kerbau, or Buffalo Shed.