Sunday, August 2, 2009

Stamp - 150 Years of Singapore Botanic Gardens


$2 miniature stamp featuring the famous swans in the Botanical Garden's lake on stamp
Date of Issue: 19 June 2009
Designer: Eng Siak Loy

Extracted from http://www.sbg.org.sg/SBG150thAnnCalendarofEvents-Brochure.pdf
Singapore Post launches a First Day Cover Stamp Series featuring iconic landmarks and features of the Singapore Botanic Gardens on 19 June 2009. The familiar favourites include:
  • The Bandstand
  • The $5 note Tembusu Tree
  • The Girl-On-A-Swing Sculpture
  • The Singapore's National Flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim

The complete set of mint Stamp
Date of Issue: 19 June 2009
Designer: Eng Siak Loy

Extracted from the stamp leaflet accompanying the stamps.
When Sir Stamford Raffles established the first Botanic Gardens in 1822, its main purpose was to evaluate for cultivation, crops that were of potential economic importance.




The Bandstand and the $5 note Tembusu Tree on stamp

However, without a full-time salaried director and sufficient funding, the garden languished and was closed in 1829.


The Girl-On-A-Swing Sculpture and the Singapore's National Flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim on stamp

It was not until 30 years later, in 1859, that the present Singapore Botanical Gardens was founded by the Agri-Horticultural Society.



Planned as a Leisure Garden and Ornamental Park, the Society organized flower shows and horticultural fetes (festivals).


$2 miniature stamp featuring the famous swans in the Botanical Garden's lake on First Day Cover

It is fair to say that the history of the Gardens is in many aspects the history of its dedicated administrators.



The Garden's first Director, Henry Nichol Ridley, came to the Gardens in 1888 and worked tirelessly for the next 23 years to usher the Gardens into the twentieth century and its most productive period historically.


The Bandstand, the $5 note Tembusu Tree on stamp, the Girl-On-A-Swing Sculpture and the Singapore's National Flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim on First Day Cover


It was also during Ridley's administration that Singapore's national flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim, was named.


Picture is obtained from http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2703848168_eb6d235d70.jpg

Beginning in 1928, Professor Eric Holttum, Director of the Gardens from 1925 - 1949, set up laboratories and conducted the first experiments in orchid breeding and hybridisation.



His techniques led to Singapore being one of the world's top centres of commercial orchid growing. Today, it also has a world-renowned orchid garden.


Picture is obtained from http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/singapores_beautiful_money

In mid 1960s, when the 'Garden City' campaign was launched, the Gardens took a leading role in the greening of Singapore.



To meet the need for urban landscapes and recreational areas, the Gardens became involved in supplying planting material and in plant introduction to rapidly increase the intensity in road side and park plantings.




The complete set of First Day Cover

In 1973, the Botanic Gardens merged with the Parks and Trees branch of the Public Works Department, to form the Parks and Recreation Department.


Picture is obtained from http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1148805.jpg

In 1988, Dr Tan Wee Kiat became Director of the Gardens and re-focused the Gardens as a tropical botanical institution with roles in
  • research
  • conservation
  • education and
  • recreation.


To better fulfill these roles, the National Parks Board was formed in 1990. It was under his direction and vision that a masterplan for the redevelopment was formulated in 1990.




By 1995, the 3-hectare National Orchid Garden, a major tourist attraction today, was opened.


Picture is obtained from http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/4836941.jpg

Today, the Gardens is geared towards entrenching itself as
  • a tropical botanical institution of international renown
  • a key tourist destination and
  • a flagship park

Picture is obtained from
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Singapore_Botanic_Gardens,_Bukit_Timah_Core,_Sep_06.JPG

Significant new attractions are being planned in a continuing renewal program.


Picture is obtained from
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Singapore_Botanic_Gardens_Cactus_Garden_2.jpg


Reference
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