Human Settlement in Pulau Ubin

Pulau Ubin(also referred to as Ubin Island or Granite Island) is a minute island located in the north east region of the country, to the west of Tekong Island or Pulau Tekong. The island is one of the last rural regions to be found in the country that has an abundance of natural fauna and flora and is not yet affected by the major infrastructural developments made in the mainland. In the past, quarrying for granite has been the livelihood that supported the lives of a few thousand settlers in the island; nonetheless there are only around a hundred or more villagers living in the island at this moment.

In the early 1880s, Endut Senin was believed to have led a considerable number of Malays to move out of the main land to the island via the Kallan River. A number of the past Kampong areas in the island were either titled after some characteristics of the area or by the name of the pioneer who first settled in the district

Lessons were originally taught in the village wayang stage. Bin Kiang School was built in the year 1952 to cater to the increasing population of children in the island. The student population of the school once reached 400 but later decreased as the country’s mainland continued to develop. The school was eventually foreclosed in the year 1985 and was finally demolished on April 2, 2000. There island also housed a private Malay school which was established in 1956 and was later closed in 1970.

The island was discovered to be an adequate site for the building of a number of campsites.  The NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps) established a 25 hectare camp site situated between Kampung Noordin and Kampung Bahru. The camp site is referred to as Camp Resilience wherein Secondary 2 and 3 NPCC trainees have 3 days and 2 nights stay to train. OBS (Outward Bound Singapore) was opened at the island in the year 1967 by Dr. Goh Keng Swee.

On June 03, 2005, the Government decreed that all the farm owners who were raising poultry on Pulau Ubin were to deliver them to the mainland and raise them instead in government issued farms on or before June 17, 2005 because of fear from the avian influenza.