Kellie's Castle, Batu Gajah, Perak

William Kellie Smith & Charles Alma Baker were two personalities typifying the high life in Batu Gajah. Smith was the largest private owner of rubber estates and Baker, largest owner of rubber holdings.

It was Smith who has left a legacy behind – the Kellie’s Castle in the vicinity of Batu Gajah, and about 30 min from Ipoh. He has presumably borrowed in anticipation of his wife’s inheritance, to build the landmark. It was styled after the British Raj Palaces in India but Smith passed away in 1926 before it was completed. The building, with the estate was then sold to Harrisons & Crosfields by Agnes, Smith’s wife.

God's Little Acre, Batu Gajah, Perak

The serene & peaceful God's Little Acre

The base of the Memorial Cross

The Memorial Cross erected by the Perak Planters' Assoc. & well wishes

An old sign describing the Burial Grounds

The marble tablet Roll of Honour

The Anglican Community in Batu Gajah was founded in 1885. When a church building was proposed, Sultan Idris granted to the Bishop of Singapore, a land rent-free for worship and for burial. A permanent church building, The Holy Trinity, was erected in 1895. The burial ground in the adjacent plot was to become “God’s Little Acre” – where planters, miners, police and the military who lost their lives during the Malayan Emergency from 1948 -1960, were buried.

Every year, on the Saturday before 16^th June, there would be a wreath laying ceremony organized in remembrance of the killing of 3 planters ( Allison, Christian & Walter) and those that gave their lives during the Malayan Emergency. There is also a Memorial Cross erected by the “Perak Planters’ Association & other well wishers”

Colonial "Changkat" Hospital, Batu Gajah Perak

A little Herb Garden in the hospital grounds, probably in the European Section

The road entrance into the "Changkat" Hospital

Main Hospital Building - Colonial Architecture

Another view of the Main Hospital Building

The Batu Gajah hospital ( locally called , Changkat Hospital) was probably established in 1880’s and built with two sections, a European hospital and a District hospital for the locals ( natives). In the 1890’s, Dr Wright, the senior District Surgeon was in charge of the hospital. A colonial administrator and scholar, Richard Winstedt, would have been hospitalized in the European section for blood poisoning in about 1904, when he was an Assistant District Officer.

Batu Gajah, Perak

The sign board just at the entrance to God's Little Acre

Batu Gajah was selected as a new river port for the Papan Tin Mines in 1881. BY 1884, it was chosen as a new centre for Kinta administration. Residences for European officers, police station, hospital and quarters for government officials were established on a tableland called the Changkat.

By the late 19^th century, it was a centre of European life, with a sizeable community made up of Europeans working in the government administration, hospital, a prison, public works, the miners and planters, as well as Christian missionaries.