During the colonial
era, Cameron Highlands mountain resort was a haven for the British
who were station in Malaya. It provided relief from the hot and
humid tropical climate. With its temperate climate, a number of
them decided to make it their retirement home, setting up
bungalows and mansions. Days are spent pruning roses, tending to
strawberries, sipping English tea, and of course for a little more
social mingling, they would head over to Mr. Foster?s Tudor
styled Smokehouse.
The British military had
a large presence in Tanah Rata. There was of course the
Emergency period during the 1960s which the rag tag communist army
tried to destabilize and take over the country. It was not
a good idea at that time to take your jungle trek for fear of
capture by the red army!
By 1971, the British
Army former military hospital has now become a Roman Catholic
convent. It still stands on the hill overlooking the main street. If
you think the present 60km of twisting road leading from Tapah is
difficult to negotiate, imagine how the pioneers of yester-years
carve up the road by using only
oxcarts in the 1930s!
Cameron Highlands was first stumbled upon by one
William Cameron, a government surveyor while on a mapping expedition
in 1885. He was so enamored by the wide area of gentle slopes and
plateau land that he gave an endearing report. It created quite a
stir of excitement that Sir Hugh Low wanted to develop the area as
sanatorium, health resort and open farmland.
Cameron?s name was thus bestowed upon the highland
area. But it would take another twenty years before the first
pioneers settle in the area. With the cool climate, it became the
perfect place to grow tea and vegetables. Until today, it has
provided the locals plenty of the famed Cameronian tea and daily
vegetable produced.
If you go to any wet market in the city and ask any
vegetable seller where the vegetables come from; they will tell you
?of course it is from Cameron Highlands!?.
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