In 1928, the Faculty of Arts was established under Raffles College and Geography has the distinction of being among the three initial subjects to be offered. The first faculty member of the newly formed department was H. Amon (d. 1944) a Reader, who began teaching in 1929. Under Raffles College, the Geography “Department” followed the British academic terms: Trinity, Michelmas and Hilary. Students from both Singapore and Peninsular Malaya were taught mainly by three British lecturers before World War II: H. Amon, T. W. Morray and E.G.H. Dobby. The syllabus for Geography at this time reflected colonial underpinnings and hence there was a strong regional emphasis on the British Isles, Europe, Africa, Australia, the Americas and Asia. In addition to regional Geography, there were several courses in systematic geography based on Physical Geography (geomorphology, climatology, oceanography) Human Geography (economic, political) and ‘Practical’ Geography (map reading).

The foundation of the Department owes a great debt to Ernest George Henry Dobby who joined the Department in 1939 with a BA and obtained his PhD from London University in 1945. Dobby was the first lecturer to have a PhD, who became Head of Department in 1946 and first Professor of Geography in 1947. After the Second World War, Dobby helped to institutionalize the Department in the University. He was instrumental in bringing in a whole host of young faculty members in the early 50s who later became well known geographers: Donald Fryer (1950-1952); James Blaut (1952-1953); B.W. Hodder (1952-1956) and Paul Wheatley (1952-1959). Dobby also established the Department as a major contributor to the regional geography of Southeast Asia. His book Southeast Asia first published in 1950 by the University of London Press ran into 11 editions and was translated into seven languages. Dobby also established a field study pedagogical system where field trips in Singapore and Malaya were part of the Department’s teaching forte. In fact, many of these field trips to Malaya provided important academic articles.

Under his leadership, Dobby established the Department’s journal, The Malayan Journal of Tropical Geography (MJTG) which was first published in October 1953 with Paul Wheatley as its first editor. The MJTG went through several name changes and in 1990 became The Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (SJTG). Through its 50-year history, the journal has remained one of the few Internationally Refereed journals dealing specifically with the tropical world. It continues the Dobby tradition of accepting articles both in Physical and Human Geography. It also maintains a tradition of accepting articles that reflect both “fieldwork” and “armchair” geographical research.

Between 1946 and 1961 total faculty members in the Department fluctuated between four to eight members. In the 1957-58 academic year, Asian faculty members for the first time outnumbered expatriates faculty. In 1960, Rudolph Wikkramatileke, a Sri Lankan was the first Asian to be appointed Head of Department. Since then, subsequent Heads have been Singaporeans.

Over the years, the University’s Arts degree has gone through several changes. Up to the 1968-69 academic year, students still followed a three-year BA Honours degree programme. Between the 1969-70 and 2000-01 academic years, students went through a three-year BA programme and an exclusive additional one year Honours programme. Between 1949-1950 and 2000-2001, the Department awarded 592 Honours degrees of which 524 were between the years 1958-1959 to 2000-2001.Over this period class size for the Honours year varied from one student in 1950-1951 to 35 students in 1998-1999. In both the three-year and four years Honours programmes, the Department paid emphasis to the Honours Thesis. In the 2001-02 academic year, the Faculty initiated a new four years Honours system.

Between 1954-2003, the Department awarded Masters degrees to over 35 students and PhD degrees to 11 students. The first MA degrees were awarded in 1954 to Arthur Lim Joo Jock and Ooi Jin Bee. The first PhD degree was awarded to Rudolph de Koninck (now Professor at the University of Montreal, Canada) in 1970.

Since the Raffles College days, the Department has maintained a strong tradition of student activities. The Geographical Club of Raffles College established in the mid-1930s became the Geographical Society in the 1960s. Like the Geographical Club, the Geographical Society has embarked on field trips in the region, Asia. Africa and Australasia as well as organized various social, educational and sports functions for students and faculty (such as talks, film shows, exhibitions, competitions, dinners).

A/P Victor R. Savage (retired)