They told me that my grand father has a piece of farm land beside The Big Rock. So I came to the rock to search and found beside the rock is Temple of Maha Sri Maha Mariamman.
In “Wong Family History”, Christopher Wong mentioned about a “big rock” :
“……a “pony-tailed” son from China landed in Kuching by ship via Singapore and under the White Rajah’s program was allocated a large block of virgin land near a natural big rocky outcrop which is now a landmark along Rock Road, Kuching.”
Pang Lien Yin, my grand mother, also mentioned to me a few times between 1964-1966 that “…… your grandfather’s land was beside a huge rock along the Rock Road….”
This “Huge Rock” has since become the oldest earliest landmark of the Wong Shin Tshing, my grandfather, living location.
And Wong Syak Kee, my father, and his family members have been living just opposite this huge rock in the Batu Lintang Government Quarters area for decades.
While my father has never shown any interest in this huge rock, I came a couple of times in 1971 while still staying at quarter no: 66. It just 5 minutes walk.
Not quite understand why my father did not shown interest in his father’s (my grand father) history, but the verbal history of the Wong family was mainly passed down from the female : Grandmother and Aunties
After 1971, I cam back again only in 2005. 34 years later.
These are recent photos in 2005 :
The Rock Road is named after a rock crystal known by its Malay name Batu Kinyang. It has a myth. The outcrop of rock is supposed to be a keramat, graveyard of a holy man, often visited by believers seeking divine help or just giving thanks for help already rendered. People began losing interest in the place, however, when an abattoir was built nearby.
Read more:
http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/12/11/road-names-in-kuching/
Sri Maha Mariamman Temple at Batu Lintang is one of the three Hindu temples in Kuching City.
On the north side of The Rock is the newly completed Sri Maha Mariammar Temple. This Hindu temple is another myth in the history of Sarawak.
Sri Maha Mariammar Temple was originally built 100 years ago on Matang Mountain kilometers from Kuching City. The temple was built by Indian and Ceylonese workers recruited by the second White Rajah Charles Brooke to tend his tea and coffee plantation on the slope of the mountain.
The unsuccessful tea plantation was closed down in 1912 and the workers were given a choice to move down to Kuching or go back to India.
About 50 Indian families decided to stay back in Kuching. When they left the plantation they took the bronze statue of the deity Maha Sri Maha Mariamman. Later they moved it to a small temple built along Batu Lintang Road. The old original Bilian wood temple on top of Matang Mountain eventually forgotten by the young Indian generation till 1962.
This second temple beside Batu Lintang Road was familiar to me. In 1960s I stayed in Batu Lintang Government Quarters No: 117 and No: 66. Each time I passed this small wooden temple I would be attracted by the ringing bell, or the colorful flowers hanging at the entry gate or by the Indian worshipper.
On the right hand side of this temple were a wooden barber shop and a wooden sundry shop both were frequent by me and family members. I came here for hair cut and family members came for sundry goods like rice, and sugar.
I left Kuching for too long and tings have changed much since then. The wooden temple was not more there but a much bigger concrete big temple dedicated to the deity was built near by at Jalan Rock in 1991. The 100 years old bronze statue of the deity Maha Sri Maha Mariamman originally from the forgotten Matang Mountain is now finally rest and remains in the new Temple to be Re-declare open soon.
Photo above : Mount Matang Sri Maha Mariamman Temple rediscovered in 1967 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mount-Matang-Sri-Maha-Mariamman-Temple-Kuching-Sarawak/200262026677821?sk=photos
Sri Maha Mariamman - The Lost Temple of Matang : http://worshipdevotion.blogspot.com/2010/11/sri-maha-mariamman-lost-temple-of.html
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