Origins and History
The name Batu Gajah, which literally means "stone elephant" in the Malay language, is presumably derived from 2 large boulders that resembled elephants found along the Kinta River. Folklore claims that huge elephant figures were made of stones to scare away the elephants that destroyed the villagers' sugar cane crops.
Famous for its tin mining long before the Independence Day of Malaya, Batu Gajah had been an ideal place for Chinese immigrants to stay and work during those years. This contributes to a significant percentage of Chinese in the population of Batu Gajah today. The Indian Settlement village at Changkat has a large population of Indians and Punjabis who built one of the oldest Sikh temples in Perak.
Batu Gajah had an established pre-war British English school, which was renamed Sultan Yussuf School (SYS) after the war. The current Sultan of Perak is a former student of this school. Formerly known as the Government English School (GES), it was founded by Mr. Malai Perumal Pillay in 1907. The school was built from the rubble of an old jail. Over the years, the school has produced many successful students.
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