Cameron Highlands - Background

Background

The Cameron Highlands got its name from William Cameron, a British surveyor who was commissioned by the then colonial government to map out the area in 1885.

In a statement concerning his mapping expedition, Cameron mentioned he saw “a vortex in the mountains, while for a (reasonably) wide area we have gentle slopes and plateau land.”

He (William Cameron) mapped out the high tableland on the Perak-Pahang borders known since as the Cameron Highlands and used to return to Kuala Lumpur at unpredictable intervals bringing samples of unexploited mineral deposits.

When approached, the late Sir Hugh Low, the Resident of Perak, expressed the wish of developing the flat terrain as a “sanatorium, health resort and open farmland”. A narrow path to “Cameron’s Land” was then carved through the dense jungle. Nothing much happened after that.

Forty years later, Sir George Maxwell visited the locale and decided to transform the place into a hill station. A development committee was formed in 1925. Later, a road was constructed from Tapah to the highlands.

The building of the road was a challenge. The crew not only had to deal with the weather; they also had to live with the risk of being struck down with malaria.

By the mid-1930s the resort was proving very popular for local leave. The Green Cow Tavern at the entrance to the Tallom Valley held the accolade of being the highest hotel in the peninsular.

When the road was completed in 1931, the British and the locals moved in to settle on the slopes of the mountain. They were soon followed by tea planters and vegetable growers who found the fertile soil and cool climate to be especially suitable for the growing of their crops.

By the mid-1930s, there was a remarkable change in the territory: it now had a nine-hole golf course, several cottages, three inns, a police post, two boarding schools, a dairy, nurseries, vegetable farms, tea estates, a Government Rest House and an Experimental Agricultural Station.

The district continued to grow until the outbreak of the Second World War. During the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945), there was hardly any development in the area. When the Japanese withdrew in August 1945, the place underwent a transformation.

Today, the haven is not only the biggest and best known of Malaysia’s hill stations; it is also the highest point in Malaysia which is accessible by car.