The sovereignty of Christmas Island was transferred from Singapore (then a Crown colony of the United Kingdom) to the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 October 1958 under the Transfer to Australia Order in Council, 1958. At the close of the day on 30 September, the ...

Pulau Pawai is an island located south-west of Singapore. Known as Alligator Island during colonial times, the island was described as having a conspicuous summit of about 147 ft, and was extensively fringed with coral reefs. A large reef found in 1946 separates ...

Pulau Meskol was a small island of 6.1 ha in a cluster of islands lying south of Jurong on the Singapore mainland. It was merged with neighbouring islands to form Jurong Island, where the petrochemical and petroleum industry is located.

Kusu Island is located 5.6 km south-west of Singapore. A Chinese temple and three Malay keramat (shrine) on the island attract thousands of pilgrims annually, especially in the 9th lunar month that falls between September and October. Kusu means “tortoise” or “turtle” ...

Pulau Ubin is an island located on the north-eastern coast of Singapore, with Selat Johore to the north and Serangoon Harbour to the south. Its name is derived from its original Malay name, Pulau Batu Jubin, which means “Island of Granite Stones”. Granite quarries ...

Sisters’ Islands is located south of Singapore and is made up of two islands that are separated by narrow but deep channels. The islands are individually known as Pulau Subar Darat (Little Sister’s Island) and Pulau Subar Laut (Big Sister’s Island) and each covers ...

Pulau Tekong is an island off the northeastern coast of Singapore, with Selat Johore to the north and Serangoon Harbour to the south. There were originally two islands – the larger Pulau Tekong and the smaller Pulau Tekong Kechil – but land reclamation joined them ...

Pulau Semakau is popularly known as one of the southern islands off the main island of Singapore. In the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) 1997 Concept Plan, however, Pulau Semakau was identified as one of the western islands. Located approximately 8 km south ...

Pulau Seking (also known as Pulau Sakeng or Siking) is one of the islands off Singapore’s south coast. It was home to the last Southern island kampong (village) community, before the islanders were resettled to make way for the development of a landfill.

Coney Island, also known as Pulau Serangoon, is located off the coast of Punggol in northeastern Singapore. Originally just 13 ha, the island now spans 100 ha after a series of reclamation projects. A 50-hectare park managed by the National Parks Board was opened ...

Located off Singapore’s south coast, Pulau Sudong was classified as one of the Western Islands in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 1997 Concept Plan. A 1946 survey of the Singapore Strait described the island as measuring about 55 ft high to the top of the trees, ...

Pulau Biola is a tiny islet located at the southern extremities of Singapore’s southern islands. The islet is known for its rich biodiversity of coral reefs and marine life, which are relatively unspoilt compared with elsewhere in Singapore.

Located off the southwestern coast of Singapore, Jurong Island is a manmade island formed through successive land reclamation works that joined up several offshore islands, namely Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek Kechil ...

Pulau Busing is an offshore island south of Singapore, near Pulau Bukom. It had a land area of 2.5 ha before reclamation. Heavily industrialised, the island is home to oil and chemical storage facilities, at least one marine offshore terminal, and a fuel oil refinery. ...

Pedra Branca is an outlying island situated about 24 nautical miles (45 km) to the east of mainland Singapore. It is located at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait, from the South China Sea. The island is a reef of light grey granite, although corals have ...

Pulau Brani, which means “isle of the brave” in Malay, is an island situated at the south of Singapore’s Central Region. It was once home to the Orang Laut. For a while, the island had a brick kiln, a coal depot, a tin smelting plant and a ship-repairing dock. ...

Pulau Satumu, or “one tree island”, was formerly known as Coney Island. The origin of its name could have been derived from the Malay language with “sa” referring to satu (meaning one) and “tumu” referring to the large mangrove tree, Bruguiera confugata. It is ...

Located 5.5 km southwest of mainland Singapore, the offshore island of Pulau Bukom (also spelt “Bukum”) houses an integrated oil and petrochemicals site with manufacturing facilities for fuels, lubricant base oils and specialty chemicals. It was known as Pulau ...

Sentosa is currently a resort island of some 500 ha off the south coast of Singapore. It was previously a fishing village, the site of a military installation with artillery batteries and a prisoner-of-war camp during the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945). Developed ...

The current island of Pulau Tekong was originally composed of two distinct islands, Pulau Tekong Besar – the biggest natural offshore island in Singapore and commonly referred to as just Pulau Tekong – and the much smaller Pulau Tekong Kecil. Situated at the northeastern ...