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For the descendents of Richard Dearie and his son John Russell

Photographs taken from a moving armoured vehicle on the way to Boh. The arrival of the army is watched by Orang Asli women and children. During the Emergency their help enabled the army to defeat the communist insurgents. The MNLA had killed 34 out of group of 35 of them near Boh in July 1949. (1)

(1) Dialogues with Chin Peng: New Light on the Malayan Communist Party Ed. C.C. Chin & Karl Hack. National University of Singapore.

The Army at Boh Plantations during the Emergency

Photographs by Terry Green taken in 1956

"When alone on guard at night it is easy to imagine all sorts of movement round about. Even an army Bren gunner opened up on a fire-fly! This was the sort of mistake our few Sakai S.C.s never made. I remember at one of these alarms on Boh Division I found a Sakai S.C. lolling in the corner of his kubu quite unconcerned. "There's nobody there - it's just these Malay S.C.s, he said with great contempt at the ignorance of the town dweller."

Bill Fairlie writing in 1976.

REMINISCENSES OF BOH ESTATE by Bill Fairlie who was the Estate Manager from 1938 to1941 and 1946 to 1958 here.

Above " Boh City " Nissan huts at the tea factory accommodated the troops.
Boh Rolling Room
Above: Scout car Right: Armoured personnel carrier and scout car at the factory
Left: Boh factory perimeter fence "kubu": Look out post". Manned by Gurkha Special Constables as a strong point protecting the factory from attack from the hill behind.

Gun emplacements on top of hill behind factory.

"For security reasons we had to abandon the Chekho lines and concentrate on the remaining four sites where barbed wire, watch towers and flood lights were installed. At one period we had a half battery of 40 pounders on my old bungalow site above the factory"

Bill Fairlie writing in 1976.

Far left: View looking west down the Ulong Valley.

Left: the view looking east down the Boh Valley. Probably taken from where the gun emplacements were positioned.

Below: showing the newly built manager's bungalow further down the valley from the factory. It is now hidden by giant eucalyptus trees. Pre- war it was on the hill where the guns were placed but it was severely damaged by people keeping cows in it during the Japanese occupation and also because it was a very cold and misty site the decision was made to build a new manager's bungalow.