Drive for statue of 'father of S'pore biodiversity'

Drive for statue of 'father of S'pore biodiversity'

A fund-raising drive is under way to erect a statue of Victorian explorer and naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace here.

The lesser-known father of the ground-breaking theory of evolution by natural selection had lived in Bukit Timah on and off between 1854 and 1862, using Singapore as a base for his travels, collecting about 125,000 specimens in the Malay Archipelago.

Historians consider his time spent in the region as key to his developing his theories on evolution.

In July 1858, both he and Charles Darwin had their theories presented at a conference in London.

But it was Darwin who became famous after publishing his book On The Origin Of Species the year after, whereas Wallace's contribution went largely overlooked from his death in 1913 until a resurgence in recent years.

Briton and long-time Singapore resident Barry Clarke, 51, is leading the effort, with help from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore (NUS), to raise a life-size, bronze statue of Wallace at the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, which will be ready at the university by mid-2014.

This would be only the second Wallace statue in the world. On Nov 7, the Natural History Museum in London unveiled the world's first, on the centenary of his death.

Mr Clarke, a trained zoologist who has had a life-long interest in Wallace, hopes to get pledges for an estimated $150,000 from individuals, as well as British and Singaporean firms, for the statue.

This would cover the cost of sculpting it in Britain, then moving and installing it here.

"Wallace's first collecting in the region was here, and every specimen he collected came through here. He also documented more of the biodiversity here than anyone else in that time," said Mr Clarke, the Asia-Pacific managing director of publisher Taylor & Francis. "You could call him the father of biodiversity in Singapore. Why not celebrate that?"

He added that by championing Wallace, Singapore could draw tourists tracing his footsteps, just as many people visit the Galapagos Islands because of its link to Darwin's theorising.

The suggestion to erect a Wallace statue was first made to the museum in 2009 by former foreign affairs minister George Yeo, said Raffles museum director Peter Ng, but it did not happen.

Mr Yeo told The Sunday Times on Friday that the theory of evolution was one of man's "greatest intellectual leaps", and that Wallace's legacy should be used "to inspire continuing interest in this astonishing diversity of life around us".

Wallace is currently remembered here through the Wallace Education Centre and Wallace Trail in Bukit Timah. A lane off Lornie Road - Wallace Way - is also named after him.

Yet, few people here know who he is, said NUS science historian John van Wyhe.

"We have a unique connection to one of the two 'fathers' of evolutionary theory. Singapore should be proud of that."

To make a pledge to fund the bronze statue of Wallace, write in to ARWallace101@yahoo.com.sg


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