In the
Taiping Museum, there is an elephant skull on exhibit. I first saw it when I
visited the museum when I was a little boy. I came to know of the origin of the
skull in the Form One English Language book in my secondary school in 1974.
The story
was like this. In 1884, a train was chugging along the rail tracks from Tapah
Road to Teluk Anson (the old name for Teluk Intan town). A few miles before
reaching the Bidor River bridge, there was a small herd of elephants crossing
the track. The lead elephant must have perceived the train as a threat to the
herd. It went to charge against the small steam locomotive. The collision
caused the locomotive to derail. Nobody was injured but the elephant was
killed. The dead elephant was buried near the spot where the accident occurred.
The authorities decided to keep the elephant skull in Taiping Museum. A
memorial sign was built to mark the location of the incident.
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| The original photo of the incident in 1884. |
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| The original photograph of the sign board. |
In
November 2019, I decided to make a visit to this site. I read in the news
papers that the local community and Teluk Intan Municipal Council had
rehabilitate the site.
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| The sign board indicating the path to the site. |
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| The sign board, direction towards Tapah Road. |
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| The sign board, direction towards Teluk Intan (Telok Anson). |
What was
forest in 1884 is now a housing estate. By the small road, opposite a row of
houses, one could see the sign board leading to the site. I parked my car by
the roadside. I walked along the trail to the site which is not very far. The
rail tracks are all gone now. However, the original memorial sign board still
stands. The grass and lalang have started to grow although it was just a few
months after the area was recently cleared. In that moment of solitude, I could
imagine of the sad incident that happened many years ago.
After I took several pictures, I left the site
and headed to Teluk Intan town. I wanted to go to the famous restaurant by the
Perak River that sells the famed Fried Prawn Noodles.
