The Kampung Buah Pala land in Gelugor was once owned by David Brown, a wealthy spice plantation owner during the early British colonial era in Penang who died in 1825.
Title to the land eventually reached one of his descendants, Helen Margaret Brown. For more information on David Brown and his descendants, go here and here.
Check out this copy of the Straits Settlement “Grant of Land” bestowing title to Helen Margaret Brown in 1938:
A lot has been said about the High Chaparral residents being “squatters” (setinggan). Many of them are actually descendants of workers brought in by the Brown family, who allowed them to live on the land.
On the reverse side of the Grant of Land, we can see the “sub-divided Lot 691 acquired by Crown for housing Trust – vested in Crown on 12.4.(1954?)”.
