Features
The story of Wellawatte
Asiff Hussein, the Author of The Great Days of Colombo, speaks to The Island on how Wellawatte came to be and the origins of its street names.
Interviewed by Ifham Nizam
Q: You have covered Wellawatte fairly extensively in your book, The Great Days of Colombo. Could you share with our readers something about your findings in the course of your research?
A:Wellawatte is a fairly new addition to Colombo City which originally started in the Fort and Pettah areas before expanding to the outlying areas, like Cinnamon Gardens and the long stretch from Colpetty to Wellawatte, which is its southernmost limit.
Although today Wellawatte is a very busy part of Colombo, it was not very populated until about a century ago. Its Sinhala name literally means ‘Sandy Garden’. This suggests a rather deserted area or sandy wasteland. It could also mean ‘Beach Garden’. In contrast to the more northern coastal areas of Colombo, Wellawatte has a small beach which also has a swimming club of its own, the famous Kinross Club.
That it originally meant ‘beach garden’ is supported by the statement of Dr. P.R.C. Peterson who, in his memoirs Great Days (2001); speaks of his childhood in Wellawatte: “When we were a little older we used to play in the garden near the railway station, where we had to dodge a few coconut trees as we ran about. The owner once introduced two donkeys into the garden. We lads made some reins of coir rope and bits of coconut branches and rode these animals bareback“.
But could there be more to it ? It is possible that Wellawatta actually got its name from wasteland that could have come about here after it was inundated by sea water from a Tsunami, or tidal wave, a long time ago. As a result, the salty soil would have ensured it remained barren for a considerable time. This is supported by the discovery of a horizon of Sandstone, or Beach Rock, a kilometre inland from the seacoast, at the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills, as well as the presence near the coast there of coral reef beneath the top soil.
Here, underneath a layer of vegetable earth, was found a stratum of sea sand with marine shells, overlying a reef or stratum of coral fragments, with the coral reef itself resting on course grey sandy clay. So what this shows is that the sea had made incursions into the land in remote times and converted it into a sandy wasteland of sorts, which could explain the origin of the name Wellawatte.
Fishing on the headland facing the sea on Bambalapitiya-Wellawatte border (Courtesy Asiff Hussein)
Q: So how did Wellawatte evolve to what it is today, a very busy cosmopolitan zone of Colombo if it was so sparsely populated back then?
A: I guess that’s because the Burghers and Tamils decided to move in and call it home. Much of the property, on the seaside of Wellawatte, is believed to have been a vast coconut estate, owned by a Burgher gentleman named Charlemont Jonathan Gauder. In fact, it is after him and his relatives that many of the roads of Wellawatte, such as Charlemont Road, Frederica Road, Collingwood Road, Alexandra Road and Frances Road are named. Other prominent Burgher familiess, who lived in Wellawatte about a century or so ago, were the Christoffelsz who lived at Lyttelton, Ephraims who lived at Homerton, the Gauders who lived at Chrislyn and the Pouliers who lived at Lawrence Villa.
Indeed as late as the 1960s, Burgher men could be seen lazily lounging in the verandahs of their houses on either side of Galle Road. The existence of a Dutch Reformed Church, on Galle Road, must have also helped unite the Burghers here. These Burghers jealously preserved their anglicized lifestyle, even until the 1960s when the men wore lounge suits or, in the least, long-sleeved shirts and cravats to the 6 o’clock film at the Savoy, and their wives donned hats and wore gloves to Evensong at the Dutch Reformed Church, close to Arethusa Lane. Carl Muller, in his novel Yakada Yaka, vividly brings out the Burgher ethos of the area in the following vein: “Old Phoebus would come, and Jerry Jonklaas and Dumbo Matthysz from Arethusa Lane”.
Another impetus came from the Tamils. In fact, Wellawatte is humorously referred to as Little Jaffna after its huge Tamil population. Many Jaffna Tamils seem to have settled here in the couple of decades before independence. They were mainly into clerical jobs in various government departments. These government servants lived with fellow Tamil clerks as boarders in chummeries situated a little away from Galle Road.
Available records show that in the inter-war years, especially the 1920s, there were Tamils serving government or as company clerks who were settled in Perera Lane, Hampden Lane and Fernando’s Lane. There were others living as boarders in places such as Boswell Place and High Street until as late as the 1960s. Over time, they would have amassed enough wealth to buy properties there and get down their families. Before this, they had to look after their families up north and used to remit much of their salaries via money order through the Wellawatte Post Office.
Another community that moved in fairly early were the Moors. In fact, there is a Moor Road on the seaside of Wellawatte. There is also a very large mosque, one of the largest in Colombo, on Galle Road.
So here we have it. It was the settlement here of various minority communities that facilitated the transition of Wellawatte from a largely uptown residential area to the booming downtown area it is today. With the coming of the Tamils, the famous vegetarian restaurants of the area boomed and when the Moors came, the “Muslim hotels” were not long in coming. Over time, other restaurants and sweet houses to meet the varied tastes of its mixed population followed. And so we have the culinary paradise that is Wellawatte today.
Q; What can you tell us about the street names of Wellawatte and how they originated?
A: As I mentioned earlier, Wellawatte is a relatively recently developed urban area. As such its street names are not very old. In fact, only a few seem to go back to over a century.
Geoff Ells in his book Colombo Jumbo, published in 2012, has done a lot of good work on the street names of Wellawatte, though there are other little-known street names, some now lost, that I was able to trace going through old records.
The Burghers, as I said, were a prominent community in the early days of Wellawatte. One such Burgher family, who originally hailed from Germany and who contributed a lot to the street names here, were the Gauders who owned land on both the sea side and land side of Galle Road. There was already a Gauder’s Lane in Wellawatte in the early 1900s where photographer Finlay Ingleton lived though it has since been lost.
In later times we hear of Charlemont Road named after Christian Charle-Mount Gauder, Hotel and landed proprietor who lived at Chrislyn in Wellawatte, Frederika Road named after his aunt, Frances Road after his daughter-in-law and Alexandra Road which must have mistakenly called thus after his son Alexander. Collingwood Place must have been named after Hector Collingwood Gauder, another member of the family.
Asiff Hussein
Poulier’s Lane, now known as Pereira Lane, must have been named after a Burgher gentleman going by the name of Poulier and was known from the 1930s, if not earlier. Its present name of Pereira Lane probably takes after George Pereira, Station Master for the Ceylon Government Railway. We also hear of St. Boswell’s Road in Wellawatte in the early 1900s until about WW I and it is possible that this is identical with Boswell Place which is suppose to have been named after the famous British travel writer James Boswell. Vaverset Place off Galle Road was known from the 1920s though it is surprisingly hard to trace whom it was named after. In the 1930s also spelt as Vaversett Place.
Pennyquick Road seems to take its name from Charles Pennyquick, a Ceylonese Civil Servant who became Mayor of Colombo in the 1890s during whose tenure the eradication of stray dogs was taken to an all new high with a gas chamber since he deemed drowning the poor creatures in the Beira Lake inhumane. De Almeida Place seems to have been named after a scion of the family of that name since we hear of Villa Sorrets in De Almeida Place where Dr. Milanious De Almeida lived in the inter-war years. And Hamer’s Avenue takes after a scion of the Burgher family of Hamer.
High Street which leads from Galle Road to Pamankade also seems to be quite old and was known in the inter-war years, if not before. It was renamed W. A. Silva Mawatha in the 1960s after well known Sinhala novelist Wellawattearchchige Abraham Silva who lived down the road in his family residence Silvermere. Stratford Avenue which leads to Kirulapone Junction takes after the birthplace of British playwright William Shakespeare Stratford-Upon-Avon. What seems to have influenced the naming of this road is the bridge over the canal which it leads to, just like the one over the Avon in England. Ash Tip Road seems to have once been the site of a municipal waste disposal operation. It is known in Sinhala as Aluwala Para (Ash Pit Road).
Peterson Lane probably takes its name from a much-respected government clerk George Peterson who lived down the lane. Dr .P. R. C. Peterson in his memoirs Great Days (2001) holds that the lane was so called after his father George who served in the clerical establishment, a much-respected position back then in the 1890s.
He recalls how the name came to be when one Sunday morning his father was in his garden and the Assistant Government Agent passed by on horseback along what was then a footpath and was asked by him if there was a name to the lane. Pat came the reply: “No name, but the village folk, the children and so on call it Peterson Lane”. The AGA called on his subordinate to make a note of it and it was henceforth officially called as such.
Geoff Ells in his book on Colombo’s Street Names mentions an Andarewatta Road in Wellawatte whose old name he gives as Second Lane and whose origins he traces to the Andrees, a surname borne by a prominent Burgher family of Prussian origin. However, I have since not been able to trace such a road in Wellawatte though there is one such road in the Havelock Town zone. Could Ells have been mistaken or was there a road in Wellawatte named by some of its residents as such?
There are also a few street names that seem to have disappeared. These include Niles Place and Cool Path Lane which were known in the inter-war years and occur in the Supplement to the Ceylon Government Gazette of December 11, 1925. There was also a Pond Road and Botejue Lane off Galle Road Wellawatte in the inter-war years. By the 1930s we hear of Colonel’s Avenue where there was a house called Lilac and where one Samy Lebbe Marikkar lived. We also hear of Theatre Road in Wellawatte where one Sorab Darashaw lived in the early 1930s.
It’s, indeed, strange what happened to these street names. Did they disappear just like that or were they replaced by other street names? I guess this is an area where more research is needed.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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