Kampung Jawa Lama, George Town

Kampung Jawa Lama, George Town, Penang (25 May 2013)

Kampung Jawa Lama, also written Kampong Jawa Lama, is a road in George Town, Penang. The name dates to the early 19th century, when there was a Javanese settlement in the area within walking distance of the Sungai Pinang River. At time of writing (February 2013), I have not yet found out when exact did the Javanese village exist and when it faded away.

In the closing years of the 19th century the Kampung Jawa area underwent development when the Seng Kee Tin-smelting Works was established there by Lee Chin Ho. Lee's tin-smelting works received unsmelted tin ore from his own tin mines in Gopeng as well as his fellow Chinese tin miners in Perak as well as from Phuket and Trang in Thailand.

When Seng Kee Tin-smelting Works was made publicly listed, it was renamed the Eastern Smelting Company, and its tin ingots were stamped the acronym ESCOY. A sister company, the Eastern Shipping Company, managed the export of the smelted tin ingots. From the turn of the 20th century to the middle part of the same, rail carts transport tin from Swettenham Pier through the streets of George Town to the Eastern Smelting Company.

Today Kampung Jawa Lama is a minor road connecting Dato Kramat Road in the north to Jalan Timah in the south. It runs roughly parallel to Kampung Jawa Baru.