History
Dunearn Road Hostels (DRH)
In 1952, a cluster of 31 semi-detached five-room houses at College Green along Dunearn Road became the Dunearn Road Hostels (DRH), offering accommodation for overseas undergraduates of the University of Malaya, after its founding from the merger of King Edward VII College of Medicine and Raffles College in 1949. The hostel was to provide temporary housing for 500 residents from Malaya and Singapore, including 100 female students, as the university had plans to move to Johor Bahru.
When plans to move the university were shelved, more hostels were built - King Edward VII Hall for medical students in 1957, Eusoff College for women students and Raffles Hall for male students in 1958. Competition from the new hostels caused the student occupancy in Dunearn Road Hostels to reduce by half and converted to an all-male hostel. An attempt to close the hostel in 1962 to turn them into staff quarters was stalled with strong protests from the residents and the Students' Union.
In 1963, a new hostel crest was created and the inaugural issue of The Psyche, the hostel's yearbook was formally published. In 1964, the hostel was refurbished with donations from the late Lee Kong Chian, first Chancellor of the newly formed University of Singapore. DRH was officially opened by then Vice-Chancellor, Lim Tay Boh on 12 June 1965.
In 1977, DRH initiated the DRH Silver Jubilee Award to celebrate its 25th anniversary. A scholarship fund with an initial donation of $15,000 from the Lee Foundation was created to encourage and recognise outstanding residents' contributions to the hostel.
Sheares Hall (SH)
The merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University to become the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1980 and its relocation to Kent Ridge led to the closure of DRH on 22 November 1981. The houses later became rental houses to the public from 1981 until 2007 when NUS leased some of them from the Singapore Land Authority and converted them into hostel for students. Today, these houses are known as College Green.
After 29 years of existence, the oldest hostel was renamed Sheares Hall in 1982 when it was relocated to the National University of Singapore campus at Kent Ridge after the late Benjamin Henry Sheares, then NUS Chancellor. The only DRH remnant lies in the motto for Sheares Hall: Dare to Reach the Highest which bears the initials of DRH. Two other visible reminders at Sheares Hall include a mural painted by Rais bin Yatim in 1971, hung in the dining hall at DRH until its closure. The other is the publication of The Psyche yearbook which was continued by Sheares Hall.
In 2002, Sheares Hall moved from its original site at Lower Kent Ridge Road to its current location at 20 Heng Mui Keng Terrace. To this date, the mural from DRH by Rais bin Yatim may be found on the wall of the Hall Administration Office and The Psyche yearbook managed by Sheares Media, continues to be published annually.
Masters of DRH
1952 - 1967: V. Thambipillai
1968 - 1969: John A. Jansen
1970 - 1981: Lawrence Chia
Masters of SH
1981 - 2003: Lawrence Chia
2003 - 2013: Gary Tan
2013 - present: Sim Tick Ngee
