The Malacca Club

The Malacca Club was an exclusive club for Europeans where the usual drinking and dining, playing sports, lawn tennis and croquet were favourites, and general socialising, could be pursued by like-minded individuals and their wives to the exclusion of the locals. Its members would include Government officials, police and army officers, as well as planters working on the rubber estates and traders. The first Malacca Club was established in the 1880s and was situated on Fort Road in a building previously occupied by the Eastern Exchange Telegraphic Company. In 1912 it moved to new purpose built premises at Jalan Parameswara, Bandar Hilir, near St. Paul’s Hill, which is principally the striking building with its pair of onion domes, which we see today. At that time the sea came up almost to the hill and so splendid views could no doubt be enjoyed from the verandhas, watching the sun go down with a cocktail in hand. Here it remained until 1984 when its lease expired and the building was converted into a museum. Its name is the Proclamation of Independence Memorial because it’s said to be the place where Malaysian independence was first proclaimed in 1957.