William Cameron was a nineteenth-century British explorer and government geologist who discovered the highland plateau in Malaysia which now bears his name – Cameron Highlands.
Before his arrival in Malaya, William Cameron worked in journalism in Britain. He was the special correspondent for the North British Daily Mail and reported on the Franco-Prussian War during the early 1870s. He served as a special commissioner investigating social and sanitary conditions in Glasgow, and also spent time in Australia.
After leaving Britain, he travelled to the Straits Settlements where his brother John was a merchant in Singapore. Seeking employment, he approached Frank Swettenham who was then British Resident of Selangor, and with his knowledge that he had acquired about minerals and geology, offered to work as a roving commissioner, exploring the geology of the area and preparing reports and maps.
Swettenham agreed to employ him and Cameron set to work in Pahang in 1884 after personally recruiting members of his expedition including Aboriginal people. For about seven months he travelled throughout the state, from Kinta to the mouth of the Pahang River including its basin and its tributaries, carrying out geological surveys and triangulation work.
It was during this expedition in 1885, that he discovered the high plateau close to the border with Perak which would later bear his name – the Cameron Highlands.
On completion of work in Pahang he reported back to Swettenham at the residency with his findings and then went on to Singapore to file further reports after giving a map of Pahang to the Sultan.
Further expeditions to study minerals and geology followed in Selangor, Perak and Petani. Swettanham, in his personal recollections of William Cameron, expressed concerns for his safety during his long absences often under difficult conditions.
In 1886, when he returned as usual to the Selangor residency to report to Swettenham, after another long expedition, he was seriously ill. According to Swettenham’s account he was suffering from unusual delusions. He was found wandering around the residency in the middle of the night brandishing an iron bar and fired his revolver at one of the Chinese servants. Swettenham arranged for him to be sent to the hospital in Singapore where, according to Swettenham, on the morning of 20 November 1886, he died. His obituary, however, states he died at Parsee Lodge where he was staying on a visit.
According to his obituary published in the Straits Times Weekly, he left a widow and several children, some of whom were adults. His work as Government Explorer and Geologist had been recognised the previous year, on 8 February 1886, when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society (F.R.G.S.) by the Council. According to the newspaper report on the election:
“Mr Cameron’s labours in the cause of Geographical science in the Malay Peninsula well entitle him to this distinction.”
Twenty-six years later, searching for a possible hill-station site in 1912, Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Arthur Young, travelled on foot to Gunung Tahan, the highest peak in Peninsula Malaysia but no further action followed. About ten years after Young’s trip, a research group from England also ascended the peak but highlighted problems of access and frequent heavy mists. Around this time, Cameron Highlands hill-station was established.
In 1967, the American silk trader Jim Thompson, a resident of Bangkok, disappeared while hiking in the Cameron Highlands and his disappearance remains unsolved.
Further reading
Selected Sources
Healey, Steve. “Destination: Malaysia: Highlands Fling: Misty Hillsides and Vestiges of Scotland in Southeast Asia.” Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1996. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-17-tr-47961-story.html.
Neil, W. H. E. “The Quest for Cameron’s Plateau.” Empire Survey Review 10, no. 71 (1949): 39–43. https://eurekamag.com/research/107/802/107802292.php.
“Exploration of Malay Peninsula.” Straits Times Weekly Issue, June 3, 1886, 4.
“Summary of the Week.” Straits Times Weekly Issue, March 13, 1886, 1.
“The Year 1884.” The Straits Times, January 2, 1885, 2.
The Straits Times. February 4, 1885, 2. Untitled report concerning William Cameron’s departure for Perak to undertake further government explorations.
Straits Times Weekly Issue. November 22, 1886, 1. Obituary notice for William Cameron.
Swettenham, Frank. Footprints in Malaya. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1942.
Cameron Highlands where William Cameron explored in the nineteenth century.