George Town’s forgotten canals

Down memory lane: There used to be a wooden bridge on Burmah Road where the Prangin Canal and Transfer Road Canal met.

BEFORE George Town was linked by tarred roads, rickety bullock carts and sampans plied the waterways and dirt paths of the Unesco World Heritage Site between the mid-19th century and the early 20th century.

Penang Travel Tips author and history buff Timothy Tye said that back in the 1870s, the waterways, which were “at least 2m-wide”, were the lifeline of the city.