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Port Dickson, or PD to locals, is a beach and holiday destination situated
about 32 km from Seremban and 90 km from
Kuala Lumpur. It is located
in the state of
Negeri Sembilan in Peninsular Malaysia. It takes just over an hour by
car to travel from Kuala Lumpur
to Port Dickson along the North-South Expressway.
This small town used to produce charcoal, but it was later developed as a
small port by the British during the Straits Settlement period. Port
Dickson was also known as Tanjung. In the Malay language, that means
"peninsular". The oldest shophouses were the four situated presently at
Jalan Lama. There was also a carbon mine at the first mile of the coast
road (Jalan Pantai), and therefore Port Dickson was also called "Arang"
(charcoal) in the Malay language.
Tin ore was plentiful in Lukut, an area within the Port Dickson district,
during the 1820s, and it attracted Chinese immigrant miners. The British
considered the area to have great potential as a harbour. It was intended
to supersede the port in Pengkalan Kempas. The in-charge officer's name
was Dickson, and thereafter the town was named Port Dickson. Others claim
that Sir John Frederick Dickson, a senior official of the Federated Malay
States founded Port Dickson and Pulau Arang in 1889.
Port Dickson evolved into a busy trading centre. Railways were constructed
to facilitate the growth and development of Port Dickson. Although Port
Dickson experienced rapid development, the beautiful beaches are fairly
well preserved. Now, Port Dickson has become not only a beautiful tourist
destination, but a large municipality with about 524,076 residents.
Port Dickson has two refineries which make significant contributions to
the local economy. Shell Refining Company has been operating since 1962
and Esso (now known as Petron Malaysia) operates another refinery which
began operation in 1963.
Port Dickson is also home to many army camps of the Malaysian Army such as
Sebatang Karah, Segenting, Si Rusa and Sunggala.
The 18 km extent of beach from Tanjung Gemuk to Tanjung Tuan is a popular
holiday destination for visitors from
Kuala Lumpur. Many
Singaporeans have invested in holiday homes in and around Port Dickson.
Linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Straits of Malacca is the
shortest sea route between three of the world's most populous countries -
India,
China, and
Indonesia.
Inspired by the sea trade, expats founded the Royal Port Dickson Yacht
Club (RPDYC) in 1927, which still offers dinghy sailing courses and runs
regattas. Unknown to most, Malaysia's developmental sailing teams,
starting at the Optimist Dinghy level, train in and sail from the RPDYC.
Sources: Wikipedia
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