We've tried to ensure the information displayed here is as accurate as possible. Should there be any inaccuracies, we would be grateful if you could let us know at info@ipohworld.org . All images and content are copyright.
(Please click on the thumbnail for a bigger image.)
Home-Made Nestle, Milo Tin, Oil Lamp, Gopeng
This is a wonderful example of local craftmanship, improvisation and necessity being the mother of invention.
Standing just over 22cm tall, this lamp is made from a combination of a Nestle Milo tin and another unknown household tin. On the underside it carries a "use by date" of 1993. With the tank filled with kerosene (paraffin) and a wick inserted this little lamp is typical of those that would have provided the only illumination available to a Kampung (village) home before the Malayan electricity supply was made country-wide, and would have continued as an emergency source of light thereafter. With the date 1993 it indicates that even towards the end of the 20th century these home made lamps formed a part of everyday life in the Kampungs.
90% of all Milo manufactured is drunk in Malaysia and it was introduced to Malaya in 1950. The drink was developed much earlier in 1934 by Thomas Mayne and launched at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in that year, but it is Malaya and latterly Malaysia who has kept the product going.