Tristan Beauchamp Russell is the only son of the late John
Archibald Russell, founder of BOH Plantations in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.
Mr. Russell’s family arrived in then-Malaya in 1890, his grandfather the
founder of the Selangor Journal. Together with four brothers, Mr. Russell’s father
began to make a name for himself in contracting, building (among other
enterprises) the railway station, a rubber company, and a coalery. They were
also the first importers of motorcars to Malaya, as Mr. Russell fondly pointed
out while perusing the old photographs.
In fact, the BOH plantation was John Archibald Russell’s last
venture, and proved quite a timely one. As the Great Depression set in around
the world, the premium teas grown at high elevations managed to maintain their prices.
At the time, the Cameron Highlands were just being opened up, and John
Archibald Russell obtained a land grant to start planting tea.
The work at BOH plantation actually began before a road was cut.
Mr. Russell, openly sharing his personal past, related a story as told by his mother, pregnant with him at the time and
his father sick with malaria, scurrying up the rough terrain to the BOH
plantation. In the midst of a proud smile, Mr. Russell says seeing BOH before
birth is a family tradition that’s since been carried on by his children and
grandchildren.
Born in 1932, Tristan Russell’s father passed away in 1933.
After his father died, Tristan left with his mother to South Africa, where he
was brought up during the years of World War II. At 18, Tristan left home to
study at Oxford University in London, and later at the Royal Agricultural College
in Cirencester, where he majored in agriculture.
At 22, Tristan returned to Malaya in 1949 to continue the family
legacy at BOH. The war had taken its toll, with the estates of Cameron
Highlands left mainly abandoned. Amid 20ft high overgrown tea bushes and tree
ferns, much work was needed to restore the tea plantation to its former state.
Tristan’s first post was as junior assistant to then BOH’s Manager, Bill
Fairlie, for what was then a princely sum of 500 dollars.
That 500 dollars, however, came at a price of assured security.
It was the beginning of the Communist Emergency, and the area of the Cameron
Highlands was prime ‘ambush country’ for Communist Terrorists (CTs). As Mr.
Russell spoke during our tea, some of his stories seemed hard to believe by
today’s standards: he slept in a bungalow with a Smith & Wesson pistol
beneath his pillow, the bungalow guarded by trained Ghurkhas. He looked fondly
upon the grainy black and white photographs from that period of the bungalow,
relaying a seemingly warm recollection of how he would heard the shelling of CT
camps nearby, and how he had to learn to drive an armoured car, his head
bumping against the cold steel on the ragged journey up to the BOH plantation.
He smiled, and said something those who were present at this tea
would never forget:
“For a young man, it was rather fun.”
His adventurous spirit continued as Mr. Russell recalled what it
was like to live and work in the Cameron Highlands during this period. His
smile growing, he gave snippets of stories from the plantation – the kind that
would take hours to explore fully... the woman who wore the orange dress made
of parachute material, engaged in a love triangle of ‘Harlequin Romance’
proportions... the “curry lunches” on Sunday that would begin in the afternoon
and last long into the night... Around the table at our afternoon tea in downtown
KL, we could all easily tell Mr. Russell was far, far away, and we were
graciously along for the ride.
Young Tristan learned the business fast, and after 18 months he
was transferred to head office. In one of his first postings in marketing, Mr.
Russell was instrumental in bringing ‘Mr. BOH’ to Malaysian television – one of
the first televised company mascots in Asia. The lone expat at this afternoon
tea, it was heartwarming for me to look around the room as the old black and
white commercials played, Mr. BOH in his signature top hat, with everyone
present remembering a simpler time.
BOH tea was an unmitigated success, on both the domestic and
international markets. Expanding from the original plantation, BOH eventually
grew to four plantations in Malaysia, including the 1958 acquisition of Sungai
Palas, a former Dutch estate.
Again regaling us with a timely story, Mr. Russell told of visiting
the small towns of Malaya to expand the local tea markets. But what we know
today as a simple flight or scenic drive to Kota Bharu, Mr. Russell related as ‘an
expedition’ that involved ‘ferry to ferry’ transfers.
As the slideshow progressed, Mr. Russell described in vivid detail
how tea was once collected at the BOH plantation. A hand-plucker would harvest
50lbs of tea per day, and would carry each leaf bag from the fields to the
factory, where the ‘advanced’ machinery of the day would whither and process
the leaves. Around the room, we each rubbed our neck silently as Mr. Russell
spoke of these physical hardships, happy that modern mechanisation is upon us.
Becoming chairman of J.A. Russell & Co. and BOH in 1969,
Tristan Russell helped to modernise and perfect the art of growing and
manufacturing tea. Today the BOH plantation (and the other holdings in
Australia) are modernised, and where once 27 people were needed for the ‘rolling
room,’ today only one minds the machines. In Australia, on grades more
conducive to mechanisation, harvesting machines can pick 40tonnes in a 12-hour
shift. We listened – fascinated – as Mr. Russell explained the economies of
scale present in today’s tea industry.
Tristan Russell was born Malaysian, as were his children and
grandchildren, and like the farmers of any plot, they have a deep respect for
the land that has given their family such rich rewards. At our afternoon tea it
was very easy to see the concern for nature in Mr. Russell’s eyes and words. As
he unrolled the aerial photography depicting the deforestation that has
encroached on the Cameron Highlands, a certain anxiousness loomed, though
coupled with Mr. Russell’s undeniable positive outlook: this is what has
happened, but we can still preserve the ‘scenic reserve’ of the Cameron
Highlands.